I am a Jimmy Buffet devotee. Though I was never hard-core like some of his fans, I did have some parrot earrings and at least one cheeseburger pin. I attended three different concerts and was thoroughly entertained. Being a parrot head is a culture unto its own.
I first became aware of Jimmy when I was in college and received one of his albums as a gift. The title of the album “A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean” promised verbal hijinks. The album also contained a fan favorite called “Why Don’t We Get Drunk and Screw.” It ranked right up there with Todd Hobin’s “I Hate You (a love song).” And there was Fleetwood Mac’s “Second Hand News,” the “lay me down in the tall grass and let me do my stuff” song. All better than the disco offered in the late 70s. Dare I forget “Baba O’Riley” or “Paradise by the Dashboard Light”?
It was not long before I appreciated the genius of Buffet’s lyrics: “Where it all ends I can’t fathom my friends/If I knew I might toss out my anchor/So I cruise along always searching’ for songs/Not a lawyer a thief or a banker.” This verse from “Son of a Son of a Sailor” reminds me of where I find my motivation for writing. It’s through life experiences, observations, books, conversations.
The playful song “Fins” also carries a cautionary message. “But now, she lives down by the ocean/She’s taking care to look for sharks/They hang out in the local bars/And they feed right after dark.” As with many of his songs, there is a huge audience participation component in the chorus of “Fins” that allows for concertgoers to imitate a shark’s fin with outstretched arms and point the fin to the left or the right. Just watch out for the feeding frenzy.
His breakthrough hit “Margaritaville” contains such a variety of misheard lyrics that it’s funny to listen to a crowd sing along. There are common misheard lyrics like “I put on my flip flops/Stepped on a pop tart/ Cut my heel half through to the bone.” Uh, really? How is a pop tart able to cut your heel? The correct words are “I blew out my flip flop/Stepped on a pop top/Cut my heel had to cruise on back home.” But todays young people may not know the experience of blowing out a flip flop nor the meaning of a pop top.
Buffet was quite a writer. His book of short stories “Tales from Margaritaville” is well worth the read. The stories are as entertaining and meaningful as his songs. It’s worth the chance of a laugh.
There are loads of quirky and not so well known songs that are great as well. Some are “The Wino and I Know,” “The Great Filling Station Holdup,” “We Are the People Our Parents Warned Us About,” and my personal favorite, “If the Phone Doesn’t Ring, It’s Me.” Though “The Weather is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful” is a close runner up.
There’ve been so many laughs and so many tears surrounding Buffet’s music in my lifetime, I could fill a bathtub. His songs were guaranteed to make me smile though some were cause for sadness and reflection. I have to think lyrics from “He Went to Paris” were prescient when the war veteran in the song says “‘Jimmy, some of it’s magic, some of it’s tragic/But I’ve had a good life all the way.’”
Thank you, Jimmy, for sharing yourself with all of us. RIP
Stories Are For Eternity 