Jimmy Buffett passed away overnight on September 1st and as the statement released says… “Jimmy passed away peacefully on the night of September 1st surrounded by his family, friends, music, and dogs. He lived his life like a song till the very last breath and will be missed beyond measure by so many.” Born on Christmas Day in 1946, he traveled around the sun 76 times.
Sometimes the passing of a person you have never met hits you harder than you even expected it would. Jimmy’s music has been with me for a great deal of my life. It has been there in so many happy memories and it has occupied some of my empty spaces and provided support during tough times.
I was instantly drawn to the storytelling in his music and fell in love the wonderful mix a crazy fun tunes and soulful tracks hidden in many of his albums. He will always be known for Margaritaville, Come Monday, and Its Five O’clock Somewhere by so many… I love his cover of Freddy Neal’s Everybody’s Talkin, his song Tryin to Reason with the Hurricane Season, If the Phone Doesn’t Ring Its Me, Creola , Love in the Library, and of course my all-time favorite (and more well-known) A Pirate Looks at Forty.
Jimmy wrote some great books and short stories too… “Tales from Margaritaville”, “Where is Joe Merchant”, and “A Salty Piece of Land”, are all great reads, especially sitting on the beach. These stories capture characters and flavors from his music and imagination and illustrate the true storyteller that Mr. Buffett truly was…
Jimmy Buffett made this kid from Eastern Kentucky want to live by the sea, dream of the ocean, and want to be a pirate, simply through song and verse. His way of singing a story and delivering a meaning hit me early on in listening to his music and stuck with me through good times and bad, road trips, beach trips, seafood boils, drives to work, and late nights sitting out under the stars.
Jimmy’s music lives on through the millions of Parrotheads and new generations of Parrotheads. My son and nieces love his music. My last concert was Riverbend with my sister-in-law Sarah and mother-in-Law Sally a year or two before COVID. I have recently been saying that we needed to see Buffett one more time before he retired. Well, that won’t happen now, but I’m glad for the memory of my last concert.
Jimmy Buffett, thank you for the stories, the music, the memories. Sail on Sailor.
