Apparently, Jimmy Buffett was in touch with his nostalgia muse when he wrote this song.  “I wish I had a pencil thin mustache, the Boston Blackie kind – a two toned Ricky Ricardo jacket and an autographed picture of Andy Divine”.  Yep… definitely nostalgic.  Buffett also mentions American Bandstand, flat tops, Errol Flynn, Disneyland, the Sheik of Araby, and Brylcreem in this tune.  He also assures us that “only jazz musicians were smokin’ marijuana”.  Ah… those were the days, my friend.

But who is this “Boston Blackie” with a mustache that is so coveted? Well, there was this chap named Jack Boyle who was convicted of robbery and served time in San Quentin.  While sitting behind bars, he created a fictional character named “Boston Blackie”, a reformed jewel thief and safecracker turned private detective.  Boyle, under the pen name “No.6066”, had his stories printed in Red Book magazine for several years before they were adapted for motion pictures.

You can’t find decent backups for this song, so I made up my own.  I took the liberty of adding some brass and a trombone (it needed something) and this is the way we performed it for years.  Now, if only I could work out that mustache thing. Personally, I’m not all that enamored with a “thin mustache”.  I was shooting for the “Dr. Zhivago” look myself, but trust me, just the mustache doesn’t help you look anything like Omar Sharif.  Can’t blame a guy for trying.  Now where’s that Ricky Ricardo jacket I had……