I’ve been a Jimmy Buffett fan for thirty years. I’ve been to just one of his concerts, but it was one of the best nights of my life. I’ve bought his recordings in 8-track, cassette, LP, DVD and CD formats. For Christmas two years ago, my wife gave me a boxed set of Jimmy Buffett CD’s. I’ve read and enjoyed his books and I’ve eaten a “Cheeseburger in Paradise” at his restaurant.
I’ve dreamed of visiting “One Particular Harbor” and when I turned forty, I listened to “A Pirate Looks At Forty” every day for about three months straight. When I’ve been away from my wife on business trips, I’ve heard “Come Monday” playing in my head the whole time.
I don’t consider myself a “Parrot-Head” since I don’t dress the part nor do I follow Jimmy around the country on his tours. People in the South and particularly in Mississippi and Alabama have always felt like Jimmy was part of their own family. I graduated from the same college where Jimmy dropped out and took Fingers Taylor (one of the best harmonica players around) with him.
But today, I read a story that included a comment Jimmy made and if he really believes this, he broke my heart and I’ll never listen to another Jimmy Buffett song with the same love and affection that I’ve felt in the past. I knew Jimmy supported Obama and I looked past that. I knew that Jimmy supported Clinton and Gore and I kept listening. After all, it is still a free country (for now) and Jimmy certainly has a right to his opinion. But now his opinion is sitting squarely between him and my enjoyment of his music.
In an article published about his upcoming concert to “boost Gulf Spirits“, the Associated Press reported the following:
Buffett, a supporter of President Barack Obama, said the roots of the spill lie with the administration of former President George Bush, which was often criticized for being too cozy with the petroleum industry.
“To me it was more about eight years of bad policy before (Obama) got there that let this happen. It was Dracula running the blood bank in terms of oil and leases,” he said. “I think that has more to do with it than how the president reacted to it.”
Just for the record, I won’t be burning any of my Buffett albums and I won’t call for a boycott of Jimmy because he and I have a long history and there’s probably come a time when I’ll break out some Buffett and listen again. I realized that maybe he spoke without thinking, but Jimmy’s a sharp guy and I doubt that possibility. Unfortunately, that leaves me with only one conclusion: Jimmy really believes this crap. If that’s the case, then he and I are just going to have to agree to disagree. But that’s what really breaks my heart. While I’ve never met the guy, he’s been my friend singing me to faraway places and helping me through the roughest days.
I feel like my friend just let me down.
No, scratch that, I feel like it was one my family.
Jimmy’s entitled to his opinion, but I do believe there is a time and a place for things and I really don’t think that this was the time to go political particularly since the whole point of the article was to talk about a concert to help folks in a bad situation. I don’t think Jimmy is a bad guy, but since he supports people with his talents and his money that I do not agree with, I think my music budget would be better spent elsewhere. I’ll forgive eventually and move on. But I won’t ever be able to forget and I’ll always think twice before buying any more of his stuff.
Ironically, Jimmy sang about the effects of being on a certain scandal sheet and perhaps this song was prophetic since the Internet is now spreading his words far and wide. Perhaps, he should sit down and listen to this old favorite again.
H/T: Newsbusters.org
Related Posts:
Email To A Friend
Print This Article
Loading ...
Ditto on Jimmy Buffett being a part of the Gulf Coast fabric since the 60s! I'm from Mobile and Buffett was better known than the Mayor or even the Governor so his remarks are particularly unsettling for the locals. Jimmy would do well to pursue a bit more research. As it turns out, the Bush administration warned Obama AGAINST deep water drilling without a disaster plan but Obama pushed the Supreme Court to overturn a previous decision banning it and did it anyway. Of course, the lame stream media would never print that. Incidentally, BP funded the "free concert" and will do more in the area. Finally, I guess Buffett thinks that if we had only prevented the Wright Brothers from inventing airplanes, we would never have had plane crashes.