“Cheeseburger In Paradise” by Jimmy Buffett

"Cheeseburger in Paradise" is Jimmy Buffett's hymn to the one meal a sailor dreams about, cut for his 1978 album Son of a Son of a Sailor with Norbert Putnam producing. The story behind it is pure Buffett: stuck on a boat with nothing but canned food and peanut butter, he finally made land at Roadtown on Tortola and celebrated with a cheeseburger.

The song turns that into the tale of a meat lover trying to reform on health food and sunflower seeds. It's country rock with a grin, and the trade papers dug it: Cash Box liked the bass line and the vocal, Record World the hand-clapping break. It became one of his signature tunes, opened his Songs You Know by Heart hits set, and even lent its name to a restaurant chain.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.