#119 – Who Gets To Live Like This

by Stacy Loves Buffett · September 1, 2025

This weekend marks an anniversary that I have not been looking forward to. It is Labor Day weekend in the United States, and most people are celebrating by potentially taking a day or two off from work, possibly camping this weekend, or at least having a barbeque with friends or family. It was also a weekend that Jimmy never missed in concert, entertaining the masses, or at least his quirky collection of fan(atics). Jimmy enjoyed his life, enjoyed his career, enjoyed his fans, and as he said so perfectly, “who gets to live like this.”

#119 – Who Gets To Live Like This

-by Stacy Garwood-

“Singing for money, playin’ for fun, How did I wind up in this band on the run?… Jack of all trades and a master of none…”

Myself, I have been a little sad, a little down, and very nostalgic as Labor Day approaches, knowing that this weekend will mark two full years and three Labor Day weekends without Jimmy Buffett in the world. In the week approaching this post, I had decided on sad, poignant ballad from Jimmy, a song that I have always loved, but never found the correct time to share. That song was Nobody Speaks To The Captain No More. Because that is how I have been feeling. (Some day, I will feature that song, because it is certainly worthy of sharing)

Yet, as the weekend kicked off with celebrating Jimmy Buffett Day on August 29, the Friday of Labor Day weekend, that song choice began to feel like it was not right. As sad as I am about his passing, as much as I miss the opportunity to see him in concert again, or catch quirky interviews on the radio or television, this weekend started feeling more like a reason to celebrate instead of a reason to mourn.

Now, the weekend that Jimmy died, I spent the entire weekend somewhere between deeply dejected and downright snotty sobbing in my favorite chair, while I listened to RadioMargaritaville and contemplated what life would be like now… a world without Jimmy Buffett. It was a weekend for mourning.

The following year, marking the first anniversary of his passing, my life had shifted dramatically. My mom, who had gone to three Jimmy Buffett concerts with me over the years, the last being to Jazz Fest in New Orleans in May of 2022, had a major stroke, followed by a brain hemorrhage, that left her spending a total of 25 days in an ICU, balancing on the edge of life and death. That year, I listened to RadioMargaritaville from a chair in an advanced care hospital after my Mom graduated from the ICU. It didn’t feel much like Labor Day, and my mind was caught in a web of uncertainty with my mom’s future, the future of our family, and how we would all find our way forward. I appreciated the music and the memories, and worried that my mom might still be closer to visiting Jimmy on the other side than hanging out here on earth with me.

So, it makes sense that my emotions for Labor Day weekend are more tied to solemn energy, sorrow, and an uncertain future. Hence, the idea that for this week, I needed to share a song that was sorrowful and solemn.

But suddenly, as the weekend arrived, I realized that Jimmy wouldn’t want me to feel that way. My mother certainly doesn’t want me to feel that way, and I don’t want to feel that way either.

Jimmy’s life is certainly a dynamic celebration of adventure and lyrics and music tied to so many musical genres that a whole new musical genre created itself to encompass Jimmy’s style. That genre has become known as Gulf and Western, and it really sums up Jimmy’s musical influences and interests.

But, after setting aside a song I was determined to use for the weekend, I was left in the doldrums, not knowing what way to proceed. But as has happened several times in the past, the music spoke to me, it raised its hand and said, “I am the song!”

And that song is Who Gets To Live Like This, which really feels like is a perfect acclamation of Jimmy’s life and the things he loved, as it encompasses so many things he enjoyed, and could enjoy because of the life and career that he built for himself.

Who Gets To Live Like This was recorded for JB’s 2020 album Life On The Flip Side. This album contains so many wonderful songs, and I have always called it “The Pandemic Gift” from Jimmy. Life felt so unreal as people settled into the period of lockdowns and uncertainty. I also think of it as the period of no toilet paper or potatoes in grocery stores. I knew there would be no concerts for me that summer, and perhaps that is why I embraced this album from Jimmy so passionately. I listened to it repeatedly. On CD, on my phone, on RadioMargaritaville. Sometimes I think this album contributed a handhold to sanity during such an unusual time in life.

Over the course of sharing Jimmy’s songs, first on my personal Facebook page and later on this blog, I have shared several songs from this album. And plan to share several more. This song demanded its turn to be shared now.

Kismet, they say! It felt like it. Kismet roughly means fate or destiny. It comes from the Arabic word qisma, meaning division, portion, or lot. It has come to mean a force or power that determines choices or the course of future events. I feel like it was kismet that I heard this song, when I did, when I was looking for a path forward and a song to share for this blog post this month.

Of course, this post has gone from being a sorrowful anniversary of the loss of Jimmy, to a true celebration of his music and the lifestyle that he shared with the world. The music and lifestyle that his fans have joyfully embraced over the years. And I am glad to share a song that really sums up, not only the things that Jimmy appreciated in his life, but that fact that he was still like a kid in wonderment that his life had led him to such fabulous experiences.

So, let us dive a little bit into this song. Jimmy cowrote this song with Mac McAnally and Lukas Nelson. Most people who know Jimmy’s music know that Mac and Jimmy had a great connection as songwriters, but also performers as humans and friends. The other cowriter on this song, Lukas Nelson, had not written with Jimmy before, but they managed to produce a song under somewhat unusual circumstances.

A little backstory first… Lukas Nelson is connected to the band he founded, called Promise Of The Real, which made a name for itself on its own right, as well as because they became the backing band for Neil Young, both in studio and on tour. Lukas has also won a Grammy award for producing the A Star Is Born soundtrack with Lady Gaga. Since 2024, Lukas has been on hiatus from Promise Of The Real and has been pursuing a solo career, which fits his unique musical expression.

So, the songwriting story goes, Jimmy had been in Hawaii, enjoying the island life in the Waikiki area of Oahu, and had a song idea inspired by the life he was living, which included surfing and fresh seafood. Lukas Nelson, who happens to be a child of the great Willie Nelson, was also in Hawaii, although he was on the island of Maui. Jimmy has said he was a “big fan” of Lukas’, as well as a friend. Through a series of emails, Jimmy and Lukas managed to flesh out much of the song, while never actually laying eyes or ears on each other during the process. According to Jimmy, at a later point, Mac came into the song’s picture and added his own talented influence to the tune. I am not sure when it was written, probably in 2019, but it became the second of fourteen songs on the album.

Lukas and Jimmy seemed to have been surprisingly good friends, considering their age difference. After Jimmy’s death, Lukas left a message of heartfelt condolences on an Instagram post, which stated that Jimmy, “always made me feel my own worth, and encouraged me to stay the course… we were kindred spirits on the same path… he was way ahead of me and helped me navigate”.

The album, Life On The Flip Side, through Jimmy’s own Mailboat Records, was produced by Mac McAnally and Michael Utley and released in May of 2020. As mentioned earlier, I have a strong connection to this album and many of the songs on it. I have already having featured The Devil I Know, Slack Tide, Hey, That’s My Wave and Down At The Lah De Dah from this album. I always felt like the album title was prophetic, since life, especially in 2020, felt like it had been flipped over like a pancake, just as easy as you please, or that we were all finally experiencing the other side of the moon. Surreal times!

Singles from this album were Down At The Lah De Dah and Who Gets To Live Like This. The album peaked at #2 on the US Billboard 200 chart and reached #1 on the US Top Country Billboard Album chart. It was Jimmy’s first studio album in seven years, and it seems like creativity was bursting at the seams with this collection of songs.

Because this song sums up the things that Jimmy appreciated and enjoyed so much, I am just going to lay all the lyrics down, a way to really experience the song that both captured a moment in Jimmy’s life while surfing in Hawaii, but also summed up an entire lifetime of earned enjoyments.

“There are waves outside my window, There are airplanes in the sky, There are ships on the horizon, And a beach always nearby, Fish tacos on the table, no surfer can resist, How did I get this lucky? Tell me who gets to live like this…

I left my inhibitions, Receding with the tide, Talking with the turtles, Lying side by side, Seeking wiser counsel on a girl I can’t resist, Pass the seaweed salad, Tell me who gets to live like this…

Singing for money, playin’ for fun, How did I wind up in this band on the run? Wake it up, make it up, shake it up, take it up, There’s more ways than one, Jack of all trades and a master of none…

With fortune or without it, For paydays or for free, More latitudes than attitudes, More everyone and less me, Just knowing what is possible, Is the ring you don’t want to miss, I’m happy to inform you, That we get to live like this, That we all get to live like this, Live like this…

Get to live like this, get to live like this, get to live like this…”

Beautifully said…

In this, the second year that Jimmy Buffett hasn’t been on this beautiful big blue ball of a world with us, and on our third Labor Day weekend without him, I appreciate that this song celebrates him and all he gave to his fans and this big, beautiful world.

Very grateful that “we all get to live like this,” enjoying the gift of Jimmy’s music.

“Get to live like this, get to live like this, get to live like this…”

Stacy

Please enjoy Who Gets To Live Like This. I have included the link below. Enjoy!