#parrothead

In grade school, Jimmy Buffet played the trombone in the school band. As a child he was exposed to sailing through his grandfather and these experiences would go on to influence his later music. He started playing the guitar in college and began his musical career in Nashville, Tennessee, during the late 1960s as a country artist. Jimmy later moved to Key West and began establishing the easy-going beach-bum persona he became known for.

Cheeseburger in Worker's Paradise

Margaritagrad

His was literally the music of my childhood. The first time I got in trouble at school was when my preschool teacher called my parents and told them I was singing about how I wanted "a smart woman in a real short skirt," and that was not appropriate for Lutheran preschool. Every vacation, Jimmy Buffett was playing on the tape deck or the CD player, a new album if there was one, old hits if there were not. When I got married, my father and I danced to Little Miss Magic, a song Jimmy wrote for his daughter around my age. Now I play his music for my own kid, who is old enough to be starting his own music collection (on vinyl!) and will sometimes pick up a Buffett album for me. I wish I'd had the chance to take him to a concert like my folks took me. They were a hell of a fun time.

His fame was a strange thing, he only had a handful of actual hits and they were somehow never his best songs, just the ones everybody knows. But he wrote so much good music that lives in the hearts and minds of his fans, and I am going to miss him just being in the world.

If you have a minute today, here's one of my favorite songs of his, and fitting for the day. It's worth a listen.