#100 – Peanut Butter Conspiracy
#100 – Peanut Butter Conspiracy
-by Stacy Garwood-
Sometimes there are songs that can make a listener laugh right out loud and sing along at the same time, and Peanut Butter Conspiracy by Jimmy Buffett is exactly that kind of song. It’s humorous and irreverent and charming, which showcases some of Jimmy’s greatest songwriting abilities, all tied up in a neat package with a lyrical quality that makes the song both easy to listen to and easy to sing. And even if you have never stolen one thing from a convenience store, somehow the listener can connect to the song in a way that feels real and understanding and forgiving all at the same time.
“Who’s gonna steal the peanut butter, I’ll get the can of sardines, Runnin’ up and down the aisle of the Mini Mart, Stickin’ food in our jeans…”
“We never took more than we could eat, There was plenty left on the rack, We all swore if we ever got rich, We would pay the Mini Mart back…”
“Yes sir, yes sir…”
Peanut Butter Conspiracy was released on JB’s 1973 album White Sport Coat And A Pink Crustacean. The title of the album is a play on the Marty Robbins song A White Sport Coat (And A Pink Carnation), which was a hit in 1957. The Robbins’ written and sung song was a number one hit, and certainly must have made an impression on a young Jimmy Buffett since he used a punny version of the title for his own album, probably a combination of homage and spoof. White Sport Coat And A Pink Crustacean marks the first of Jimmy’s “Key West Phase” records, so the homage to pink crustaceans makes sense considering Jimmy’s connection to sea life culture, especially the shrimpers in Key West, not only to his newly embraced life in the Florida Keys, but also to the Alabama and Mississippi coastlines that Jimmy was raised near.
White Sport Coat And A Pink Crustacean was produced by Don Gant, who also gets credit for background vocals on the album liner as part of the Sand Key Chorale, which includes Buffett, Gant and Buzz Cason. Musical contributions include Mike Utley on piano, Doyle Grisham on pedal steel guitar, Sammy Creason on drums, and Greg “Fingers” Taylor on harmonica, all of whom were long time Coral Reefers, and a couple of them had been working with Jimmy even before the Coral Reefer Band had been dreamed up. The personal listing also includes Steve Goodman, Jimmy’s dear friend and songwriting companion, on acoustic lead guitar, and the one and only Marvin Gardens on maracas and beer cans.
It’s safe to say that the life and times of Marvin Gardens are very much a mystery. Was Marvin Gardens actually Jimmy Buffett in disguise, singing back up on his own records and moonlighting on the album covers of Jimmy’s good friend Steve Goodman, or was he a real person who just happened to have a home somewhere near Atlantic and Ventnor Avenue and between the relaxing area of the neighborhood nicknamed “Go To Jail”, who also had a short lived singing career in the early seventies in Chicago. At times, Marvin Gardens was referred to as a Drunken Calypso Poet, and has been blamed for being the inspiration for Jimmy Buffett’s Tampico Trauma and Steve Goodman’s Banana Republics. Marvin Gardens last noted sighting was with Freddy Fishsticks On A Slow Boat To China after a stint playing in a Vegas casino. Maybe some things are best left a mystery, but one thing is certain, Marvin Gardens and Jimmy Buffett have a very strong resemblance to one another, which potentially could have inspired Jimmy’s song Who’s The Blonde Stranger.
Lookin’ back at my hard luck days, I really do have to laugh, Workin’ in a dive for twenty-six dollars, Spendin’ it all on grass…
We were hungry hard-luck heroes, Tryin’ just to stay alive, We’d go down to the corner grocery, This is how we’d survive…
In 2020, the pandemic shut the world down, and that included any hopes for a planned summer tour for Jimmy Buffett. The tour was not only Jimmy’s routine summer Parrothead party, but also to promote the release of the Life On The Flip Side album, which was set for release in May. I think most performers felt a bit adrift at this time, much as we all did, but Jimmy and his daughter did something to help Jimmy stay connected to his fan base. They released a series of interviews of Jimmy by his youngest daughter Sarah Delaney Buffett, with the two of them discussing his songs that people did not know that well, or at all. I admit that I knew them all and could sing along to everyone, both before and after. As a play on his first greatest hits album Songs You Know By Heart, they titled this video series Songs You Don’t Know By Heart. These interviews included stories about the songs, as well as a solo acoustic performance of Jimmy doing each of his songs. In some cases, he hadn’t played the songs in so long, he needed some refreshing, or even to completely relearn a few of them.
Those interviews are a treasure, not just to Jimmy Buffett fans around the world, but to the world in general. They also inspired what would become an acoustic album that includes the songs from those interviews, which included the 1973 gem and fan favorite, Peanut Butter Conspiracy.
The video interview features Jimmy in his home studio, answering questions about the shoplifting song that he said was written about his early days of performing while he lived in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Jimmy attended college at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, and while there, he was working on the beginning of his musical dream career. Jimmy’s college roommate and good friend was Ricky Bennett. Jimmy sang and played lead, while Ricky Bennett played bass in Jimmy’s first band, The Upstairs Alliance.
“It was a two-man operation, Had it all down on a note, Ricky would watch that big round mirror, And I’d fill up my coat…”
“Then we’d head for the check-out aisle, With a lemon and a bottle of beer, Into the car, got to make it on home, Suppertime’s getting near…”
It is Ricky that stars alongside Jimmy in Peanut Butter Conspiracy. In the Directed By Delaney interviews, Jimmy describes Ricky as 6’2”, about 220 pounds, which made it easy for Jimmy to hide his nefarious food liberation deeds behind his linebacker sized friend. After acquiring what was usually some product they could make into a sandwich, usually ham or turkey or hotdogs, they would purchase a little something at the counter.
After his stint with Jimmy in The Upstairs Alliance, which did play on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Ricky Bennett pursued a career in film, became a noted director and ended up as the Chair of the Toronto Film School. He remained a friend for life and even directed the video for Jimmy’s 1985 single Who’s The Blonde Stranger. Ricky Bennett passed away in 2019, but his contribution to Jimmy’s life and times has not been forgotten, and his name will forever live on in the lyrics of Peanut Butter Conspiracy.
“I guess every good picker has had some hard times, I sure had my share, It’s really kinda funny to laugh at ‘em now, But I don’t want to go back there…”
“So every now and then when I’m in the grocery, I’ll take a little but not much, ‘Cause you never know when those hard times’ll hitcha, And I don’t want to lose my touch…”
Jimmy goes on to mention in his interview with Delaney, that the song is indeed based on a true story, and he mentions his college roommate Ricky, and that they were having a lot of fun playing music, but not making any money. So, “We were shoplifting, that’s what we were doing, in the Mini Mart”. He also points out in this interview, and in several live performances of this song, that he is beyond the statute of limitations. His humor and charm while singing the lyrics that include them having to shoplift because they spent all their money on “grass” is quite entertaining and he goes on to state, “I haven’t stolen anything since then” in spite of the implication in the song lyrics.
A great question has been asked multiple times over the years, and probably thought of by listeners to this humorous song more time than can be counted is “Did Jimmy ever pay that Mini Mart back?” We know that his career improved enough that it was certainly a doable payback. And Delaney asked this question too. And according to Jimmy, he did indeed pay the Mini Mart back.
He is vague about the year, but reports that one night he and the band were on tour, traveling by bus, moving from one gig to another, probably traveling between Nashville and New Orleans, and at the time they were on Interstate 59 traveling south, and that he was discussing this song and incident with Greg “Fingers” Taylor on the bus, and Jimmy decided he was going to pay that Mini Mart back. Right then. But the store was closed because it was either very late at night or very early in the morning, so Jimmy put several hundred dollars in an envelope and left it at the door. He considers that this paid his debt off, and “I felt better about the whole thing”.
I have seen the amount of money listed as either $200 or $300, but the amount doesn’t really matter. What matters is that indeed, Jimmy tried to make it right with the Mini Mart.
And that brings one more thing up about this whole song and story. Is it Mini Mart or Minit Mart? The song lyrics clearly state Mini Mart, but lyrics have been wrong on Jimmy’s albums before, including the great controversy of “mustard” or “Muenster” on Jimmy’s Cheeseburger In Paradise. Well, in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, there are both Mini Mart’s and Minit Mart’s, but which one is the real shop that was the scene of the crime?
In 2023, a Minit Mart in Hattiesburg was mentioned as being the location that Jimmy and Ricky were stealing luncheon meat from, but that all was forgiven. They were even sponsoring a giveaway contest where you were enrolled in a contest by stopping in at any Minit Mart in the Hattiesburg area and purchasing a jar of peanut butter, with prizes to be given away at a later date. I salute them for smart marketing, and proceeds benefitted a food pantry, which is a great thing.
But a little research into the Minit Mart chain, indicates that the first Minit Mart was opened in Lexington, Kentucky by a father and son named Ralph and Fred Higgins in 1967, which by the end of the sixties had expanded to six locations in the Lexington, Kentucky area. Lexington, Kentucky and Hattiesburg, Mississippi are over 600 miles apart, and they are clearly not neighbors. The chain ended up expanding to multiple stores in multiple states, but it seems this did not start until 1972. I can’t say when the first Minit Mart ended up in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, but it does not seem like there could have been one there in the late sixties when Jimmy was writing songs about stealing peanut butter and sardines. To give the corporation credit, Minit Mart has grown to have almost three hundred stores under their banner, which is a huge accomplishment, but this trail of evidence makes it unlikely that Jimmy ever shoplifted from one of their stores.
Or may it was neither a Mini Mart nor a Minit Mart, but some neighborhood grocery store who’s name just didn’t sound as good as Mini Mart did in the lyrics. That is a possibility too.
But the official lyrics say Mini Mart, and since Jimmy’s states Mini Mart in multiple videos over the years, including his Directed By Delaney interview, I am inclined to believe it was indeed a Mini Mart, and not a Minit Mart. And he paid that store back, in a cash stuffed envelope at the doorway, and that’s the story that I am sticking with for this colorful and humorous song.
And one more refrain…
“So, who’s gonna steal the peanut butter, I’ll get the can of sardines, Runnin’ up and down the aisle of the Mini Mart, Stickin’ food in our jeans…”
“We never took more than we could eat, There was plenty left on the rack, We all swore if we ever got rich, We would pay the Mini Mart back…”
“Yes sir, yes sir, We would pay the Mini Mart back, Yes sir, Yes sir, We would pay the Mini Mart back…”
This is one of my favorite songs of Jimmy’s and I am honestly shocked that I haven’t shared the story behind this quirky song before now. But perhaps it was just waiting for the right time to be highlighted, and with this week’s song checking off #100 on my blog list of songs, it seems that a special song was needed as a focus of this milestone, and Peanut Butter Conspiracy was the special song for this special milestone.
In honor of Jimmy’s “couple of hundreds”, I have included a “couple” versions of Peanut Butter Conspiracy, including the original studio version from 1973 and the acoustic version from 2020, as well as the lovely Directed By Delaney video interview that highlight Jimmy both telling stories and singing and playing his own very special music.
I hope you enjoy each and every version of this fun-tastic song!
Stacy
Please enjoy Peanut Butter Conspiracy. I have included links below, from his recorded album versions as well as the Directed By Delaney Interview. Enjoy!
1973 Studio Version:
2020 Acoustic Album Version:
2020 Directed By Delaney Interview:
The links are from Jimmy’s official YouTube channel, which I have no personal affiliation with.
Other links that might be of interest:
Behind The Song: Jimmy Buffett, “The Peanut Butter Conspiracy” – American Songwriter
Jimmy and Delaney Buffett Share Some ‘Songs You Don’t Know by Heart’ – Newsweek
The Sun Will Never Set On The Spirit Of Jimmy Buffett | Dave Hoekstra
Sgt. Pepper in the Gumbo Pot (Narration) Lyrics Jimmy Buffett( James William Buffett ) ※ Mojim.com
