Decades after national fame, Clifford Buckosh's 'Confusion Corner' song gets mini-revival

Stuart, recently named one of America's best small coastal towns, would seem to have everything it needs.

Except a town minstrel, which, in the wake of the recent internet revival of the "Confusion Corner" song, seems like a glaring oversight.

In case you missed Gianna Montesano's story from a few days ago, a late 1970s ballad about one of Stuart's most prominent (and confounding) landmarks has been generating a lot of buzz on social media since the the Stuart Heritage Museum posted a news clip from an old episode of Charles Kuralt's "On the Road" program to YouTube on March 11.

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The clip has since been reposted by various groups and people living along the Treasure Coast, bringing a snippet of the song featured in the episode to a new generation of Floridians.

Kuralt's program highlighted unusual slices of Americana that were found in places somewhat off the beaten path. Or, in the case of Stuart's Confusion Corner, the place where many paths converge.

If you've spent any time in Stuart, you probably have your own story about an experience driving through the spot downtown where Colorado Avenue, Flagler Street, Dixie Highway (A1A) and Ocean Boulevard all converge with the Florida East Coast Railway.

The first time I had to negotiate the intersection (while I was running late for an interview at the Stuart Heritage Museum, ironically enough), my car's GPS got so thoroughly confused it sent me on a wild goose chase through East Stuart.

I've come to accept there are two rules associated with Confusion Corner: Rule No. 1 is that whoever is in the intersection's roundabout has the right of way over all other drivers. Rule No. 2 is you're never going to get into that roundabout.

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Clifford Buckosh, a Martin County schoolteacher, wrote a song in 1978 giving voice to the frustrations many locals had with the intersection.

The song describes the plight of a driver marooned at Confusion Corner, " 'til I get it all straight in my mind." Then there's the often-repeated chorus: "Ain't waitin' for no light to shine."

Someone sent a clip of the song to Kuralt's producers, who decided to do a segment on the small town's big traffic hassle. The program aired in 1979, putting Stuart on the national map, possibly for the first time for reasons other than hurricane coverage.

Which made me wonder whatever happened to Buckosh. Well, it turns out he's alive and well, living with his wife, Becky, in a comfortable Nashville, Tenn., suburb.

And what does he think of his song's rebirth? "I think it's hilarious," he said in a telephone interview. "Maybe I was a little ahead of my time."

Singer still performing, just in more northern venues

Clifford and Becky met while both were teaching at Jensen Beach Elementary School. Clifford had been singing and writing songs since his high school days.

He penned one song about Jenguard, the giant Viking statue that serves as the school's mascot. Another song, called "Roosevelt Bridge Blues," lamented traffic jams along the old bridge while the new bridge was under construction. He's also written numerous other songs with Florida themes, including one about cane pole fishing.

"When you live around Cliff, it's like living in a musical," Becky said.

Becky's connection to Confusion Corner runs deeper than her marriage to the man who immortalized the place in song. Her father, Joe Greenlees, was a city engineer who designed the roundabout at Confusion Corner.

Becky's not sure why he came up with that particular solution, other than it seemed like an improvement over having the roads simply come together at a concrete traffic triangle.

"They just figured they needed to organize the traffic and that's how they decided to do it," she said.

Clifford's song makes reference to the dilemma planners faced: "Who put that big old triangular concrete creation in the middle of the intersection?" the lyrics ask.

When Clifford heard Kuralt was interested in recording a snippet of the song for "On the Road," he thought it might be a prank. However, a camera crew arrived at the scheduled time and Clifford performed the tune for what turned out to be a national audience.

Except neither Clifford nor Becky saw the program when it originally aired April 28, 1979.

"We couldn't see it because we were in the hospital delivering our first son, Michael," Becky said.

Catching a replay wasn't as easy as it would be today.

"Back then, when you missed something (on TV), you missed it," Clifford said.

The couple wasn't willing to pay the network $300 for a videotape of the program, so about a decade went by before they actually got around to watching it.

By then, they were living in the Nashville area and Becky was working as a public relations executive in the music business. She managed to get a copy of the program in exchange for some video of country singer Dolly Parton.

The couple had moved to the Music City in the 1980s so Clifford could further his musical career. He's still writing and recording songs, and says he once got an opportunity to perform on the Grand Ole Opry stage as part of a singing contest.

While his career hasn't yet yielded any hit tunes, he said "I'm still having fun with it."

The couple, who also work in real estate, still have family in the Stuart area and Clifford returned to sing at a the city's centennial celebration a few years ago.

Would he ever consider coming back for an encore performance of "Confusion Corner"? "I would love to," he said.

Which sounds like something the city's leaders should try to make happen. At least until they can find someone else to serve as town minstrel.

This column reflects the opinion of Blake Fontenay. Contact him via email at bfontenay@gannett.com or at 772-232-5424.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Stuart lore revisited as 'Confusion Corner' song becomes internet star