The Great Filling Station Holdup
"The Great Filling Station Holdup" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Jimmy Buffett | ||||
from the album A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean | ||||
A-side | "The Great Filling Station Holdup" | |||
B-side | "Why Don't We Get Drunk" | |||
Released | 1973 | |||
Recorded | 1973 | |||
Studio | Glaser Sound (Nashville, Tennessee) | |||
Genre | Country | |||
Length | 3:02 | |||
Label | Dunhill D-4385 (US, 7") | |||
Songwriter(s) | Jimmy Buffett | |||
Producer(s) | Don Gant | |||
Jimmy Buffett singles chronology | ||||
|
"The Great Filling Station Hold Up" is a song written and performed by American popular music singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. It was first released on his 1973 album A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean and was his first single from that album. The single reached No. 58 on the US Country chart in 1973.
The song appears on Live at Fenway Park, a live album that opened with an acoustic set consisting of "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes", "The Great Filling Station Holdup" and "Pencil Thin Mustache".[1]
History
The song is about two robbers holding up a filling station and the aftermath of getting caught shortly after the robbery in a honky tonk, where both robbers are drunk on beer they bought with the cash they stole.[2] Buffett got the idea to write the song after finding amusement in a newspaper article about recovered property from a holdup.[3]
Soon after the release of the single, with "Why Don't We Get Drunk" as its B-side, it was reported that it had sold over 50,000 copies just to jukebox operators, according to B.J. McElvee, country promotion manager for ABC-Dunhill Records.[4] Billboard magazine reported that only the A-side was promoted to country radio, because the word "screw" (repeatedly used in "Why Don't We Get Drunk") was not generally acceptable in country radio programming at the time; however, "Why Don't We Get Drunk" was played by some "underground" stations on FM radio.[4] "Why Don't We Get Drunk" was identified by Billboard as a "jukebox favorite" more than three years after its original release.[5][6]
Chart performance
Chart (1973) | Peak position |
---|---|
U.S. Hot Country Songs | 58 |
Notes
- ^ Jimmy Buffett live is more than music
- ^ Bashed and Buffetted
- ^ "The Parrot Head Handbook" included with Boats, Beaches, Bars & Ballads, page 54.
- ^ a b "Blue Lyric in Country Release Gets Airplay". Billboard. May 1, 1973. p. 39. Retrieved July 18, 2009.
- ^ Wood, Gerry (November 2, 1976). "Colorado Country". Billboard. p. C-12. Retrieved July 18, 2009.
- ^ Jimmy Buffett lives songs he writes
- v
- t
- e
- Michael Utley
- Greg "Fingers" Taylor
- Mac McAnally
- Robert Greenidge
- Deborah McColl
- Jim Mayer
- Peter Mayer
- Roger Guth
- Ralph MacDonald
- Down to Earth
- High Cumberland Jubilee
- A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean
- Living and Dying in 3/4 Time
- A1A
- Havana Daydreamin'
- Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes
- Son of a Son of a Sailor
- Volcano
- Coconut Telegraph
- Somewhere over China
- One Particular Harbour
- Riddles in the Sand
- Last Mango in Paris
- Floridays
- Hot Water
- Off to See the Lizard
- Fruitcakes
- Barometer Soup
- Banana Wind
- Beach House on the Moon
- Far Side of the World
- License to Chill
- Take the Weather with You
- Buffet Hotel
- Songs from St. Somewhere
- Life on the Flip Side
- Songs You Don't Know by Heart
- Equal Strain on All Parts
- You Had to Be There
- Feeding Frenzy
- Buffett Live: Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays
- Live at Texas Stadium
- encores
- Down to Earth/High Cumberland Jubilee compilations
- Greatest hits compilations: Songs You Know by Heart
- Boats, Beaches, Bars & Ballads (box set)
- A Pirate's Treasure
- All the Great Hits
- The Great Jimmy Buffett
- Biloxi
- Great American Summer Fun with Jimmy Buffett (EP)
- Calaloo (EP)
- Meet Me in Margaritaville: The Ultimate Collection
and musical albums
- Rancho Deluxe soundtrack
- Christmas Island
- Don't Stop the Carnival (musical)
- 'Tis the SeaSon
- "Margaritaville"
- "Come Monday"
- "A Pirate Looks at Forty"
- "Volcano"
- "Fins"
- "Cheeseburger in Paradise"
- "It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere"
- "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes"
- "One Particular Harbour"
- "Why Don't We Get Drunk"
- "Southern Cross"
- "Brown Eyed Girl"
- "Son of a Son of a Sailor"
- "God's Own Drunk"
- "Pencil Thin Mustache"
- "Grapefruit—Juicy Fruit"
- "Boat Drinks"
- "Gypsies in the Palace"
- "Jamaica Mistaica"
- "He Went to Paris"
- "Knee Deep"
- "The Great Filling Station Holdup"
- "Hey, Good Lookin'"
- "Surfing in a Hurricane"
- "Trip Around the Sun"
- "Math Suks"
- "Same Boat"
- Live by the Bay
- Music for Montserrat
- Live at Wrigley Field
- Live at Fenway Park
- Live in Anguilla
- Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville
- Margaritaville merchandising
- Mailboat Records
- Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurant
- Margaritaville Casino and Restaurant
- Land Shark Lager
- Jimmy Buffett discography
- Radio Margaritaville
- Hemisphere Dancer
- Savannah Buffett
- Save the Manatee Club
- Tonsil Trouble
- "Margaritaville" (South Park)
- Escape to Margaritaville