Jimmy Buffett “Margaritaville” released

Margaritaville Jimmy Buffett

Writer(s): Jimmy Buffett (see lyrics here) Released: February 14, 1977 First Charted: March 26, 1977 Peak: 8 US, 7 CB, 8 GR, 9 HR, 7 RR, 11 AC, 13 CW, 2 CL, 4 CN, 98 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 4.0 radio, 25.3 video, 153.42 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Jimmy Buffett was born in Mississippi in 1946. He started his career in the 1960s in Nashville as a country artist, but after moving to Key West, he established a more beach-bum persona in which he combined country, rock, folk, calypso, and pop – often focused on living in tropical paradises. Of his first six albums, only two even charted in the United States. However, in 1977, he broke through with Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes. The album reached #2 and achieved platinum status on the strength of the top-40 title song and his top-10 hit “Margaritaville.” Buffett wrote his signature song about drinking margaritas in Austin, Texas at Lung’s Cocina del Sur restaurant WK as well as the surge of tourists who flooded into Key West at the time. Buffett wrote three verses about a man at a beach resort community who “is drowning his sorrows over a failed romance.” WK He shifts from thinking it’s nobody’s fault to thinking it could be his fault to finally accepting that it is his fault but “soon his blender will finish stirring up his favorite drink and all will be well.” AMG Producer Norbert Putnam said, “it wasn’t a song – it was a movie.” SF It is an “irresistibly catchy, completely self-deprecating…guitar strumming beach bum’s declaration of purpose (or purposelessness).” AMG It captured what he said “people perceived the tropics to be.” SF Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Jimmy Buffett AMG All Music Guide SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia First posted 4/16/2023; last updated 9/16/2023.