#113 – When Salome Plays The Drum

by Stacy Loves Buffett · March 3, 2025

#113 – When Salome Plays The Drum

-by Stacy Garwood-

Some people love this song, some people do not, some people may not even know it, and therefore this post might be considered a deep dive into Jimmy’s music, but When Salome Plays The Drum has always felt captivating and interesting and tempting. It makes you really want to know more. What inspired it, what is true, or what isn’t; who was Salome, or was there ever a Salome?

“When Salome plays the drum, crowd goes deaf and dumb, swept up by dark sensations…”

When Salome Plays The Drum was released in JB’s 1982 album Somewhere Over China. It was written by a solo Jimmy, being one of three songs on this album that Jimmy was the sole composer of, the other two being Somewhere Over China and If I Could Just Get It On Paper. The album was recorded by the Coral Reefer Band, during September and October of 1981 at the Bennet House Studio in Franklin, Tennessee. The album was produced by Norbert Putnam and is the last of six albums that Putnam produced for Jimmy, which included five studio albums and the live album You Had To Be There.

The lead guitarist on this album was Barry Chance, and for this song, is credited with playing the Gut String Guitar. The choice of guitar strings seems like quite an intentional choice for this song, since most guitar strings since the forties have been made with nylon. Gut String is tied to the term Cat Gut, although most gut string was made from sheep or goat intestine, and not cat at all. The string carries a deeper resonance and vibration and perhaps that is tied to the sound that Jimmy was going for, or perhaps even ties in part to his inspiration for the song.

Barry Chance was born to music, being born in Nashville, Tennessee the son of Floyd “Lightnin” Chance, who was a bassist and studio musician who played on the last of Hank Williams, Sr’s studio sessions, and who was a member of The Grand Old Opry. He was also a member of the Nashville A-Team who earned acclaim as studio musicians in the fifties, sixties and seventies. It’s only logical that his son Barry, who played guitar, keyboards, clavinet and bass, followed in his music steps.

Barry played with Jimmy as part of the Coral Reefer’s for many years, and is noted to be a cowriter on the song Fins, thereby making him part of Jimmy Buffett music history, tied to a song that not only encourages people to wear shark fins on their heads, but also to have an entire crowd of people, ten thousand strong, hold their hands over their heads, with “fins to the left, fins to the right…” motion, which is honestly one of the most awe inspiring things to witness, whether you are part of the crowd being entertained by Jimmy, or as Jimmy often mentioned, on stage being entertained by the crowd. Barry Chance died at the age of fifty-five in 2010, but in his time in the music industry, he made a mark on the industry and certainly made a mark on Parrothead behavior. Thank you, Barry.

So, besides the unique sound of the Gut String Guitar, and hints of a seductively drumming siren, what is When Salome Plays The Drum about?

“Salome plays the drum, crowd goes deaf and dumb, swept up by dark sensations…

Partially the heat, more so it’s the beat, she moves in syncopation, gazelle on the run…

Skirts split past her thigh, boys let out a sigh, the beat begins to quicken, crowd ascends the stairs, climbin’ on the chairs, the plot begins to thicken, phasers on stun…

Take them to the carnival, (take them to the carnival), let them hear the conga, tonight the tempo feels so right, tomorrow may be wrong-a…”

When Salome Plays The Drum is one of those songs that touches on one of Jimmy’s favorite places in the world, the isle of Saint Barthelemy, commonly shortened to St. Barth’s or St. Bart’s. St. Bart’s has shown up in many of Jimmy Buffett songs, and even more of Jimmy Buffett’s stories. He camped out in the harbor at St. Barts when he first discovered the isle, soon buying a home there, and later staying in deluxe rentals on the island. St. Bart’s even stared in several songs on Jimmy’s posthumous album Equal Strain On All Parts. Jimmy even owned a hotel and disco on the island, called Au Tour de Rocher, and yes, in true Jimmy Buffett style, he turned that into a colorful and memorable song. Although St. Bart doesn’t get any mention in the lyrics of When Salome Plays The Drum, a restaurant called L’Ananas is mentioned in The Parrot Head Companion, which was part of the Boats, Beaches, Bars & Ballads song collection, and L’Ananas is most definitely a location on St. Barts.

And Salome gets a mention, too. And we’ll touch back on her a bit later.

But first, let us take a look at another Salome.

When the name Salome comes to mind, it recalls stories from the bible, of temptation and seduction and deceit and the eventual beheading of John the Baptist. Now, this song may have nothing to do with that Salome, but Jimmy was certainly raised Roman Catholic and so he undoubtably knew the story of Salome. Or some version of a story about Salome. And if he didn’t learn it in bible school, then he no doubt, as a well read and curious human, at some point in his life, was aware of Salome.

But who was Salome? To talk about her, we need to talk about John the Baptist. Some stories paint Salome as a black-hearted villain who led to the demise of John the Baptist, a Jewish preacher who was active around the Jordan River Valley during the time the bible attributes to Jesus Christ, and he is seen as a major religious figure in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. He is alternatively known as John the Forerunner, John the Immerser and John the Baptiser, and in religious tradition it is said that John baptized Jesus.

Although this isn’t a Sunday School lesson, I do enjoy history, and I want to try to recap and then get to the gritty part of the tale, which is not the life of John, but his death. His death was said to be at the hands of the court of Herod Antipas and his wife, Herodias. So, how does Salome fit in here, seen in artwork and depicted in stories and operas, as seductively dancing around John’s head on a platter? Or presenting it at a banquet while standing nearly nude in a crowd?

Well, Salome was thought to be the daughter of Herodias and her first husband, Herod II, sometimes referred to as Herod Phillip. Herod Phillip was the half-brother of Herod Antipas. Herodias divorced her first husband, Herod Antipas divorced his first wife, and they married each other. This was against Jewish tradition, because of divorce in general, but also because the Herod’s were brothers, even if only half siblings. John the Baptist, a preacher, was said to have preached strongly against this alliance of Herod Antipas and Herodias. It is claimed that in revenge, the woman scorned bit, Herodias plotted with her daughter Salome to have John the Baptist killed.

Why would Salome play a role? Was she trying to please her mother, was she out for revenge, was she tricked? Anything is possible. I mean honestly, it seems we can’t even accurately remember what happened six months ago, let alone six years ago, so certainly two thousand years ago seems difficult to be certain about anything. Let alone whether she played the drum, along with dancing the dance of the seven veils, over the still bleeding head of her mother’s enemy.

Most stories have Salome dancing at a banquet for her stepfather and mother, and this is the same banquet that John was said to have been either killed, or at least part of his body was presented to the couple while they dined on fabulous food. No matter what is truth or what is myth, Salome is most often remembered as a seductive young woman who danced and charmed and was tied to the tragic and unsettling death of a man. Fair or unfair (and it’s probably quite unfair), Salome is a name that is tied to seduction, temptation, and perhaps betrayal. Ironically, the name Salome is means “peace”, which is tied to the Hebrew word shalom. Life is full of irony, isn’t it?

I only mention this story because I am certain that Jimmy was aware of it, and since he was a crafty song writer, I am sure that he was able to tie a little truth to a little fiction, and what better name to tie to a song about a seductive drum player than Salome? Well, maybe Delilah… but that’s a whole different story.

“Gendarme closes her down, maker her leave the town, she caught the flight to Rio, nothin’ to say…

Wavin’ from the plane, pourin’ pink champagne, she toasts her loyal trio, it was a lucrative stay…

Ooh won’t you take them to the carnival, (take them to the carnival), let them hear the conga, tonight the tempo feels so right, tomorrow may be wrong-a…

Oh won’t you take them to the carnival, (take them to the carnival), let them play for hours, tonight the weather feels so right, (tomorrow) feels like showers…”

In truth, as I promised to get to at some point, the Salome of Jimmy’s song was inspired by a real person. A drummer who was part of captivating audiences at L’Ananas in St. Barts, holding a drum between her legs, and enthralling people with her skills. I can’t tell you exactly who she was, or where she went after she was in St. Barts, but Jimmy gives her credit in his Parrot Head Handbook, and writes, “Salome and her band played one year at L’Ananas, a restaurant in St. Barts, and she filled the place with tourists and locals who watcher her seductively play the drums she held between her legs. Just for the record, Salome was not thrown out of town…”

Of course, in Jimmy’s song version, Salome was chased out of town by the law and headed to Rio with her trio (of musicians), but not until she had charmed and beguiled the crowds with her seductive drumming and body language. And made a tidy bit of money at the same time.

Jimmy was, of course, a master and blending truth and fiction and putting it to music in a catchy, unforgettable way. And that is exactly what he did with When Salome Plays The Drum.

So, Jimmy’s Salome was a seductive drummer in a band, part of a trio that worked at L’Ananas for a year, at least if I read into his dedication of the song being for Salome, Freddo and Clauvis. No matter who they were and where they went, I thank them for stopping by in St. Barts and inspiring Jimmy’s song-writing soul. And I wonder if it was Freddo or Clauvis who played a Gut String guitar?

And who knows how that sexy, seductive drum playing Salome got her name, and if it was inspired in some way by the Salome that history has tied to the gruesome death of a man who crossed the wrong woman. Ah, a woman scorned…

“When Salome plays the drum, crowd goes deaf and dumb, swept up by dark sensations…”

Stacy

Please enjoy When Salome Plays The Drum. I have included links below to the studio version as well as a live album version, which I always find charming. Enjoy!

Studio Version 1982: