Tag: jimmy-buffett

Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitude, by Jimmy Buffett.

Inspired by a day in the sun at a soccer tournament and the Cucumber Lime Gatorade I serendipitously plucked out of a gas station fridge on the way home. And my wife who recommended Jimmy Buffett to go with these refreshing flavors, and who then patiently listened to my explanation of the Times Square Margaritaville story in Eater this week and its place in the genre.

This song, and its completely original intro not at all basically the same as Margaritaville's intro, honest approach is delightfully derivative, and yet somehow leads off the album that song is on. To play off of Jaya Saxena’s analysis of that song in the Eater story, Changes in Latitude, etc., starts off with a serious attempt at reflection that is unapologetically derailed by getting drunk with a friend, and a repeated chorus of “if we couldn’t laugh we would all go insane” that translates neatly as “ignorance is bliss, and if you say otherwise, you’re crazy,” which is rather rude in the year 2021, aside from being generally small-minded, and also a reminder that this particular attitude in THE SEVENTIES led to THE EIGHTIES somewhat directly.

Also, yes, I am sunburnt in September. The Weather.

And I kinda wanna sing Come Sunday next time the Buffett urge strikes.

Margaritaville, by Jimmy Buffett.

Every time I do a really dumb song, I think to myself, that is the dumbest song I will do for this project, but then, I do one even dumber.

Growing up in Miami in the 1980s, Jimmy Buffett was unavoidable.

This song and Cheeseburger in Paradise were the gateway drugs to watching a whole Bayfront Amphitheater show on PBS or whatever. The same songs over and over again on the radio, in every restaurant, and naturally 12x as much in the Keys.

In my teenage years, I found out about Why Don’t We Get Drunk And Screw and adopted it as a countercultural anthem ok not really but still I was a pubescent boy and I liked it.

Jimmy Buffett. Sigh.

//

Messed around and eventually kinda played the right guitar riff in the solo, kinda?

Resisted the urge to add steel drums.

Barely.