#117 – Captain America

by Stacy Loves Buffett · Published July 7, 2025 · Updated July 7, 2025

#117-Captain America

-by Stacy Garwood-

Happy July! Summer is here, having just rolled past the summer solstice a couple weeks before, and then the 4^th of July, with songs by Jimmy Buffett rolling through my mind. The “Fourth” holiday always brings to mind very American things, such as flags and fireworks and fun, as well as the enjoyment and relaxation of a summer picnic celebration. Captain America is a song that touches on comic book hero’s and the innocence of a bygone era, similar to lazy summer days in the sun. This song is also a reminder of how the world feels a lot differently than it did back when it was written, or even five years ago.

“Captain America we love you, Captain America you’re grand, Oh, Spiro Agnew eat your heart out, Captain America’s our man…”

Captain America was released on JB’s very first studio album, Down To Earth, which was released in August of 1970. It was made under the canopy of Barnaby Records, and is famous, or perhaps infamous, for selling less than 400 copies at the time of its release. Not a huge start for Jimmy’s recording career, yet it laid roots for what would become a massive career for a young musician from the gulf coast. The album was produced by Travis Turk.

Down To Earth is famous in Parrothead culture for being Jimmy’s first studio album, although it sounds very little like what people think of when Jimmy Buffett comes to mind. Many people who consider themselves fans of Jimmy’s music and lifestyle might not be aware of this album, or the several songs that it contains that are downright gems. This album is the first recorded version of Jimmy’s fan favorite, The Captain And The Kid, along with A Mile High In Denver, The Missionary and this song, Captain America, which might have been the song I connected with the most the first time I listened to this record.

The first time I listened to this record, it was a release called Before The Beach, which for the most part combined Jimmy’s first two albums, Down To Earth and High Cumberland Jamboree, both released under the Barnaby Records label. And to be honest, it was a bit surprising. The music sounded more like Gordon Lightfoot, John Prine or Bob Dylan’s blend of folk and country and rock, than the beaches and blender music I had fallen in love with. But I wasn’t disappointed at all, I remember being intrigued by Jimmy’s growth and development as an artist.

As mentioned, this album was released under the banner of Barnaby Records, out of Nashville, Tennessee. Barnaby Records was owned by singer Andy Williams, who had purchased the defunct Cadence Records in 1963. He promptly started his own record label, which he named after his dog, Mr. Barnaby. This gave him the rights to re-release the music published under Cadence, as well as new music. Besides Jimmy, notable artists under Barnaby Records included himself, the Everly Brothers, and comedic crooner Ray Stevens. I rather love the musical connections between Jimmy and Ray Stevens. Jimmy born in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and Ray featured the very same Pascagoula in his hit song The Mississippi Squirrel Revival.

Down To Earth might have been Jimmy’s first album, but it wasn’t his first recording experience. After Jimmy’s time in New Orleans, where he developed his talent for live music and entertaining the crowd, Jimmy had recorded a couple demos at Product Sound Studio in Mobile, Alabama in early 1969. The studio, was interesting because it was reportedly built out of used supplies that some may refer to as junk, the insulation in the walls for sound improvements came from Marina Junk in Mobile, which happened to be owned by the father of Jimmy’s first wife, Margie Washicheck’s. Everyone gets a start somewhere, even if the studio is built with reclaimed items. One of the people connected with Product Sound in Mobile was a drummer and aspiring engineer and producer named Travis Turk. Turk headed to Nashville before Jimmy, but the two men would reconnect for Jimmy’s first official album.

Jimmy’s songs, his ability to perform in front of a crowd and his history of recording a few songs, earned Jimmy a two-record deal with Barnaby Records, and it connected Jimmy with past friends, such as Travis Turk, as well as new friends, such as Norbert Putnam, who was employed by Barnaby Records before starting his own music studio in Nashville, called Quadrafonic. Norbert Putnam would later produce many of Jimmy’s hit albums of the seventies. The music industry is very much about connections, and Jimmy always seemed blessed in his connections.

Anyway, listening to a great review of the album on The Paul Leslie Hour, in an interview clip with Travis Turk, who produced Down To Earth, it is revealed that Down To Earth was never meant to be an album in terms of songs. The songs on the album were a collection of demos that the record company liked, which reportedly had been recorded in a basement studio, with musician friends, including Turk playing drums on several songs, as well as being credited with playing the kazoo. Barnaby Records was apparently happy with the collection of demos and didn’t want anything re-recorded. Buzz Cason, Travis Turk and Jimmy took what little money they got from the record company and did rerecord several of the songs, and Down To Earth Was born. Buzz Cason reports, “it didn’t sell much, but it got him on his way”. Indeed, it did get Jimmy Buffett on the way. Buzz Cason was credited with background vocals on the album,

I suppose selling less than 400 copies of a record was considered a flop in the record industry, but the company did allow Jimmy to record his second album to fulfill the contract, more of the folk-rock that characterized Jimmy’s music at the time, although the company later reported that they had lost the masters for the songs, and that no album would be pressed. Somehow, shockingly, after Jimmy had a few hits under his belt, the masters were found, and the album was released. Jimmy would often refer to High Cumberland Jubilee as “the lost album”. Travis Turk is credited with producing Jimmy’s second studio album, as well as his first.

After diving into some of the history of the album that Captain America graces, maybe the best way to get a feel of the whole song is to look at the lyrics as a whole story. Jimmy was always a crafty song writer, and this song is an early showcase of his talent as a lyricist.

“Can you tell me where I might find my friend and companion, Now he looks a little different from anything you’ve seen, He likes to beat the bass drum for justice and salvation, He’s got the brains of Einstein and the brawn of Mister Clean…

He’s a lightnin’ flash who’ll make the dash from one coast to the other, To stop a crime or lend a dime or help his aging mother, Captain America we love you, Captain America you’re grand, Oh Spiro Agnew eat your heart out, Captain America’s our man…

Now he wears a mask, his cloths are weird and some folks call him hokie, But he is hip he just can’t dig the Okie from Muskogie…

Captain will help anyone a friend or a stranger, Now number one without a gun, he’s bypassed the Lone Ranger, He’s a do do good who loves apple pie and kisses little babies, He’ll guard you against everything from atom bombs to rabies…

Captain America we love you, Captain America you’re grand, Oh, Spiro Agnew eat your heart out, Captain America’s our man…

Can you tell me where I might find my friend and companion, Now he looks a little different from anything you’ve seen, He likes to beat the bass drum for justice and salvation, He’s got the brains of einstein and the brawn of Mister Clean…

Captain America’s our man…”

There are pop culture references to Mister Clean and the Lone Ranger, to sweeter things like apple pie and kissing babies, as well as less sweet things such as atom bombs and rabies. It even nicely references Merle Haggard’s Okie From Muskogee, which was a hit in 1969. It’s probably a tidy little wrap up of many things that influenced Jimmy’s childhood as well as comic book culture, such as Captain America, and modern political references to Spiro Agnew. Or hints of Easy Rider.

At the time this song was recorded, Spiro Agnew was the Vice President of the United States, running alongside Richard Nixon in the 1968 presidential election, and serving until his resignation in 1973. The Nixon and Agnew ticket would again run for election in 1972, winning a landslide victory over George McGovern, before the world got very uncomfortable for the leaders of the free world.

Not wanting to dive too deeply into the politics of the time, I will just say that allegations were made about bribery, and an investigation ensued. Spiro Agnew resigned from his position as Vice President and stepped back from politics in general. He always maintained his innocence in regard to the charges and never changed his story. Nixon would replace Spiro Agnew with Gerald Ford. Less than two months after Agnew resigned, Nixon faced scandal when the heat of the Watergate Scandal boiled over and Nixon would also resign from the Presidency rather than face impeachment. Gerald Ford, Vice President of less than two months, would become the 38^th President of the United States, serving for three years while never actually being elected by any vote. And Spiro Agnew, who stared in a Jimmy Buffett song, missed his chance to be president by a matter of weeks. Life is certainly full of irony!

Politics is a wild arena and most of the population is just along for the ride, which seems obvious based on today’s landscape, as well as fifty years ago. I can’t say for sure why Jimmy chose to put Spiro Agnew in his song, perhaps he just had a catchy and unique name. I also don’t know exactly when Jimmy penned Captain America, but in late 1969 or in early 1970, a political cartoon showing Nixon riding a motorcycle, with strong hints of the movie Easy Rider, flying a flag stating Captain America, with Spiro Agnew along for the ride in the side-car seat. Although there is nothing to confirm my theory, it seems quite likely that Jimmy might have been inspired by this very political cartoon poster when writing this song.

Of course, Easy Rider was a movie that was both a cultural as well as political statement, with Peter Fonda’s character Wyatt going by the nickname Captain America, from his friend Billy, played by Dennis Hopper. It’s unclear in the movie if the nickname is a direct nod to the Marvel comic character, or just underlying hints related to the stars and stripe’s theme painted on Wyatt’s motorcycle. But the connection between the counter-culture movie and the Marvel character seem less than subtle.

Which leads to Captain America, of the Marvel Universe. And not the Marvel cinematic universe that we are saturated with today, but the Marvel comic book universe, which a young Jimmy Buffett must certainly been aware of. And which an early twenties-something Jimmy Buffett might have still been connected to, invigorated by Easy Rider, which came out in 1969. Jimmy was a smart guy and could craft a song with multiple layers of meanings, which I believe he did in this case.

The Captain Marvel character was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby and was first published into a comic book in December of 1940. While researching, this date surprised me, because I assumed it would have been after the start of American involvement in World War II. Either way, Captain America had become a staple of American comic culture long before the Easy Rider movie. Captain America was a regular man, Steve Rogers, before ingesting a serum that turned him in a superhuman with his synthetically induced superpowers. He is known for his flashy red, white and blue costume with a large star on his chest and his signature shield. He uses his power for helping victims of crime, fighting evil forces in the world, and perhaps helping his aging mother, at least per Jimmy’s lyrics.

Weirdly enough, both Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew are characters in the Marvel comic book world, written into the Captain America world, although Marvel is very clear that these are characters, and have nothing to do with the actual people who share the names. Life imitates fiction, or vice versa!

Richard Nixon had his side-kick Spiro Agnew, Captain America had his side-kick Bucky Barnes, and Wyatt “Captain America” had his side-kick Billy, even if their big quest was just to reach New Orleans. Do all sidekicks look at their primary partner with a little bit of longing, even perhaps jealousy? Jimmy’s lyrics hint at his version of with an “eat your heart out”, indicating a bit of jealousy or at least longing for something that is not attainable.

If I had ever had the chance to sit down with Jimmy, to ask him a few questions, I would like to think that inquiring about this song and what Jimmy was thinking about or inspired by when he wrote it would have been on my list. Probably, I would have just gushed and not made a lick of sense for the entire conversation.

Down To Earth and Captain America reach way back into the archives of Jimmy’s music and career, highlighting a different Jimmy Buffett, one that did not tie to the beach and sea cruising culture that he became known for. This is the Jimmy Buffett of folk music, or folk-rock, not-really-meant-to-be-country-music but perhaps having little flairs of it .

Touching back on my first listen to Before The Beach, the combination release that focused on Jimmy’s music before he traveled to Key West, of the songs I hadn’t heard before, Captain America was one of the songs that I connected with quite strongly. It’s catchy, upbeat and touches on pop culture references that are both fun and nostalgic. It’s an easy song to sing along with, and for me, that always makes a special connection.

Captain America was the third single that Jimmy released from Down To Earth. I have no idea where it might have reached on any radio play charts, and probably it did not. Yet, the song stands the test of time. And like many of Jimmy’s songs, it is potentially as stratified as an onion, just revealing more layers with each verse.

For anyone out there who has never taken a look at Jimmy’s very early music and albums, I hope this song inspires you to look a little deeper. And for you deep divers out there, I hope you have enjoyed this look at one of Jimmy’s very early songs.

“He’s a lightnin’ flash who’ll make the dash from one coast to the other, To stop a crime or lend a dime or help his aging mother, Captain America we love you, Captain America you’re grand, Oh Spiro Agnew eat your heart out, Captain America’s our man…”

Stacy

Please enjoy Captain America. I have included the link below. Enjoy!

1970 Studio Version: