Day #2 – Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes

by Stacy Loves Buffett · October 3, 2023

Day #2- Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes

Hands down, this is my favorite Jimmy Buffett song, although it’s hard to narrow down even a top ten, to be honest. But it remains my favorite and has a special place in my heart. This song certainly touches my soul.

On a basic level it’s truly about how peoples’ spirits and behavior change the further south they go. I do think there is some truth to that because the heat bakes people, makes things run a little slower, so you have to be a little more laid back. It’s also about escaping reality, which I think we all need to do at times. Not just going south, but stepping back from our lives, if even for a short time. Truly, it’s good for us to take a step back and relax… and then we can reset. That’s what this song says to me.

When it was first released, this song was compared many times and many ways to Margaritaville, which had been Jimmy’s previous single release (Margaritaville had climbed to 8 on the Billboard chart and 1 on the Easy Listening chart). It makes sense that comparisons would be made, but what no one probably knew at that time, was that there was no mold for Jimmy Buffett or his music. He was quite an original, and so were all of his songs.

“It’s those changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes,

Nothing remains quite the same,

With all of our running and all of our cunning,

If we couldn’t laugh, we would all go insane.”

I absolutely love the lyrics in this song. I especially love listening to the many live versions over the years, how he tweaked and changed things just a bit, to suit the mood or the audience. But he always ends with “if we weren’t all crazy, we would all go insane”. I love your kind of crazy, Jimmy!

Also, what’s not to love about “ran into a chum, with a bottle of rum and we wound up drinkin’ all night”.

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-Original post from 9/3/2023-

Day #2 of my month of tribute.

Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes is my favorite JB song, always has been, always will be. It was released in 1977 on an album with the same name. Jimmy called this one of his “Big 8” that he played at all concerts! It contains my favorite lyric “if we couldn’t laugh, we would all go insane”.

Interesting things about this single: it was the A-side of a 45, and Landfall was the B-side (no doubt I will be sharing that too), it reached 37 on the Billboard 100, but its highest rank was 6 on a Canadian Easy Listening chart.

Also interesting was that the record company insisted on edits to the single before it could be released, changing “and son of a bitches” to “some bruises, some stitches”… maybe that’s why Jimmy always put such emphasis on “son of a bitches” when he sang it live! Haha!

Another odd fact … about me … I seriously, seriously considered buying a Jeep Latitude simply because it has that word in, just because of Jimmy and a song!

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I probably would have made this the first song that I shared on this journey, except for the earworm I had with Changing Channels. But here’s another song about changing and it certainly had to be next on my list. And even if it’s Number Two on this list, it is and always be Number One in my heart!

Stacy

Please enjoy Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes. I have included the link below. Enjoy!