Jimmy Buffett Intro: The Legend of Norman Paperman/Kinja Lyrics

By Jimmy Buffett, 1996
Jimmy Buffett explores new creative ground here, putting the two-hundred year history of Amerigo, a fictitious Caribbean island, into a Calypso number, and framing it into another song, The Legend of Norman Paperman, the theme of the show. The principal singer is the Governor of the island, and the key characters of the show sing verses about the history.

Narrator
Kinja was the name of the island when it was British. The actual name was King George The Third Island, but the islanders shortened that to Kinja. Now the name in the maps and the guidebooks is Amerigo, but everybody who still lives there still calls it Kinja. The United States acquired the island peaceably in 1940 as part of the shuffling of old destroyers and Caribbean real estate that went on between Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill. The details of the transaction were and are vague to the inhabitants. The West Indian is not exactly hostile to change, but he's not much inclined to believe in it. Meantime in a fashion Amerigo is getting Americanized. The inflow of cash is making everyone more prosperous. Most Kinjans go along cheerily with this explosion of American energy in the Caribbean. To them it seems like a new harmless and apparently endless Carnival.

Sanders
Have you ever dreamed of escaping from your dull existence to a new life on a tropical island? Our story is about a man who did it - a real person, whose true adventure has become a legend here in the Caribbean. Welcome one and all to THE LEGEND OF NORMAN PAPERMAN.

Ensemble
Dis is the legend of Norman Papuhman
Tale from the islands we'll share
Chasin illusions can get quite confusin'
Is it a dream or a nightmare

Women
Dis is the legend of Norman Papuhman
Tale from the islands we'll tell

Men
Chasin illusions can get quite confusin'
Cause heaven can turn into hell.

Sanders [Sings]
Kinja's the name of the island
It's been Kinja for over two hundred years
But remember paradise
Doesn't come without a price
Let me make that abundantly clear
Kinja, our beautiful island
In a windward archipeligo
We've been English, French and Dutch
Never seemed to matter much
Now we're officially Amerigo

Ensemble
We're Kinja
Still Kinja
Our Kinja

Sanders
(Sheila, chef at the Gull Reef Club)

Sheila
Our ancestors came in the slave ships
To work for the privileged few
Who wore Paris fashions
and lived in pink mansions
While we huddled in shacks of bamboo

Den da sugar beet bring us our freedom
With the help of our God we got through
Insurrection, beheadin's, funerals and weddin's
Hurricanes and a World War or Two

Chorus
Hurricanes and a World War or Two
We're Kinja
Still Kinja
Our Kinja

We're Kinja
Still Kinja
Our Kinja

Sanders
(Gilbert, gondolier of the Gull Reef Club)

Gilbert
Mr. Churchill had to get some destroyers
To put old hitler six feet below
FDR he pulled a nifty
Got our island for just fifty
And do limeys dey pack up and go

We dance through the streets in celebration
Da fireworks dey light up da sky
We got hotdogs and highways
Got Fords and Chevrolets
Not to mention the Forth of July

Ensemble
Not to mention the Forth of July
We're Kinja
Still Kinja
Our Kinja

We're Kinja
Still Kinja
Our Kinja

Sanders
(Senator Pullman, the island's big enchilada)

Senator Pullman
Now the Yankees, they come wid der dollars
It's a beehive of activity
Sell dem crawfish and rum
Keep dem dizzy and numb
Oh we're liken' this prosperity

We got new holidays for celebration
We got new laws, but no one complies
We got crawfish and mangos
Calypso and tangos
Ahhh, but we short on our watah supply

Ensemble
Mighty short on our watah supply

We got the Carnival
We love the Carnival
The Kinja Carnival
Carnival

We got the Carnival
Don't Stop The Carnival
We love the Carnival

And our story begins

Dis is da legend of Norman Papuhman
Tale from de tropics we'll tell
Chasin illusions can get quite confusin'
Cause heaven can turn into hell!

The legend of - NORMAN PAPERMAN