Day #26 – Fins

Day #26 – Fins

I dare you not to like this song. I. Dare. You. Fins up! Fins to the left… Fins to the right…

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Original post from 9/27/2023

Day #26 – Fins

This is not the song that I planned to share today or that I prepared for, but this song raised its hand up (or fin up) this morning and demanded its turn.

“Fins to the left, fins to the right, and you’re the only bait in town.”

Like many of Jimmy’s songs, this one is full of double meanings, dark humor and adventurous souls and tropical locations. Well … Cincinnati isn’t very tropical, but every story needs a place to start!

Fins was the first single released from JB’s 1979 album Volcano, written on the quaint island of Montserrat under the shadow of a sleeping volcano. It reached 35 on the Billboard Top 100 and became an instant crowd favorite. It’s one of the “Big 8” that are almost always played at Jimmy’s live performances.

I recall the first time I seen this live in concert, 2002 in Vegas, with the whole crowd (and Jimmy) raising fins up, fins to the left, fins to the right, 17,000 strong. I was amazed at the energy this song produced from the crowd. The same energy was roaring through the crowd in 2022 under a sweltering New Orleans sun. It’s really like nothing I have ever been a part of. And I have a feeling Jimmy loved to look out on his crazy crowds while they performed for him … fins to the left … fins to the right …

I find it so bizarre that this is a song about a lovely young woman being pursued by sharks with white teeth who come out after dark, patrolling the local bars. She’s the remora (suckerfish) in a sea of fins, circling around. Really, who but Jimmy Buffett could turn such a thing into a concert phenomenon?

Shark fins are as big a part of Jimmy’s Parrothead fan base as parrots, pirates, or palm trees! There is nothing quite like a crowd of Parrotheads presenting for a concert, and trust me when I say, you will see plenty of sharks and fins of all sorts in the crowd.

Please enjoy Fins! It’s a fun one! I’ve included the link in the comments below! 

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Just to clarify, I don’t find the song itself bizarre, not at all! What I find bizarre is that the subject matter, really a girl being hit on, became a song with such a huge impact on the concert crowds, and that the people singing it the loudest in the crowd might be “sharks” themselves.

Of my many favorite images of Jimmy, several of them include him raising “fins”. To the left, to the right, and always with a big smile on his face. I know how much I enjoy the crowd at one of his concerts performing this action, entertaining ourselves and hopefully entertaining Jimmy and the band. Fins up!!!

Stacy

Please enjoy Fins. I have included the link below. Enjoy!

The link is from Jimmy’s official YouTube channel, which I have no personal affiliation with.