Jimmy Buffettt has passed. I’m not sure JB created lifestyle music - but he created a lifestyle music. What he called Gulf and Western - was about beaches and adult beverages and low-rent decadence that tapped into the psyche of millions. The Latest from Seton Motley is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
I was 21 and in the Marines. We were sitting on a beach in Camp Lejeune,, North Carolina. One of my fellow Marines pulled out a guitar and played Margaritaville. Everyone sang along. I had no idea what I had just sung but this memory stuck with me. Later that year I went to a Best Buy in Wilmington, North Carolina and bought Jimmy Buffett's Meet Me in Margaritaville greatest hits album. I listened to that 2 cd set over and over and over. Those songs stamped my heart with a lifestyle I could only dream of, and still do. I've been crying off and on all day as I listen to his music and remember stories of words and rhyme that have shaped my adult life. He came from a time when singers lived the songs they wrote. Margaritaville was real. Changes in Latitudes was real. Cheeseburger in Paradise was real. Chanson Pour Les Petits Enfants was real. Jamaica Mistaica was real. He wrote songs about things that happened to him as he traveled the world and experienced. His discography is a wellspring of inspiration for me as I continuously find myself pulling lyrics from songs that match the feelings and situations of life. I am incredibly blessed to have seen him in concert once in life with the person who has been beside me through the entire journey. ❤️ I'm going to miss him, but I'll see him "on the far side of the world."
I was 21 and in the Marines. We were sitting on a beach in Camp Lejeune,, North Carolina. One of my fellow Marines pulled out a guitar and played Margaritaville. Everyone sang along. I had no idea what I had just sung but this memory stuck with me. Later that year I went to a Best Buy in Wilmington, North Carolina and bought Jimmy Buffett's Meet Me in Margaritaville greatest hits album. I listened to that 2 cd set over and over and over. Those songs stamped my heart with a lifestyle I could only dream of, and still do. I've been crying off and on all day as I listen to his music and remember stories of words and rhyme that have shaped my adult life. He came from a time when singers lived the songs they wrote. Margaritaville was real. Changes in Latitudes was real. Cheeseburger in Paradise was real. Chanson Pour Les Petits Enfants was real. Jamaica Mistaica was real. He wrote songs about things that happened to him as he traveled the world and experienced. His discography is a wellspring of inspiration for me as I continuously find myself pulling lyrics from songs that match the feelings and situations of life. I am incredibly blessed to have seen him in concert once in life with the person who has been beside me through the entire journey. ❤️ I'm going to miss him, but I'll see him "on the far side of the world."
PS...nice tribute Seton.
God Bless Jimmy Buffet...one helluva son of a son of a sailor (and a Democrat!)