I spent the summer of 2021 on Martha’s Vineyard. Nine weeks straight of island living. That was a first for me. We were coming off the end of COVID and it had been ages since I had visited my island home. Feeling pretty low, I called my friend Lisa on my way to work and told her that I really missed the Vineyard and all she held for me—not only the island vibe, that peace that washes over me when I board the ferry in Woods Hole but all of my Vineyard friends. Naturally, she said, “So come!” That phone call started a series of events that ended with me spending the entire summer on island. That was the summer that I truly discovered Jimmy Buffett.
Picture It…Martha’s Vineyard…2021…
Spending time on Martha’s Vineyard is not new to me. I know, this is not shocking news to anyone. I have been spending time on our beautiful island since the mid/late nineteen seventies. JAWS 2 was released in 1978, and when I was there for the first time, they were filming it. So, it was the summer of 1977. That’s a long time ago. It’s far back enough that I don’t remember life without Martha’s Vineyard. It’s hard to believe that there was a time and place when she didn’t cross my mind several times a day, let alone post a photo of her on social media—wait—time before Instagram? What is that? The reason this is significant is that music has always played a big part in my life and my trips to the Vineyard are no exception.
For our second trip, my Dad made a mixed tape called “Jane’s Tape“. It was a blend of summer-themed songs that were favourites of my Mother’s (the titular Jane). That collection has changed format over the years—it is now a playlist in my iTunes—but it has stayed with me in its role as psychological comfort food. It represents family to me in a very big way. One of the songs on that tape was Jimmy Buffett’s “Margaritaville“.
A Change In Attitude With My Change In Latitude
Back in 1996, I moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia. I lived there for four years. As it was my first time away from home, I dealt with a certain amount of homesickness in the beginning. “Jane’s Tape” helped with that a great deal. Jimmy’s “Margaritaville” was always a standout track for me on that cassette. One day, when I was going through a used CD store (remember those?), I came across “Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes”. For those of you not familiar with Jimmy’s library, that is the 1977 studio album featuring “Margaritaville”. It caught my eye that it also featured a cover of “Banana Republics” by Steve Goodman. That too was a song on “Jane’s Tape” and one of my favourites. I bought the CD.
On Martha’s Vineyard for the entire summer, away from home for an extended period of time, I found myself in a similar situation to when I first moved to Halifax. Sure, I was older, more emotionally mature so it was nowhere near as traumatic, but still I turned to “Jane’s Tape” for comfort. That tape had been synonymous with family and the Vineyard for more than forty years. This time, it reminded me how much I enjoyed that album I had purchased in Halifax so many years ago. I pulled it out—figuratively speaking—and I heard an album that I had never heard before.
I Heard The Salt Water Gospel
With “Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes”, Jimmy Buffett spoke to me like he never had in the past. “I took off for a weekend last month, just to try and recall the whole year.” That’s how the album begins. I don’t know if it was because I was coming out of Canada’s COVID lockdown or because I was basically living barefoot, always in a bathing suit, and on an island that I really started to hear Jimmy’s lyrics but I did.
I started and finished every day with a swim and I listened to “Salt Water Gospel” when I went. When Jimmy sang, “Now, there ain’t nothing wrong with putting on your Sunday best, but me I won’t be wearing nothing I can’t get wet,” I heard him loud and clear. “Yeah, I can feel the power of the salt water gospel, I’m as close to God as I can get,”—I heard him loud and clear.
Jimmy Buffett Essentials
“Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes” led me to Jimmy Buffett Essentials on iTunes. Of course, “Margaritaville” was the first track. Second was “Salt Water Gospel” although technically it is not a JB song. It is an Eli Young Band with Jimmy doing guest vocals. What followed was a series of beautiful songs filled with lyrics that reached deep into my soul. What could be better than “Cheeseburger In Paradise” when you’re eating a cheeseburger on the beach? Maybe “Something ‘Bout A Boat” when you’re surrounded by boats or literally sailing one. If that hasn’t happened to you, I highly recommend it. Maybe it’s something as simple as knowing that “Come Monday, It will Be Alright“.
Jimmy Buffett’s Essentials led me to download one album after another until before I knew it, I had Jimmy’s entire catalogue. I put them all in a playlist that I called “A Buffet of Jimmy” and I just hit shuffle. I spent nine weeks on Martha’s Vineyard that summer and Jimmy was my soundtrack. Always barefoot or in flip-flops with sand covered feet, the occasional margarita before noon (it’s five o’clock somewhere), and a tan that just couldn’t be beat, I can’t think of an artist better suited for the job.
Bubbles Up
I never fully recovered from that summer. I never intend to either. There’s something about living in a place where you go swimming in the ocean everyday, eat fresh seafood, and…well…there’s something about a boat that reminds you that maybe life isn’t all that serious. Like Jimmy says, “If we weren’t all crazy, we would go insane.”
I have never been a really dress up kind of guy but Jimmy Buffett gave me a permission structure to fully embrace my beach soul. I hate shoes; I like bright colours; I love that sunscreen that smells like piña coladas—I wear it year round. My tan? JB would be proud.
Ever since 2021, I wanted to go see Jimmy live. I wanted to meet my fellow Parrotheads and dance and sing along. I never got the chance. Jimmy Buffett died on September 1st, 2023. I still get emotional when I think about it. But if someone leaves behind a legacy of positive energy as formidable as he did, if people are as affected by him now as they always were, is he really gone? Can he ever be gone? If Jimmy Buffett left us with a posthumous album to give us coordinates to steer the ship after he left, isn’t he still here? I truly don’t see how there is any other possible answer. Jimmy Buffett was born on December 25th, 1946—what a gift. Bubbles Up.