Rest in Peace Jimmy Buffett.

A Pirate looks at 76.

Woke to the news that Jimmy Buffett died yesterday at the age of 76, on the first day of September 2023. When you live in Florida as long as I have, you listen to a lot of Jimmy Buffett music. This article will be my dedication to the Mayor of Margaritaville and what his music means to me.

When I moved to Florida in 1988, I was not listening to Jimmy Buffett music. I was a Wisconsin boy looking to start a new life in a place far away from everything I had ever known before. I was a mere 24-years-old. I was a kid. I still had a lot of growing up to do; but I was ready to do exactly that. I moved to Orlando with my best friend, Mark, in a two bedroom apartment near the airport. We both worked at the airport and hung out with many new friends we met at work. Sometimes, we'd even have small parties at our apartment. Since Mark and I both played guitar, many times, we'd be asked to play songs during those parties. Well, Mark and I were both used to playing in loud bands, so our repertoire was somewhat limited to rock and punk music.

Someone asked us to play something from Jimmy Buffett. The only song I kinda knew was Margaritaville. I didn't know the words, but the chords were easy. This would not be the only time someone would ask me to play Jimmy Buffett music on my guitar.

Then I realized, "Hey, you live in Florida, you should probably learn some Jimmy Buffett songs." So, I did. I got hired to play guitar for a Christmas party gig at one of the local tourist hotels near Disney. The lead singer played bass guitar and he wanted us to play as many of Buffett's hits as we could possibly learn. It was a Christmas party, so we were limited to playing only a few Buffett songs.

In 1993, I moved in with a crazy woman. She had Jimmy Buffett's Greatest Hits - "Songs you know by heart" CD. So, I recorded it to a cassette tape, and I listened to it in my car all the time. After a few years of listening to this music, I began to understand more about why it was such important music for Florida. At least, that's how I saw it.

Everything I had ever dreamed about living on a beach near Clearwater and one day becoming a writer by day and a musician by night, was realized in the music.

I have always enjoyed Jimmy's music. Unfortunately, I never got a chance to see him play live at a concert or anything, but I knew a few friends who did get to see him. You're what's called a "Parrot head" when you go to a Jimmy Buffett concert.

In 1998, I bought "Banana Wind". This was not one of Buffett's big hit albums. I don't know if any of the songs from that CD ever actually made it to the radio back then. It didn't matter. I grew to like that CD a lot. It was like a quiet secret I got to keep. It was my own CD of Jimmy Buffett music that nobody else really knew. I used to listen to that CD on my boombox when I'd go to the beach. The music just fit the beach.

Here it is many years later, and I now have all of Jimmy Buffett's music, all of his albums and songs catalogued on my smartphone. I still make playlists of all of the songs I have always enjoyed over the years. I go to the beach, connect my bluetooth speakers to my phone and sit back and listen to all the great songs.

To me, Jimmy Buffet will always be Floridian music.

All of our music heroes are slowly leaving, one by one - and there's nothing anyone can do about it. However, we get to remember these people by the legacies they leave behind in their music. Not everyone is a Jimmy Buffett fan, and that's okay. Not everyone gets to live in Florida either. As far as I'm concerned, if you are a Floridian, you should at least like to listen to a few of his songs. It should probably be a law here. Rest in Peace, Jimmy Buffett and thank-you for the music.