A quick post today, and one to eulogize the recently passed Jimmy Buffett. For those unaware, Buffett died last Friday, September 1^st at the age of 76.

Buffett was the king of a subgenre that might constitute country and yacht rock to a degree. Some called it Gulf and Western, others termed it “tropical rock.” Buffett had a number of recognizable songs, like Cheeseburger In Paradise, Why Don’t We Get Drunk, and his hit duet with Alan Jackson, It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere.

But no Jimmy Buffett song is as recognizable as the strains of Margaritaville. The song is from his 1977 album Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes and the song has gone on to immorality in the decades since its release. At the time the song got to number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 13 on the Hot Country chart, and it hit number 1 on the Easy Listening chart. This was Buffett’s highest charting song overall, though It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere was a big number 1 hit on the country chart.

Jimmy Buffett would cultivate an audience through touring, gaining a fanbase known as Parrotheads who followed Buffett from town to town similar to followings like what The Grateful Dead had. He gigged pretty regularly through the years, stopping only in spots when the cancer that would eventually claim him took too much of a toll.

Margaritaville is not just a hit song, and not just a song that took on a significant cultural status – it’s also become one of the most lucrative songs of all time. It’s not the song itself that made a mint, but Buffett would extend Margaritaville branding to a chain of resorts, booze, cruises and other stuff that would net over a billion dollars.

The song Margaritaville is fairly simple in origin – one day Buffett was on the beach in Key West and wound up having a bad day – he lost a flip flop, which led to him stepping on a beer can and cutting his foot. He also lost the salt for his margaritas. He worked the incident into a song, combined with some other stuff, and Margaritaville was born.

Jimmy Buffett and Margaritaville came to exemplify the beach bum, or “island escapism” lifestyle. It became the obligation of every suburban dad in the US to plan summer trips to a beach, no matter how far. While beaches are obviously quite appealing on their own, Buffett was responsible in no small part for a boom in resort and coastline tourism through the 1980’s. The industry has only grown since then, and Buffett himself cashed in nicely on it.

Though Jimmy Buffett has now passed on, Margaritaville remains an immortal tribute to a day at the beach. I myself was never a parrothead or anything, but I can appreciate the simple joy of this song as I recall that it’s been a few decades since I’ve seen a beach or coastline. Don’t lose your salt shakers, and have one for Jimmy.