1946-2023

It’s Time To Close The Shutters, It’s Time To Go Inside
Though the career of Jimmy Buffett was almost unclassifiable other than to suggest he was a musical genre unto himself, he definitely played a part in the rock ‘n’ roll landscape over the years, a troubadour with a sense of humor and a carefree outlook on life, all of it wrapped in catchy melodies weathered by the sun.

On paper there’s no way his career should’ve lasted as long as it did, let alone be as successful as it was, as he had few hits and a style that was well outside the main thoroughfare of whatever field you wanted to place him in, but at his best he was a terrific songwriter, an enthusiastic performer and a genuine down to earth character in the truest sense of the word.

He may have made a fortune selling a lifestyle that few could enjoy 365 days a year, but he let you escape to it when you gave him the time and throughout it all was the same guy to the end that he was at the start when he was dead broke and without a job or a record contract, which is an achievement unto itself.

It’s fitting that he died on the weekend that summer unofficially comes to an end and if you spend your life wiling away on a beach it’s impossible to not hear his music floating through the salt air every one of those days adding immeasurably to the atmosphere.

We were already planning on taking the weekend off on the site for drunken hijinks on endless white beaches in paradise, but even we have to pause to say goodbye to a fellow proud layabout who managed to make work out of fun, or have fun doing what passed for work.

After three quarters of a century of non-stop adventure, these lyrics he wrote long ago – which he then seemed to defy at every turn – finally came true.

I must confess I could use some rest
I can’t run at this pace very long

Everyone should be so fortunate to wear themselves out doing what they love.