Intro-the Legend Of Norman Paperman/kinja Lyrics - Jimmy Buffett

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. 

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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) 

Photos 

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