Thousands of Florida Keys residents and visitors gathered on Key West’s Duval Street Sept. 1 for a second-line march paying tribute to internationally acclaimed singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett … on the one-year anniversary of his passing.
Jimmy Buffett gave four Key West concerts with his Coral Reefer Band in February 2023 — his last performances on the island. (Photo by Howard Livingston, Florida Keys News Bureau)
The procession was a highlight of the four-day “Just a Few Friends Key West” celebration in the island city where Jimmy lived during some of his most productive years — developing the “tropical rock” style and laid-back persona that helped make him a world-renowned musical icon.
Jimmy discovered Key West in the early 1970s, and its influence is widely credited with inspiring many of his most enduring songs including the signature hit “Margaritaville.”
“When Jimmy landed in Key West, he found the inspiration that formed the niche of his creative output that catapulted him into the mainstream,” said his sister Lucy Buffett, a noted restaurateur and author of several cookbooks including “Gumbo Love.”
Upon moving to the island, he wrote “I Have Found Me a Home,” with lyrics that describe riding his old red bike to “the bars and the beaches of my town.” Released in 1973, it includes the simple but heartfelt line, “You can have the rest of everything I own, ’cause I have found me a home.”
Key West — and its characters, quirky atmosphere and freewheeling lifestyle — are referenced repeatedly in Jimmy’s lyrics. His songs recall larger-than-life residents including the late Captain Tony Tarracino, an offbeat former mayor and bar owner featured in “Last Mango in Paris,” and the late gentleman smuggler Phil Clark, whose real-life exploits unfold in “A Pirate Looks at 40.” They also memorialize Key West locales like Fausto’s Food Palace, the Blue Heaven restaurant, and legendary bars Captain Tony’s and the Chart Room.
Musicians and marchers sing the late Jimmy Buffett’s “Margaritaville” during Key West’s memorial procession. From left are Keys troubadour Howard Livingston; event co-founder Paul Menta; and longtime Buffett collaborator Will Kimbrough. (Photo by Carol Shaughnessy, Florida Keys News Bureau)
“He always loved Key West, and some of his most profound music was actually written here,” stated Lucy during the events honoring her late brother. “He brought the family here every time he could, and it became our little refugee place to get away from the real world.”
The Sept. 1 second-line march featured strolling musicians, people carrying large photos of the island’s “favorite son,” and participants sporting the flower leis and offbeat headgear favored by his “Parrot Head” fans.
They traveled up Duval Street to stop beside the Margaritaville Store and Café that Jimmy launched in the 1980s. There they sang his anthemic “Margaritaville” led by a group including musician Will Kimbrough, a longtime Buffett collaborator and co-writer of his posthumous hit “Bubbles Up.”
On Friday, Aug. 30, Key West was the site of another tremendous tribute to Jimmy: the unveiling of a Florida highway sign designating historic State Road A1A as the “A1A Jimmy Buffett Memorial Highway.”
“A1A,” of course, was the name of one of his pivotal early albums — and Lucy herself unveiled the sign at the beginning of the highway on Key West’s Atlantic Ocean shoreline.
Lucy Buffett, Jimmy Buffett’s sister, unveils a highway sign designating state road A1A as the “A1A Jimmy Buffett Memorial Highway.” The designation covers segments of A1A from Key West to the Florida-Georgia state line. (Photo by Andy Newman, Florida Keys News Bureau)
The designation followed the passage of a bill in the Florida House of Representatives and Senate, and its signing by the governor. The Florida Department of Transportation is to install the new signs along A1A from Key West to the Florida-Georgia line.
After the unveiling, the “Just a Few Friends” celebration officially kicked off with Key West’s new mayor, DeeDee Henriquez, reading a proclamation that declared Aug. 30 “Jimmy Buffett Day” in the island city. (FYI, the Florida Legislature also previously designated it “Jimmy Buffett Day” throughout the state.)
Community leaders and hundreds of spectators attended the waterfront reading outside the singer/songwriter’s Shrimp Boat Sound recording studio. They were entertained by the Key West High School Band, ably performing a selection of Jimmy’s iconic tunes.
“Jimmy Buffett means everything to our community and to the city of Key West,” said Mayor Henriquez.
Referencing the title of Jimmy’s hit song with country star Alan Jackson, which became a popular catchphrase, she added, “It’s always five o’clock somewhere.”
