Jimmy Buffet (For the record I love the guy)

[AlanT]

We were in St Barts anchored out in Gustavia Harbor and I was chatting with another Hylas owner at the customs office. He had pulled up to the dock for fuel. He was laughing about an encounter his wife had with Jimmy Buffet.

They were in their 30's I guess. Their Hylas is/was named "Over Margaritas" because they made their purchasing decision over those cocktails.

Well while she was fueling the boat, an older gentleman wandered by and asked her if she had named the boat after his song. She had no idea who he was or what he meant so she nodded politely and he walked on. Husband had to tell her it was Jimmy B.

I think his appeal is age limited!

~A

[Davy J]

Originally Posted by thunderhoof

For those who have satellite radio - I have Sirius XM - there is a Margaritaville Channel where can get Jimmy 24/7. Channel 24. Don't leave shore without it.

I have Sirius on the boat. His channel is great....... if you want to hear the same songs over, and over and over.

Slightly better, but almost the same, is Kenny, with no shoes radio.......... over, and over and over, again.

[alctel]

Originally Posted by AlanT

I think his appeal is age limited!

~A

That, and I think more an American thing. I'd never heard of him before these forums

[IslandHopper]

I don't mind saying i have a huge music collection covering a wide number of musicians and genres, and can happily state I don't have a single track from Jimmy Buffet, I would rather fire up the genny and do a bit of grinding without earmuffs

[ausnp84]

Haha stuck here in locked down England over a cold winter, nothing beat heading out to the sun-warmed conservatory, cracking out the sewing machine to work on the never-ending cockpit enclosure project, all the while humming along to Jimmy’s “Live at Wrigley Field”😁

On a similar note, we managed a Caribbean cruise (ship, not our boat) early 2020 and I discovered there are Margaritaville shops for the first time.... needless to say our luggage got a bit heavier that day, and my wardrobe a bit more cringe worthy hahaha

N

[DanielI]

Margaritaville is one of those songs that is underrated due to overplaying. I mean, it is easy to get sick of hearing it so often, but it actually is a good tune, and the lyrics (“it’s my own damn fault”) actually make a worthwhile point.

There was an interesting article I read a while back (don’t remember where) about how the lifestyle in his songs is not really his lifestyle, but he’s built a bit of a commercial empire selling it. Not making him out to be a con-artist, but more a solid businessman than a carefree lounger. Made me like him more, actually.

I was first introduced to his music by a friend in college, who played it once on a lark. After that, if I dropped by he would ask what I wanted to listen to, and I would say: “Jimmy.” He would try to put on Hendrix, and then be disappointed when I corrected him.

[Chris Cringle]

It has been my experience that the closer one is to Cincinnati, the more Parrotheads one encounters. In 22 years of world-wide cruising, I only encountered one genuine P.H. West of Hawaii or east of Bermuda. They are however thick as fleas in Florida and anywhere one finds bare boat charters. When I see the guy in the super bright Aloha shirt and that parrot hat I think, "Wage-slave on vacation, trying to 'drink all the punches' and 'cram lost years into five or six days'"

[boatman1]

One poster said something to the effect that Buffett was (very successfully) marketing a fantasy: that’s not my experience. I arrived in the (Florida) Keys in 1969 as a fresh back from the ‘Nam twenty year old. The next ten to fifteen years there was memorable. I crossed paths with Jaime B there several times in environments that were quite likely templates for his stories. I had worked out several of his early tunes and played them in 1976 in New England after attending the tall ships event in New York harbor. (Sailed ip from the Keys). Most of the folks that I played these songs to were spellbound: a staid Boston cousin who might be called a “hard sell” was quite taken. If Buffett didn’t actually have personal experience with all his characters and events, he was getting it first hand from those who did. The 70’s Keys scene was really something.

[gonesail]

the fact that Buffett hails from Mobile, AL is enough for me .. my hometown as well. other than that I enjoy listening to License to Chill .. his best album

[Nani Kai]

Originally Posted by Chris Cringle

It has been my experience that the closer one is to Cincinnati, the more Parrotheads one encounters. In 22 years of world-wide cruising, I only encountered one genuine P.H. West of Hawaii or east of Bermuda. They are however thick as fleas in Florida and anywhere one finds bare boat charters. When I see the guy in the super bright Aloha shirt and that parrot hat I think, "Wage-slave on vacation, trying to 'drink all the punches' and 'cram lost years into five or six days'"

There are two Jimmy Buffetts: the man who lived the life, wrote the songs, played the gigs in hot, dark, rowdy bars smelling of over boiled shrimp and stale beer and the businessman who took an amazingly successful career and turned it into an industry behemoth. I never met the man (still have hopes our wakes will cross) but I have lived through similar adventures: bribing officials to get film gear in and out of their countries, finding romance in unexpected places, being in the belly of the storm and coming out battered but still kicking, shooting aerials from the door of all manner of civilian and military fixed and rotary wind aircraft or from the decks of inflatables, pangas, fishing boats and submarines. Once in Tonga we tried unsuccessfully to track down Jack Ackerman, an expatriated American, who started Maui Divers back in the days of collecting black coral by hand from excessive depths. Jack was on-island, he just didn't want to be found despite our staking out his favorite haunts. The point is I don't think anyone could write so insightfully about the life we sailors cherish so and the adventures, missteps and broken dreams that have punctuated those lives unless they had lived it themselves. Never met a serious, gritty, knocked-down-but-still-going-ocean adventurer that didn't connect with Jimmy. Once when at a Buffett concert I stood near the venue entrance in my Hawaiian silkie vintage aloha shirt and watched the pretenders pour in by the hundreds. Every ten minutes or so a "real deal" mariner would stroll through, we would catch each others eye and nod. Kinda like two Harley riders passing each other on the road. Not a single shark fin foam hat, eye patch or pirate flag to be seen. And FTR, Margarittaville still works for me. But if I hear "Cheeseburger in Paradise" one more time.............

[jordanbettis]

Originally Posted by alctel

That, and I think more an American thing. I'd never heard of him before these forums

You're both right. It's an age thing, and an American thing.

Jimmy's music is ok (the first ten times) but not great. Someone on here mentioned Willie Nelson. Willie's music is good enough that it can stand on its own, and get rediscovered by new generations or in new contexts.

Jimmy's not like that. He's like the Dead: you had to be there. So he's got an outrageously loyal fanbase fueled by nostalgia. No real reach beyond that.

Actually he has the opposite of reach because anyone not in the cult who spends any time near the water gets headaches when we hear that music blasting.

[Hardhead]

People love music the most that they associate with good times of the past. Every generation or so, there's a change in popular music, and then nostalgia listening rides through on the older generations. There was a time that polka music had the Jimmy Buffet spot I believe.

[Stu Jackson]

Wow, who knew?!?
Anchors, politics, religion and Jimmy Buffett.
What a dilemma.

[goguygo]

And Vegemite!


Clearly there are many folks who will not separate the Parrothead party schlock from the other numerous examples of fine songwriting. Their loss.

[ChrisJHC]

Well, I thought I’d look up this Jimmy Buffet guy and listen to his music. Never heard of him before.

All I can say is “I guess you had to be there”.
(Ducking for cover)