At the Greek! Tumblemoose on the left, Doc on the right
For all of my regular Tumblemoose kin please forgive this off-topic post, but I thought I’d share a little about myself and how I arrived at the place I’m at.
In 1978 (criminy I’m so old…) I was working a summer job as a construction laborer. I remember sorting scrap wood piles listening to the radio. The station kept playing this song called “Margaritaville” by some guy named Jimmy Buffett. Well, I liked the song and it kinda got stuck in my head so I went and bought an album of his called “Cheeseburge in Paradise”. The songwriting phraseology was unique to say the least and I was an instant fan.
So when I went to college in the fall of ’79, fate decided that my roommate would be one “Doc” Garrett. We weren’t exactly buddies at the beginning, and I remember him threatening to shoot my “Big Ben” alarm clock because it made a tick-tock kinda noise ( hey, no clock radios then!). I’m not sure where we would have ended up if it weren’t for the fact that he found my Cheeseburger in Paradise cassette. That started a friendship that lasts even to today.
The decade I lived in Southern Cal was marked by good times, some minor tragedies and a lot of growing up. Doc and I went to see Buffett whenever he came to town and it was the best time of my life.
I’m quite a bit older now, but the wisdom I’ve garnered from Mr. Buffett’s tunes still guide me in a lot of ways. I thought I’d share a few of them:
- “Be good, and you will be lonesome. Be lonesome and you will be free. Live a lie and you will live to regret it. That’s what living is to me”
- “We are the people our parents warned us about.”
- “…And on top of all that I got married too early, cost me much more than a ring”
- “I made enough money to buy Miami, but I pissed it away so fast. Never meant to last, never meant it to last.”
- “Well he’s on his third drink before the wheels of the plane leave the ground.”
- “Still time to start a new life in the Palm trees, Ahh, Billy Clyde wasn’t insane. And if it doesn’t work out there’ll never be any doubt that the pleasure was worth all the pain.”
- “Roll with the punches, played all of his hunches, made the best of whatever came his way. What he lacked in ambition, he made up with intuition, plowin’ straight ahead, come what may.”
- ” know one day she’ll learn to make up her own rhymes, one day she’s gonna learn how to fly, oh that I won’t deny” From Little Miss Magic” – I dedicated this to Maddy, my daughter
- “He went to Paris, looking for answers, to questions that bothered him so”
- “Cause through 86 years of perpetual motion, if he likes you he’ll smile and he’ll say, ‘Jimmy some of it’s magic, some of it’s tragic but I had a good life all the way.
There you have it folks. It doesn’t matter if you’re a fan or not. These pearls always give me pause when I hear them. Sometimes a chuckle, sometimes a tear…
Happy Holidays to you all, this is my present to you…
that picture is *amazing.* those hats! that pair of shorts!
Colleen,
Hehe. Yeah, that’s me. Always on the cutting edge of fashion…
George
Oh mah nah! You’re wearing Daisy Dukes just about! I love it! In a very humorous and chaste way!
Can I admit it gave me the sniffles that you dedicated “Little Miss Magic” to your little girl.
Happy holidays to you and everyone else in Tumblemooseville.
Tracy´s last blog post..From Water to Wine
Thanks Tracy, still kinda chokes me up too.
Yeah, THOSE legs in THIS kilt…
Hehe.
And of course the best to you and yours this holiday season as well.
George
George,
Wahoo, nice shorts! Sounds like good times! I actually met Jimmy Buffet once in a very small 5 bar stool tavern. Didn’t know who he was – until of course he belted out a little Margaritaville after of course I received confirmation from one of my fellow intoxicated buds! Anywho…I digress.
My grandmother used to call me Maddy when I was a very small child – short for Matilda (yeah, my real name).
Dee Langdon – BloggerNewbie´s last blog post..How Do You Analyze Your Blog?
Hey George, a huge Buffet fan myself! Here’s a line from a very old Buffet tune that always makes me smile:
“Tryin’ to tell myself that my condition is improvin’
And if I don’t die by Thursday I’ll be roarin’ Friday night”
Keep on roarin’, have a Happy Holiday and here’s to making 2009 a great year.
Matt
Matt | Small Biz Bee´s last blog post..The Hardest Easy Question to Answer
Hi Dee,
Wow. That is so cool. I’m feelin’ like I’m one step closer to God.
Happy Holidays to you, Dee.
George
Hey Matt,
I just knew there was somethin’ special about ya.
Man, it is gonna drive me crazy which song those lyrics belong to… I know it, but the song escapes me. I think it was even on his “You had to be There” album…
Help me out, buddy!
George
Album: Havana Day Dreamin’ 1976
Song: My Head Hurts, My Feet Stink, and I Don’t Love Jesus
And I think it’s safe to say, only Buffett would sing this song!
Matt
Matt | Small Biz Bee´s last blog post..Christmas By The Numbers
Matt!
Thank you! I do love that one. I think it’s the irreverence or something…
Merry Christmas to ya!
George
I love this! I don’t see enough fellow Parrotheads on the internet. And your quote from “The Weather is Here, I wish you were Beautiful” is my favorite! A close second is “It’s a strange situation, a wild occupation,
Living my life like a song.”
Thanks for the great post. I love living in Denver so much, I’d almost forgotten the easy pleasure of the sun on my face and the sounds of seagulls and the surf. Off to find Floridays…
Hi Diane,
Thanks for dropping by. Always a pleasure to meet another Parrothead. “Coffee is strong at Cafe Dumond – donuts are too hot to touch. Just like a fool when those sweet goodies cool, I eat ’til I eat way too much…
Sometimes Buffett’s tropics are the only thing that keeps this Alaska guy sane!
By the way, I went to your site. Loved it. Nice layout and a wonderful service you are providing authors. Kudos.
Cheers
George
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Exciting article. I haven’t heard about Jimmy Buffet before, shame on me. But I liked words you quote very much, so I’ll try to find his songs. Thanks a lot. Regards.
“We are the people our parents warned us about.”- I like this quote a lot
Jimmy Buffett is really a great singer. You are lucky to have such a great “teacher”.
.-= Ashley Madison´s last blog ..FriendFinder review =-.
based on the amount of time passing from when you posted this and my response one can draw the conclusion that the sage wisdom of our margarita-ville crooner never goes out of style and is timeless!
greg urbano´s last [type] ..St Pete Photo Walk
Nice little story, but Buffett never had an album called “Cheeseburger in Paradise”. That song was from the album “Son of a Son of a Sailor”. Seems like the sort of thing a Buffett fan would remember, but then again it’s not as bad as the guy who replied above claiming to be a huge parrothead, yet spelling Buffett’s name wrong several times! I know such nit- picking is far from the free-spirited Buffett vibe I so enjoy, I mean only to point out the slight error & not to criticise. Certainly anyone whose personal philosophy on life has been influenced by Jimmy is my kind of human!