Day #46 – Woman Goin’ Crazy On Caroline Street

Day #46 – Woman Goin’ Crazy On Caroline Street

Caroline Street in Key West has become so much a part of Jimmy’s musical reputation that inside the Margaritaville restaurant in Key West, is a street sign, showing Duval and Caroline. I have also wandered along Caroline Street, looking at houses and apartments, taken many pictures while enjoying the architectural charm that Key West has to offer. I, like most of Jimmy’s fans, am enamored with this song, and therefore the street that lives on in its title.

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Original post from 10/17/2023

Day #46 – Woman Goin’ Crazy On Caroline Street

Woman Goin’ Crazy On Caroline Street was released on JB’s album Havana Daydreamin’. Just yesterday I said that I could probably share every song on that record because it contains so much great music.

I hesitated to share this song today simply because yesterday’s song was also from this album, but I’ve really been going with the flow this whole time, and this is where the flow took me this morning. The song is soft, a bit melancholy, and still manages to throw a fistfight into the lyrics.

The song also manages to fit this gray, heavy day we are having. And when the wind starts blowing forty later, that might feel like being caught in a bar brawl.

“Weather’s got the shrimpers in a frenzy, They’re horny and don’t need a good excuse, Someone yells and things just start erupting, And in a flash all hell has broken loose.”

I could talk about the potential meaning of the song, or the person and story that inspired it, but I would rather leave that up to your imagination. As usual, Jimmy paints the story with his words, accurate with some details, vague with others, and wraps it up in a beautiful melody.

This song features on Directed By Delaney, and Jimmy tells a few stories on that one, including the inspiration for this song, as well discusses his good friend Steve Goodman who has a songwriting credit on this song.

Please enjoy Woman Goin’ Crazy On Caroline Street. I will include the link in the comments below. 

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As I have wandered around Old Town Key West, I have wondered about the names of the streets, especially all the streets that have feminine names. They tickle my imagination somehow. There are several that I can think of without even looking at a map besides Caroline, such as Ann, Emma, Margaret, Elizabeth and Angela. So, who named these streets and why? Were they named after special people, or just random names pulled out of a book? I had been told once in Key West that all the female names were based on the girlfriends and wives of sailors in Key West at the time of its founding, but that seems more poetical than probable.

Here is what I found out about a few of the name origins. John Whitehead was a man who became stranded on Key West after a shipwreck in 1819. He realized the location has potential for trade and commerce, based on its geography. He passed this information on to a businessman named John Simonton (he has a street named after him, too) who purchased the property soon after the land was transferred into American ownership from Spanish Cuba. There was a bit of controversy because the land was actually sold to two men by the previous owner, and there was a scramble over who truly owned the property, but Simonton had some influential friends who helped him secure a clear deed. Simonton was from Mobile, Alabama, which I find to be an interesting coincidence, since that is Jimmy’s hometown, too.

Simonton then subdivided the island into plots and sold three plots, one of which was sold to John Whitehead, our shipwreck survivor. John Whitehead hired his brother William Whitehead to survey the property, grid out a map with streets. Several streets were named after the Whitehead siblings, including Caroline, Emma, Thomas and William.

Caroline Street is one of Key West’s oldest, since it’s one of the first to be not only mapped out, but to be graded. It does not reach the ocean on either end now, but it original maps, it had water access on both ends.

If you have spent any time in Key West, you will see that Whitehead named a street after himself, as well. It’s a smart way to weave yourself into the history of a place. And it worked, because it seems that John Whitehead spent only around eight years in Key West, but his name certainly lives on in a prominent Key West street.

So that explains the names of some of the streets I was curious about, but not all. I do know that Duval Street was named after the first acting governor of Florida territory, William Pope Duval. If anyone has some other information, I would love to hear about it, so please leave a note in the comments.

I have just come across a book about the names of the streets and their history, so perhaps I will be able to learn a little more. I do find myself curious, Until then, I hope I helped clear up the origin of at least one street, Caroline Street, beloved by Buffet fans everywhere.

Stacy

Please enjoy Woman Goin’ Crazy On Caroline Street. I have included the link below. Enjoy!

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