When my grandmother, Clarice Davis, passed earlier this year I took a moment to remember a specific time when she purchased me Jimmy Buffett’s “License to Chill” album. In hindsight, the album was not amazing, but for a young man it struck a chord.
Most of Jimmy Buffett’s songs were about living simply, about community, about friendship, about sad people trying to be happy for small amounts of time. As I get older, I realize that these are the things that mean the most to me; these are the people I know, the people I love, the people I consider my friends.
I rediscovered Mr. Buffett in college with “A Pirate Looks at Forty,” a song about being down and out and disgusted with oneself and about a way forward from such a state. It was the inspiration for my first novel, Storyteller, and continues to be one of my favorite songs today.
Jimmy Buffett will live forever as an honorary Gulf Coast legend, and as an astral guide in a corrupt society.
Sail on, Jimmy. Mother Ocean welcomes you home.