| Somewhere over China | |
| Type: | album |
| Artist: | Jimmy Buffett |
| Cover: | Somewhere over China.jpg |
| Released: | January 1982 |
| Recorded: | September–October 1981 |
| Studio: | Bennett House, (Franklin, Tennessee) |
| Length: | 35:18 |
| Label: | MCA MCA-5285 (US, 12") |
| Producer: | Norbert Putnam |
| Prev Title: | Coconut Telegraph |
| Prev Year: | 1981 |
| Next Title: | One Particular Harbour |
| Next Year: | 1983 |
Somewhere over China is the eleventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. It was released in January 1982 as MCA 5285 and is the last Buffett album produced by Norbert Putnam.
In addition to songs written or co-written by Buffett (two with Steve Goodman and two with Michael Utley), the album includes the John Scott Sherrill-penned "Steamer" and Frank Loesser's 1940s standard "On a Slow Boat to China." Recorded for the album but not included was "Elvis Imitators", also written by Goodman, with Buffett singing an Elvis Presley imitation with the Jordanaires on background vocals. The song was to be credited to "Freddie and the Fishsticks"[1] and it was later released on Buffett's box set, Boats, Beaches, Bars & Ballads. "I Heard I Was in Town" was also included on the box set in the Ballads section, but in a slightly different mix than what appears on Somewhere over China; it also makes its only official live recording on Buffett's 2009 live EP Live from Key West.
Record World called the single "It's Midnight and I'm Not Famous Yet" a "sharp rocker."[2]
Somewhere over China reached No. 31 on the Billboard 200 album chart. The song "It's Midnight and I'm Not Famous Yet" hit No. 32 on the new (at the time) Billboard Rock Tracks chart.
Side 1:
Side 2:
The Coral Reefer Band:
Additional Reefers: