Day #34 – The Pascagoula Run

Day #34 – The Pascagoula Run

My Google search on Pascagoula today told me that I am 1 day and 10 hours away from Pascagoula, Mississippi … by flight! Which is not at all correct if a person shops better than Google is trying to shop for me. I might even be able to drive it in 34 hours if I only stopped to get gas and pee. I swear, Montana is not at the end of the world!

I have never been to Pascagoula, but I have been close, but I stayed on I10, and moved right onto Mobile with that bizarre tunnel under the bay that made me think I was trapped and there was no way out, until there was light again, and then onto Pensacola, Florida. It was quite a road trip, but it wasn’t nearly as much fun as Jimmy had on his Pascagoula Run.

***

Original post from 10/5/2023

Day #34 – The Pascagoula Run

Another fun one here, and a fan favorite among his Parrotheads. The Pascagoula Run was released on JB’s 1989 album Off To See The Lizard, the very same album this journey started with on Day #1.

Pascagoula, Mississippi is the gulf coast town that Jimmy was born in, and it is famous for more just birthing Jimmy into our world. One of those things is that it is known for a very bizarre crime spree, which involved someone sneaking into homes and cutting locks of hair from his female victims. Dubbed “The Phantom Barber”, the crimes did turn quite violent, with the perp also using chloroform on his victims – it’s an incredibly bizarre story, happening in 1942, four years before Jimmy was born.

Besides Jimmy, Pascagoula might be most famous as the location of Ray Stevens berserk yet religious fervor inducing squirrel in his classic Mississippi Squirrel Revival!

Jimmy wrote this song about his Uncle Billy Buffett, who I think was his Dad’s youngest brother. Billy was a sailor through and through, and that ocean gypsy lifestyle certainly appealed to a young Jimmy. So, the story of a crazy road trip with a wild uncle and a red Jaguar convertible was born. The song is fun and fast paced but also touches with nostalgia on the carefree and laid-back life on the gulf coast, it has a joyful vibe that leads to new experiences that can open up a world of possibilities.

How much is truth, how much is fiction … hard to say. But Jimmy did call his Uncle Billy a great “bad” influence and in The Parrothead Handbook, Jimmy writes “My alter boy days were done and my eyes were wide open. Thank you Uncle Bill”. So, definitely some truth!

Jimmy also penned a short story called The Pascagoula Run in his book Tales From Margaritaville, which ties to “the” incident and this song. In it, Uncle Billy tells a young Jim, “If you play, you have to pay. Don’t forget that”.

This song contains one of my personal very favorite lines in one of Jimmy’s songs, “It’s time to cross the wild meridian”.

Please enjoy The Pascagoula Run. I’ve included the link in the comments below. 

***

I am proud to say that I have survived the George Corley Wallace Tunnel in Mobile, Alabama twice. I would like to drive it again someday, with a little more appreciation and a little less “holy shit”. And this time, I will make a little detour off I10 and visit the charming gulf coast town of Pascagoula, Mississippi, and make sure I drive across the bridge that carries Jimmy’s name, the Buffett Bridge. Maybe I can get a picture of “start here”, advice from Jimmy and his grandfather, on my next great American road trip.

Stacy

Please enjoy The Pascagoula Run. I have included the link below. Enjoy!

The link is from Jimmy’s official YouTube channel, which I have no personal affiliation with.