Jimmy Buffet

This may take the form of a rant. I've got some energy right now, and this is a subject that really gets me riled up.

I am a Jimmy Buffet fan.

The man is a legend. And NOT because he wrote any of the following songs: Margaritaville, Cheeseburger in Paradise, Volcano, or Fins. Despite the fact that these are all good songs, they are in no way my favorite Buffet songs. If someone tells you that they are a Buffet fan, DO NOT under any circumstances, start mentioning these songs.

Conversely, if someone claims to be a Jimmy Buffet fan and starts to name these songs as their favorite... send them to me. I'll deal with them.

Jimmy Buffet is a genius... but also, in my opinion, he sold himself short.

He is a genius on two fronts. And that is where the trouble is.

Jimmy Buffet is one of the most talented song-writers living in America today. The sheer volume of his catalogue is staggering. He consistently produces albums with good songs on them, and has for 30 years. He has at least 5 albums that I would call "great." 

But, being that he is the nephew of one of the greatest financial minds on the planet, Warren Buffet, he also is very marketing savvy. Jimmy Buffet has marketed himself better than any one else I can imagine. You may argue that Elvis did better at this... but that is not the case. Elvis drove himself into bankruptcy before he died, and his heirs now make bank off his image. Buffet primarily created his fortune himself. In doing so made himself "enough money to buy Miami," as he states in "A Pirate Looks at 40." But, he also undersold his own talent. It's hard to market all of your stuff, so he had to concentrate on those songs that had the most wide public appeal, and play to those. And by god it worked. 

But, a true Buffet fan will be able to sing you songs like "Pencil Thin Mustache," "Railroad Lady," "He Went To Paris," "Death of an Unpopular Poet," and scores and scores of others. I once named over a hundred in under 20 minutes. And the ones stated in this paragraph are no where near the most obscure.

I am confident that I could pass of the lyrics to any number of Jimmy Buffet songs as legitimate poetry, in my Intro to Poetry class. But no one will believe me when I say this because all they can think about is "I LIKE MINE WITH LETTUCE AND TOMATOES!" 

Look forward to a post about how Warren Buffet made his first million. It's amazing.