By Mark D. Zimmerman
Singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett died a couple of weeks ago at the age of 76. Buffett’s music reflected what became known as “island escapism,” most famously as depicted in his hit song Margaritaville. In 1997 Buffett teamed up with Jewish novelist Herman Wouk to write a musical version of Wouk’s novel Don’t Stop the Carnival, which was about Norman Paperman, a Jewish New York press agent who moves to a Caribbean island to become a hotel keeper. Though the show failed, Buffett did release an album of the music. In 2021 developer Sharif El-Gamal purchased a building in New York’s Times Square with plans to convert it into a location of Buffett’s Margaritaville Resort and Restaurant. The purchase included the requirement to provide space for the Garment Center Synagogue that was already located there. This building would have been the only Margaritaville Resort with a synagogue; however, the developer reneged on the plan to house the shul, leading to a lawsuit by the synagogue which has moved to a nearby location. In collaboration with the Congress for Jewish Culture, Journalist Rohkl Kafrissen wrote a Yiddish version of what Jimmy Buffett song which was recorded by Lorin Sklamberg (of the Klezmatics) along with Yiddish singer Sasha Lurje and violinist Craig Judelman?
A. It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere, including Yiddish lyrics that translate as “Pour me something tall and strong/Make it a Slivovitz before I go meshug/It’s only half past twelve but I don’t care/It’s five o’clock in Jerusalem.”
B. Why Don’t We Get Drunk, including Yiddish lyrics that translate as “Today I dipped myself/In the ritual bath just for you,” and “Let’s skip the motzi/Come to me.”
C. Son of a Son of a Sailor, including Yiddish lyrics that translate as “As a dreamer of dreams and a travelin’ man/I have chalked up many a mile/Read dozens of books about rebbes and schnooks/And I learned much from both of their styles.”
D. Margaritaville, including Yiddish lyrics that translate as “Wasting away again in Anatevkaville/Searchin’ for my long lost shaker of schnapps.”
E. Cheeseburger In Paradise, including Yiddish lyrics that translate as “Bagel and lox in Gan Eden/Heaven on earth with an onion slice/Not too particular, not too precise/I’m just a bagel and lox in GanEden.”
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Link to answer: http://rrrjewishtrivia.com/answers-2023/jimmy-buffett-rip-answer.html