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
[edit]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
[edit]| Chart (1973) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Hot Country Songs | 58 |
Notes
[edit]- ^ 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
