Live Like It’s Your Last Day – Sail On Jimmy

Live, relive
Learn to forgive
Time just keeps slippin’ away
Live, relive
Learn to forgive
Live like it’s your last day

-Live Like It’s Your Last Day, Jimmy Buffett

I woke up to the news that Jimmy Buffett has died at age 76.  I know he is not my own family member, but I am truly and deeply crushed.  He may not be mine to eulogize, but I love him and what he has always stood for.  I got to meet him once and he was as lovely as his public persona.  I know he read this one blog piece I wrote about him when his 2020 concert was cancelled due to COVID, and it made me happy to know it.  I worshiped the guy for the joyous and wise words he sang while encouraging the world to get over themselves, get along and enjoy life.

Jimmy Buffett has long been the leader of the world’s only positive cult.  In the cult of Margaritaville, you could come and go as you please, but you were meant to have fun doing it and let go of your inhibitions in the name of silly fun.  The only rules in this cult are to have a blast, to be kind to those around you, and to not take yourself too seriously.  Instead of drinking toxic Kool-Aid, Buffett’s followers drink margaritas and LandShark beer and get more energized.  They do this while wearing hula skirts and coconut shell bras and absurd parrot hats and proudly so.  Buffett’s followers will not go down with his ship, they will rise up and party.

I have also worshiped Buffett for turning his lifestyle into one of the world’s most successful lifestyle brands.  As a person genetically incapable of NOT thinking about how to market things, I have mad appreciation for what he has built. Yeah, there are the alcohol brands and the clothing, but also restaurants, retirement villages, home goods, hotels, a cruise line and, ever the one to capitalize on trends, pickleball sets.  The dude knew how to turn a good thing into a great thing and made literally billions doing it.  I can’t even calculate the amount of money I spent to see him perform in places far and near, and on the goofy stuff I bought to commemorate it. I do not regret spending one single penny of it.

I am truly troubled thinking about all of the people who literally bought into the Buffett lifestyle, living at Margaritaville retirement villages.  They must be truly upset today that their muse has gone to the great beach party in the sky.  It’s going to be one hell of a wake at all of Buffett’s brand locations today.  Of course, it would be on a Saturday.  Buffett only performed on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, but Saturday is universally known as the best day to have fun; there is always Sunday to recover.  I wish there was still a Margaritaville in Sausalito, near where I live.  I would be there for certain.

I also feel such sadness for the members of Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band.  Most of them have been together performing for decades.  Many started together in 1974.  This must be such a blow.

I’m not sure what color you wear to mourn Jimmy Buffett, but it’s definitely not black.  Yellow for the sun? Beige for the sand? Blue for the ocean? Pink for the flamingos? What color is a margarita, exactly?  I have a literal container of Buffett gear that I break out for his shows. Today I will proudly wear my “WWJBD?” shirt, a gift from my best friend when we attended one of many shows in Las Vegas, where JB built a ginormous Margaritaville Café adjacent to the Flamingo Hotel, another touch of marketing brilliance. I had my 40^th birthday party there and spent an appreciable portion of the evening watching my sister try to get restaurant management to allow her to go down the giant slide inside a 3-story Margarita glass, a feature meant only for the use of performers at the venue.  Ah, the memories.  PS – WWJBD? means What Would Jimmy Buffett Do?, a nod to the lyrics of It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere and to the t-shirt I have seen worn in tribute to another charismatic leader of some renown.  Buffett has been known for bring entirely irreverent and mildly heretical, just like all my favorite people.

Jimmy famously sang these lyrics in the song Growing Older But Not Up, “I’d rather die while I’m living than live while I’m dead.”  He managed to do that and in style.  I am so grateful I very fortunately and luckily saw his very last show, which I wrote about HERE. Interestingly, it was one of the most read pieces ever in the many years of my blog.  The concert broke me out of my post-pandemic malaise and put the spirit of going out and having fun back into me after living with 3 years of COVID anxiety.  It was a true tonic.

To Buffett’s wife, children, band, and my fellow Parrotheads, may the sea wind always take you to where you want to go and may the joy of living outshine the crazy crap of everyday life.

Sail On, Jimmy.  You and your music will rock on forever in my heart and mind and that of so many.  I hope you spend eternity in that one particular harbor.

I leave you all with the full lyrics to Jimmy Buffett’s song, “Live Like It’s Your Last Day.”  It’s great advice.

 

Live Like It’s Your Last Day

Cats have nine lives and eons to play
Planets and stars are light years away
Their cosmic clock ticks and it tocks
Here in the Milky Way
Just like a whirlpool, the universe has rules
There’s no rehearsal or cosmic reversal
You can pray or stand still
Or grab one last cheap thrill
But here’s all I have to say

Live like it’s your last day
Sing karaoke and sip some Rosé
This won’t last forever
But if you’re clever
You just might sail away
And live like it’s your last day

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Fuel the jet now, don’t delay
Bucket lists are just cliché
No acts of contrition
Or asking for permission
You’ll have lots of options this way

Live, relive
Learn to forgive
Time just keeps slippin’ away
Live, relive
Learn to forgive
Live like it’s your last day

(Live)
What you want, what you dream
What you might have heard was beyond your reach
(Oh, live)
On the water, on the wind
On the move, on the edge or maybe on the beach
(Oh, just live)
For the chance or the dance
Or the new romance in every single day
(Come on and live)
For the joy or the buzz or maybe just because
I can’t think of a reason not to

Live, relive
Learn to forgive
Time just keeps slippin’ away
Live, relive
Learn to forgive
Live like it’s your last day
Time just keeps slipping away