Sgt. Pepper In The Gumbo Pot (narration) Lyrics - Jimmy Buffett

Now I remember when I wrote that song. I was imagining being in London 

though I'd never been 

I don't know if there is a street named Rickety Lane in London 

but it sounded good to me at the time 

In those early days of my songwriting 

I was certainly feeling the effects of the british invasion 

Which was the background music to the mid-60's rise in 

counter culture that had crossed the 

Atlantic and even worked it's way to 

the mouth of the Mississippi River 

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The repetoire of the upstairs alliance was filled with songs by the 

Dave Clark Five. The Kicks, 

The Stones, Hermits Hermits, The Animals and 

of course The Beatles, 

We all wanted to look, sound and act British 

But the closest we really ever 

could get to being an international group 

was having a Canadian member 

Rick Bennett was my roommate in college, 

the bass player in my band and a life-long friend 

He is now Chair of the Toronto film school and has 

worked in the film and commercial world, 

ever since leaving the band and school 

He also directed the: Who's the blonde stranger video 

Which we filmed in Key West 

We've stayed in touch over the years and 

I always visit RB when we play Toronto as we did this summer 

Photos 

When we had finished putting together the tracks in storage 

for this collection 

I sent it to Ricky to fact check as this stuff happened a long time 

ago and sure enough he came up with a few 

bits of treasure that I had forgotten about 

and that's when I thought it would be cool to have him read this start 

Hell he lived a major part of it and since then 

he's made a pretty good living 

as an actor, director, producer and voice-over specialist 

relying on that husky Canadian voice of his 

So, without further adieu here's Mr. Rick Bennett reading 

Sgt. Pepper in the gumbo pot 

Take it away Ricky 

Hi I'm Rick Bennett, Jimmy's colleague roommate and 

the bass player in our first band, The Upstairs Alliance 

JImmy Buffett, The Beatles and Bourbon Street 

what a combination and in the summer of 1967, 

that was the combination, the stars were lining up 

In the Spring of 1967, Jimmy, myself and Benny 

formed a little band called The Upstairs Alliance 

And on Jimmy's insistence, we auditioned for and got the 

gig at a folk club called The Bayou Room on Bourbon Street 

in New Orleans 

And I'm thinking, does it get any better than that? 

We played our folk and pop tunes 

adding a few new Beatles ballads as they came along 

and usually played to pretty good crowds, then in June of '67 

the music landscape changed 

The Beatles released the album 

Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band 

That album blew us away, we had to be part of that 

It was time to go electric 

JB traded in his Martin D acoustic for the electric version 

I traded the stand-up Bass for a Fender Jazz Master 

And Benny, well she kept her old tambourine 

as fate would have it, the bar next to the Bayou Room 

was the Gunga Den, the hottest Rock 'n Roll bar on Bourbon Street 

The owner kinda liked our electric sound 

and figured our next progression should be with his bar 

So he offered us a gig, and for more money as well 

It was a no-brainer, we thought we might surprise him 

by opening with Sergeant Pepper 

Now these boys didn't always take surprises well 

Back on the College campus we made 

an after hours visit to the theatre costume department 

and 'borrowed' some outrageous Sgt, Pepper style costumes 

Now let it be noted that it was always our intent to return 

those generous gifts 

We recruited a drummer and a lead guitar player to add to our 

eclectic electric circus band 

We stayed up nights learning the lyrics and chords to Sgt, Pepper 

Jimmy carried the load, while Bennie and I did the harmonies 

We were getting ready to rock the Gunga Den a new audience 

With the new electric version of the Upstairs Alliance 

On Sunday we played our last folk set at the Bayou Room 

and with a change of wardrobe we walked into the Gunga Den 

with strobe lights flailing, electric energy prevailing, 

and Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Band ready to go 

Top quote the Beatles, it was wonderful to be there 

it certainly was a thrill 

The show was a hit 

the bar made money and we were getting some pretty good press 

The upstairs alliance became the first Sergeant Peppers 

cover band in New Orleans 

There was no going back 

Surely we would be discovered here and the road to success 

would start down Bourbon Street 

But this is the music business, fickle at best 

and there are a lot of vultures out there 

Like Jimmy, New Orleans was one of the great experiences of my life 

We didn't make it, but way back then we knew 

Jimmy was going to make it 

Why? 

Because he never entertained a plan b and as fate would have it 

Here is the wino who had something to say