Sad to hear of Jimmy setting sail on towards another port-a-call (skin cancer; I can certainly relate): I’m still preparing charts for that voyage. Over the many decades he has provided so much entertainment for so many: his music, his writings, and even his motion picture presence (He joked about his efforts in what he termed a kids/young-adult film called “Hoot” in 2006. He played they affable middle school science teacher, Mr. Ryan. Basic coming-of-age faire it had a good environmental protection message and brought attention to some young talent like Logan Lerman, Brie Larson [who of course now has an Oscar to her acting credit], and Cody Linley alongside Luke Wilson and the comedy of Tim Blake Nelson).
It didn’t surprise me that he’d become a billionaire. I’d been watching his net worth go up over the decades and noticed it took a hit during the global pandemic. Post-pandemic he toured, but health slowed him down (Boy, can I relate to that too). Well Jimmy, enjoy those eternal point breaks, you’ve earned them well. We’ll think of you catching them and “hangin’ 10 as we sing the chorus from your song “That’s what Living is to Me”:
Be good and you will be lonesome
Be lonesome and you will be free
Live a lie and you will live to regret it
That's what livin' is to me
That's what livin' is to me
We’ve been lucky enough to hear him to introduce & perform “God’s Own Drunk” (aka “The Bear song” many times. I’ve been singin’ along with his tunes for so many years now, songs we “do know by heart”. Like: “A Pirate Looks at Forty” (make that 50/60/70/80; I'd often sing this as the "Preservation Pirate" at New Mexico's annual Atchaeolofy Fair); “Tin Cup Chalice”; “School Boy Heart”; “Whose the Blonde Stranger?” (occasionally, I’ll look at Meme and say “Whose Dan? and she says whose Marie?”), "Breathe In, Breathe Out", "Boats to Build", "Prince of Tides" (a tiltle I used for Jimmy), and of course his long popular “Why Don’t We Get Drunk” (a “love song from a different point of view”). Folks that have ridden with me in my 4-Runner probably noted my Sirius XM radio is usually tuned into Ch. 24, the Margaritaville channel. In May of this year I applied to be a guest DJ for their Fruitcakes segments. Here is what I told them mas-o-menos (note much of his music library is available via You Tube):
Margaritaville Radio
Longtime listener (headed to Belize on Friday): as career National Park Ranger I
wore many hats – archeologist, historian, educator/interpreter, wildland firefighter,
emergency medical technician, search & rescue responder/manager, law
enforcement office and investigator (Special Agent). Plus, of course: Parrothead.
Many a patrol singin’ Jimmy tunes. When working post-Katrina rescue & rehab
in the “Nawlins” area, I was lucky to be paired with a full-bird Captain from US
Public Health Service that was a fellow sailor & Parrothead. I told him about the time we saw Jimmy at the Sanger Theater when I worked at Jean Lafitte NHP 20+ years before.
Great concert, and of course many since (after all, I too am a “Son of a Son of a Sailor” (3rd generation Navy: WW I, WW II & Vietnam). The most recent ticket concerts being Red Rocks (2021) and Phoenix 2023: unfortunately, I had to transfer tickets to those and stream them live due to my own on-going battles with health challenges: I will prevail with PMA (positive mental attitude) and Jimmy. When I think of the many songs that Jimmy has given us, it is hard to select “just” four, but here are ones I come back to time & again:
One Particular Harbor
Cowboy in the Jungle
Fins (or Volcano)
Fruitcakes
However, if allowed I’d like to honor the many great “covers” he has provided to us over
the years (would love to do an entire “Buffett buffet” hour of covers. When I ask: “…What would Jimmy Buffett do?” (from “Five O’clock Somewhere”) I think he’d probably play “Brown Eyed Girl” and “Southern Cross” for sure (two of his more well-played covers). In addition, the quartet I’d like to play include some deceased greats:
Hey Good Lookin’ (Hank Williams)
Scarlet Begonias (Grateful Dead)
Paradise (John Prine)
Wildflowers (Tom Petty)
THANKS for your considerations, and keep-on keepin’- on…
Phil Young
NPS Ranger/Special Agent (Ret.)
Archaeologist, State of New Mexico (Ret.)
P.S. Note:
Many friends know that friend & former brother-in-law Lee Freeman was with the Strawberry Alarm Clock (he had his own “Gold Record”) and when I was in town (Burbank area) we’d check-in with each other. In about ’75 he asked what I was listening to and when I said Jimmy Buffett he had a great look of disappointment. I told him your ballads were poems & stories worth hearing. After that, there was acceptance.
I was going to be posting from Meme’s, my, Randy Crutcher’s Bali/Raja Ampat adventures, but a recent setback & hospitalization has made that medically ill-advised for me. College roomie, friend & travel compadre Randy will be photo-chronicling, and I’ll try to “be good” here…
On one of your trips Jimmy you wrote (in about 15-minutes) about a “Cheeseburger in Paradise” (from the marina at Tortola, British V.I.). When I was on St. John (post-Maria rehab assignment) I remember looking out at BVI and thinkin': “Good God Almighty Which Way Do I Steer?”
