Poet.

His music is timeless, season-less, enduring.

Sure, margaritas and cheeseburgers are on everyone's musical menu for that first warm day in the Spring, during family cookouts, and surely those Friday-afternoons-at-five when the windows are rolled down and the volume up.  But, as he penned in "Death of an Unpopular Poet," his best work was largely unknown and unappreciated.

Jimmy didn't have a great singing voice and his guitar-playing serviced his busking well enough.  Make no mistake, his true craft went well beyond the inspiration for middle-aged men getting chaffed by wearing coconut brassieres in public.  

First and foremost, Jimmy Buffett was a poet, "A priest of the invisible," as Wallace Stephens called them.  The Beach-Head Bookworm, he was a disciple of the imaginations of Mark Twain, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, and Robert Louis Stevenson.  

The gumbo is expansive.  Stuck on "Boat Drinks"? Take a sip of "Tryin' to Reason with Hurricane Season."  Need a mental change in latitude?  Try "Far Side of the World."

Spooner's owner set him up with steak and bacon for life.  Jimmy did the same for you if you comb the tide pool.  Here are a few courses to steer ...

A WHITE SPORT COAT and a PINK CRUSTACEAN

• He Went to Paris: Warm Summer breezes, French wines and cheeses, put his ambition at bay ... 
• I Have Found Me a Home: My old red bike gets me around to the bars and the beaches of my town ...
• My Lovely Lady: She can eat her own weight up in crab meat ...
• Death of an Unpopular Poet: Growing old on steak and bacon in his doghouse ten feet 'round ...
• Cuban Crime of Passion: Anejo and knives a slashin' ...

LIVING & DYING in 3/4 TIME

• The Wino and I Know: The wino and I know the joys of the ocean, like a boy knows the joys of his milkshake in motion ...

A1A

• Presents to Send You: Thought I might sail down to Bridgetown ...
• Stories We Could Tell: I bet you it still rings like a bell ...
• A Pirate Looks at Forty: Yes, I am a pirate, two hundred years too late ...
• Migration: I'm gonna teach him how to fuss, teach him how to cuss, and pull the cork out of a bottle of wine ...
• Trying to Reason With Hurricane Season: Well, the wind is blowin' harder now, fifty knots or there abouts, there's white caps on the ocean and I'm watching for water spouts ...
• Nautical Wheelers: Everyone here is just more than contented to be living and dying in three quarter time ...
• Tin Cup Chalice: Give me oysters and beer for dinner every day of the year and I'll feel fine ...

HAVANA DAYDREAMIN'

• The Captain and the Kid: He's somewhere on the ocean now, the place he ought to be; one hand on the starboard rail, he's waving back at me ...
• Defying Gravity: I don't even know where we are, they tell me were circling a star ...
• Havana Daydreamin':  He'll be dreamin' his life away ...

CHANGES in LATITUDES, CHANGES in ATTITUDES

• Wonder Why We Ever Go Home: River gets deeper not shallow, the further you move down the stream ...
• Banana Republics: Spending those renegade pesos on a bottle of rum and a lime, singing give me some words I can dance to or a melody that rhymes ...
• Lovely Cruise: These moments we're left with, may you always remember, these moments are shared by few ...
• Biloxi: Stars can find their faces in the sea ...

SON of a SON of a SAILOR

• Son Of A Son Of A Sailor: Read dozens of books about heroes and crooks, and I've learned much from both of their styles ...
• Coast Of Marseilles: My thoughts came by like wind through my hand ...
• Cowboy In The Jungle: Forget that blind ambition and learn to trust your intuition ...
• Manana: Don't try to describe the scenery if you've never seen it ...
• African Friend: It was a pleasure and a hell of an evening, truly was our night to win ...

VOLCANO

• Treat Her Like A Lady: We're on a similar course, it's just a different source, but I'm in danger of extinction, too ...
• Chanson Pour Les Petits Enfants: The sun was rising, they'd be home by noon, humming the words to this magical tune ...
• Sending The Old Man Home: We'll only have the picture books of land and sea and foam ...
• Stranded on a Sandbar: Haven't found the answers like some that I know, I'm just stuck in fairly nice maze ...

COCONUT TELEGRAPH

• Incommunicado: You're never wastin' time, findin' the right way home ...
• Growing Older But Not Up: Let the winds of change blow over my head, I'd rather die while I'm living than live while I'm dead ...
• Island: Island, I see you in the moonlight, silhouettes of ships in the night, just make me long that much more to be like you ...
• It's My Job: That makes the day for me ...

SOMEWHERE OVER CHINA

• Somewhere Over China: 'Twas no use to talk it over, he'd be home when he got back ...
• When Salome Plays the Drum: Tomorrow may be wronga ...
• If I Could Just Get It on Paper: Life and ink they run out at the same time, or so said my old friend the squid ...

ONE PARTICULAR HARBOR

• One Particular Harbour: Like oils applied to canvas, they permeate through me ...
• Twelve Volt Man: I never got a grip in penmanship, could never make those small l's flow. Seldom found the trick to arithmetic, three plus two be faux pas ...
• Distantly in Love: I can't help but be ruled by my antiquity ...

RIDDLES in the SAND

• Knees of My Heart: We'll find a desert island on an ancient chart ...
• La Vie Dansante: Feel it all with a willing heart, every stop is a place to start if you know how to play the part with feeling ...

LAST MANGO in PARIS

• Desperation Samba (Halloween in Tijuana): Halloween in Tijuana, full moon in my eyes ...
• Last Mango in Paris: Why don't we wander and follow la vie dansante ...
• Jolly Mon Sing: They swam into the heavens - they stayed up in the sky ...

FLORIDAYS

• Creola: All the happiness and smiles, flowed around my grandma's Sunday table ...
• First Look: Now it's time for siestas and a belly full of rice and beans ...
• Nobody Speaks to the Captain No More: He was a fugitive with a pseudo name, lost his mind in a hurricane ...
• Floridays: Blue skies and ultra-violet rays, lookin' for better days ...
• If It All Falls Down: I can juggle verbs, adverbs, and nouns, I can make them dance till they all fall down ...
• No Plane on Sunday: Now we're runnin' strictly on island time ...
• When the Coast Is Clear: I come down and talk to me when the coast is clear ...

HOT WATER

• Prince of Tides: How can you tell how it used to be when there's nothing left to see ...
• Pre-You: Another time, another place ...
• King of Somewhere Hot: My personal utopia, a place to run to, where I can hide away ...
• L'Air de la Louisiane: Les ombres lougnes nos pas silents ...
• That's What Living Is to Me: The stories from my favorite books still take on many different looks ...

OFF to SEE the LIZARD

• Take Another Road: Follow the equator, like that old articulator ...
• That's My Story and I'm Stickin' to It: Wizards and lizards, I choose and I pick ...
• Why the Things We Do: Truth is stranger that fishin' it seems ...
• Off to See the Lizard: Heard it from the parrot verbalizing in the tree,heard it in the songlines of the Aborigine ...
• I Wish Lunch Could Last Forever: Make the whole day one big afternoon ...
• Mermaid in the Night: She's got a set of gills like no fish I've ever seen ...
• Changing Channels: Waitin' for their sails to fill ...

BOATS, BEACHES, BARS, & BALLADS

• Take It Back: Open season on the open seas and the captain says no prisoners, please ...
• Love and Luck: A little gris-gris keeps you safe from harm ...
• Everlasting Moon: Come outside with me, there's this moon you've got to see ...

FRUITCAKES

• Lone Palm: My garden is filled with papayas and mangos, my life is a mixture of reggaes and tangos ...
• Six String Music: You can get into Beethoven or you can groove on Jimmy Reed ...
• Love in the Library: Near Civil War History my heart skipped a beat ...
• Quietly Making Noise: Pissin' off the old kill-joys ...
• Frenchman for the Night: From a driftwood castle comes a song I've heard before ...
• Apocalypso: They say this universe is bound to blow, but I say we crank up the calypso control ...

BAROMETER SOUP

• Barometer Soup: I travel the songlines that only dreamers see, not known for predictability ...
• Barefoot Children In The Rain: Keep your raft from the riverboat, fiction over fact always has my vote ...
• Blue Heaven Rendezvous: We're weird Roman candles burning bright at both ends ...
• Jimmy Dreams: Count all your blessings, remember your dreams ...
• Lage Nom Ai: (Containing a cameo from Harrison's Nordstrom) It all depends on if you're meant to understand ...
• The Night I Painted the Sky: A bombardier, a nighttime magician ...
• Don't Chu-Know: It's the outcast in each of us ...

BANANA WIND

• Only Time Will Tell: Scales and clocks just can't be trusted, keys and locks are destined to be busted ...
• Jamaica Mistaica: We had only come for chicken, we were not a ganja plane ...
• School Boy Heart: Something like a Swiss Army knife, that's my life ...
• Cultural Infidel: Free thinkin', hoodwinkin', unblinkin' man ...
• Happily Ever After (Now and Then): Some people never find it, some only pretend ...
• False Echoes [Havana 1921]: The life of a sailor steers a wanderin' course ...

BEACH HOUSE on the MOON

• Beach House On The Moon: Like the song says, "teach your children" to go fishing with their minds ...
• I Will Play For Gumbo: Don't eat beignets, too much sugar and dough, but I will play for gumbo ...
• Spending Money: Can't have a turkey without oyster dressing ...
• Lucky Stars: Just remember there's no rewind and no replay ...
• I Don't Know And I Don't Care: I got a PBS mind in a MTV world ...
• Oysters and Pearls: Some people love to lead, some refuse to dance, some play it safely, others take a chance ...

FAR SIDE of the WORLD

• Altered Boy: Peter Pan would understand his schemes and dreams and ploys  ...
• Someday I Will: It's just sometimes I know that's the way I'm supposed to go ...
• Far Side Of The World: We have rum from the Caribbean and Burgundy from France ...
• Tonight I Just Need My Guitar: With my history of wrecks I think it's time to check the crab trap of life once more ...

A SALTY PIECE of LAND

• A Salty Piece of Land: I saddled up my seahorse with a fly-rod in my hand ...

LICENSE to CHILL

• Coast Of Carolina: These days I'm up about the time I used to go to bed, living large was once the deal, now I watch the stars instead
• Coastal Confessions: Just an altar boy coverin' his ass

TAKE the WEATHER with YOU

• Nothin' But A Breeze: I suggest we have a little cool conch salad in the shade down in old Nassau ...
• Hula Girl At Heart: Like a gecko behind a painting with hidden wisdom to impart ...
• Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On: Now you may be thinking that I was had, but this watch is never wrong ...
• Duke's On Sunday: Dancing in the sunshine, sippin' on that rose' wine ...

BUFFET HOTEL

• Turn Up The Heat And Chill The Rosé: You need some imagination to deal with temperature fluctuation ...
• Buffet Hotel: We were welcomed out of history by the wind, sand, and the stars ...
• A Lot To Drink About: I wanna flog ‘em with a buggy whip ...

SONGS from ST. SOMEWHERE

• Einstein Was A Surfer: The universe was his home break and we're still all paddlin' out ...
• I Want To Go Back To Cartagena: The importance of elsewhere is still so important to me ...
• Rue De La Guitare: Windows filled with long lost dreams, unfinished songs on rusty strings
• Tides: Seasoned with a lot of laughter, here and in the ever after with poetry and painters from my past ...
• The Rocket That Grandpa Rode: Sounds like braggin' but it's true, I'm not tryin' to big time you ...
• I Wave Bye Bye: We only sail in circles, so there's no need to cry ...
• Colour Of The Sun: For all your worldly treasures, for your battles lost and won, nothing left to measure, just you and me, and the colour of the sun ...
• Oldest Surfer On The Beach: I'll go on out beyond the breakers, sit alone, and rest awhile ...

LIFE on the FLIP SIDE

• Down at the Lah De Dah: The Pirate King buys another round and the rumors fly, mermaids are in town ...
• Who Gets to Live Like This: Just knowing what is possible is the ring you don't want to miss ...
• The Slow Lane: Volume's up and the windows down ...
• Oceans of Time: Whatever we need, we have it ...
• Hey, That's My Wave: Leave the clowns and crowds behind me ...
• The World Is What You Make It: Don't start to hit me with your "no can do", bluesin', losin', workin' up an attitude, clean up them windows, let the sun shine through ...
• Half Drunk: Like Mona Lisa gave old da Vinci that half smile, I'll paint a picture that will half convince you I'm fine ...
• Slack Tide: Find an empty hammock, take a nap in the shade ..
• Live, Like It's Your Last Day: No acts of contrition or asking for permission ...
• 15 Cuban Minutes: A sea dog nursery rhyme ...
• Book on the Shelf: So pour me another, it's good for my health ...

EQUAL STRAIN on ALL PARTS

• Bubbles Up: Pop a cork to the rough and the right, to the bright blazing days, and the sweet starry nights ...
• Audience Of One: My motivation is a standing ovation from a waggin' tail ...
• Equal Strain On All Parts: It’s worth a little time and space to understand ...
• Ti Punch Café: Beneath my telescope galaxies and nautilus shells look the same to me, so ask yourself this question, “How couldn’t it be?”...
• Portugal or PEI: Life is always better when you add a little island, a lot of oysters, love, and wine
• Columbus: With my maps and my beautiful charts ...

Wander on, tidal pool explorer!