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God's Own Drunk

"God's Own Drunk"
God's Own Drunk.jpeg
Cover of the single
Single by Jimmy Buffett
A-side "God's Own Drunk"
Released September 16, 2011
Recorded July 23, 2011
Genre Contemporary Pop/Rock, Country rock
Length 10:10
Label Mailboat Records
Songwriter(s) Lord Buckley

"God's Own Drunk" is a monologue by Lord Buckley that musicians have since adapted into different types of songs; most notably, Jimmy Buffett, who first recorded his rendition for Living and Dying in ¾ Time and has since released a single of a live performance in 2011. Buffett's version was a concert staple and even regarded as his theme before "Margaritaville"'s popularity, until he was forced to stop playing it after getting sued by Buckley's son, Dick Buckley Jr., for copyright infringement.

Buckley's monologue and Buffett's rendition both tell a story in the first-person of a recovering alcoholic who finds himself taking care of his brother-in-law's still, eventually giving into his temptation and drinking its whiskey. In the midst of his bender, he crosses paths with a bear; who, from the narrator's drunken perspective, is a male Kodiak about 16 feet (Buckley) or 19 feet (Buffett) tall. The narrator's fearlessness interests the bear, and out of mutual curiosity, the narrator gives the bear some whiskey and names him "Buddy". The two drink the night away, and the narrator awakens to find that both Buddy and the still are gone; implying that the bear liked the whiskey so much that he stole the still.

Although Buffett did not officially record his rendition until 1974, he had been performing it since 1966 after two friends played him Buckley's 1959 Hollywood recording of Lord Buckley in Concert. Buffett and his friends were living in New Orleans at the time and were playing at a bar where the performers were required to do a rendition of Buckley's "God's Own Drunk".

In the Names and Faces section in newspapers all over the country on August 30, 1983, the following story ran:

Singer Jimmy Buffett, known for hits like "Margaritaville" and "Havana Daydreaming," has been named in an $11-million suit alleging that one of his songs was taken from a dramatic monologue by the late Richard (Lord) Buckley, an entertainer during the 1930s and 1950s. Buckley's son, Dick Buckley Jr., charged in a suit filed last Thursday in US District Court in Los Angeles that Buffett infringed on his father's copyright. Buckley charged that Buffett took parts of his father's monologue from A Tribute to Buckley and claimed it as his work in "God's Own Drunk."


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