Monthly Archive: February 2024
Floridays has always felt gently captivating to me, somewhat like a lullaby. It is a song that is both reflective and mellow, and feels evocative of the earlier Key West songs that Jimmy wrote. Yet there is a quality to the lyrics that shows there has been a passage of time and life, but still helps the listener understand that the simple and beautiful life along the Florida coast was tied deeply to Jimmy’s heart and soul. This song always feels like a homecoming song, as if he realized when he was writing it, all of the things that he was perhaps missing, but certainly loved, about the state that he connected to so strongly.
Miss You So Badly is one of those Jimmy Buffett songs that has always held a special place in my heart because it mentions a well-known mountain town in the lyrics as if it was a character in a story- Missoula. Therefore, appealing to this Montana girl, even though I am very much a flat lander from the northeastern plains of the Treasure State. It is probably one of the lesser-known songs on JB’s hit album Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes, but the very first time I heard it, the mention of Missoula certainly pricked my ears and made me curious about Jimmy’s time in Montana. And it has now led me down a little trip of Montana history.
Not even six months after the loss of Jimmy Buffett, the world is now mourning another musician that did things his own way and did it well – the great country and western star Toby Keith. Both were singers and songwriters who had vision, talent and an ability to create lyrics that seems to paint pictures in our minds, whether that was boat drinks on sailing vessels drifting along tropical shores, or in gritty dive bars filled with blue collar America out for a good time, both men were true to themselves and their music. And managed to come together on a couple of occasions, with some memorable music in the mix.
“Too drunk to karaoke, too drunk to karaoke…”
This Hotel Room is one of those quirky, fun songs that I have come to associate with Jimmy’s music, and it was on one of the early albums, the iconic Havana Daydreamin’. It’s a song with a subject that most people can associate with, having spent a night or two in some roadside motel room or stacked up on the third floor of some intriguing downtown hotel. The song is another of the songs that Jimmy covered that was written by his very good friend, the immensely talented Steve Goodman.
