Margaritaville



"Margaritaville" is a 1977 song by American singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett, released on his seventh album, Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes. In the United States, "Margaritaville" reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and went to number one on the Easy Listening chart, also peaking at No. 13 on the Hot Country Songs chart. Billboard ranked it number 14 on its 1977 Pop Singles year-end chart. It was Buffett's highest charting solo single. After Buffett’s death on September 1, 2023, the song re-entered the Top 40 for the week ending September 16, 2023.

Named for the cocktail margarita, with lyrics reflecting a laid-back lifestyle in a tropical climate, "Margaritaville" has come to define Buffett's music and career. The relative importance of the song to Buffett's career is referred to obliquely in a parenthetical plural in the title of a Buffett greatest hits compilation album, Songs You Know by Heart: Jimmy Buffett's Greatest Hit(s). The name was used in the title of other Buffett compilation albums including Meet Me in Margaritaville: The Ultimate Collection and is also the name of several commercial products licensed by Buffett. The song also lent its name to the 2017 musical Escape to Margaritaville, in which it is featured alongside other Buffett songs. Continued popular culture references to and covers of it throughout the years attest to the song's continuing popularity. The song was mentioned in Alan Jackson's 2003 single "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere", on which Buffett is a featured artist, and in Blake Shelton's 2004 single "Some Beach".

"Margaritaville" has been inducted into the 2016 Grammy Hall of Fame for its cultural and historic significance. In 2023, the song was selected for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Buffett maintained a resort chain by the same name.

Origins
In an interview with Sound on Sound magazine, producer Norbert Putnam stated Buffett approached him with the concept of an album of light, carefree songs about life by the beach. Putnam encouraged Buffett to record the album at Criteria Studios in Miami, rather than Buffett's usual studio in Nashville, in order to take inspiration from Miami's easygoing beachfront lifestyle. One day during recording, Buffett complained about a bad day he recently had on the beach, which included losing one of his flip-flops on his way home from a bar, cutting his foot on a beer can pop top, and running out of salt for his margarita. Buffett was already working on a set of lyrics about the incident, to which Putnam told him, "That's a terrible idea for a song." A few days later, Buffett played a rough version of the song, then called "Wasted Away Again in Margaritaville," and Putnam and others at the studio realized it had potential as a hit.

Content
The song is about a man who spends a season at a seaside resort, and it's not what it seems. At first, it sounds like a fun, hedonistic tale about enjoying life in the sun. The man plays guitar on his front porch swing, watches tourists sunbathe, eats sponge cake, and waits for his shrimp to boil. But as the song goes on, a more somber story emerges. In the second verse, he reveals that he got a tattoo of a woman he can't remember, and in the third and final verse, he cuts his heel and ruins his flip-flops. There are two main versions of the song "Margaritaville" by Jimmy Buffett. The most common version is the 1977 studio recording, which includes the lines, "cut my heel, had to cruise on back home." In live performances, Buffett often sings an alternate version of the song, in which he replaces with, "I broke my leg twice, I had to limp on back home." The three choruses show him gradually realizing that his own actions ruined his relationship with a woman he loved. While he initially blames her, by the end of the song, he accepts responsibility for his mistakes. "Margaritaville" is a clever song with a bittersweet message about love, loss, and the search for happiness.

Buffett revealed during the recording of an episode of CMT's Crossroads with the Zac Brown Band that "Margaritaville" was actually supposed to be recorded by Elvis Presley, but Presley died the same year the song was released (he declined the offer before the song could be recorded).

Lost verse
There is a "lost verse" to the song as described by Buffett, which he often added when performing in concert. It was reputedly edited out before recording the song in order to make it more radio friendly. The song was shortened even further for the single edit:


 * Old men in tank tops,
 * Cruisin' the gift shops,
 * Checkin' out chiquitas, down by the shore
 * They dream about weight loss,
 * Wish they could be their own boss
 * Those three-day vacations can be (or "become") such a bore

Lyric confusion
There is some confusion as to whether Buffett sings "Wasted away" or "Wastin’ away" in the chorus of the song. The original unedited lyrics, that appear on the record sleeve to the Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes LP, read "Waistin [sic]. Also, most guitar tablature and sheet music read "Wastin'." Buffett never made a statement on the issue. However, he was also known to use "wasted" in some performances, as well as in the video game re-recording for Rock Band.

Critical reception
Record World said that "Buffett turns in a melodic performance that could give him his first big hit."

Single edit
The original recording of "Margaritaville" is in the key of D, but the single edit that was released to radio stations in 1977 was a half-step faster and in the key of E flat. The single edit removes the instrumental break between the second chorus and the third and final verse, and the section during the third chorus and final refrain. This song's structure was changed from "riff-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-instrumental break-verse-chorus-refrain-riff" to "riff-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-riff.", by removing a section during the third chorus and final refrain.

Cover versions
In 1999, American country singer Alan Jackson covered the song on his album Under the Influence. The cover featured Buffett singing along on the third and final verse; it also peaked at No. 63 after receiving play as an album cut.

American singer Toby Keith covered it as a duet with Sammy Hagar in 2013 for his album Drinks After Work. It appeared only on the deluxe edition of the LP. This version was also included on the Sammy Hagar & Friends album, also from 2013.

Jimmy Buffett also re-recorded this song as well as "Cheeseburger in Paradise" and "Volcano" specifically for Rock Band as downloadable content.

Parodies
In 1991, comedian Mark Eddie wrote a parody of the song titled "Marijuanaville". The song appeared on the album "Rock n' Roll Comedy Cuts Part II" (1998). In 2006, Kenan Thompson did a parody of the song during the Weekend Update segment on Saturday Night Live, where he plays a soldier who found out he was going to the U.S.-Mexico border, rather than Baghdad. When Amy Poehler asks him what his reaction was when he discovered he was going to the border, in the next shot, he has a Corona banner above him, a sombrero on his head. He is swaying a Corona beer bottle and singing, "Wasting away again not in Iraq."

In 2013, a parody has aired on the John Boy & Billy Big Show titled "Martinsville", referencing Martinsville Speedway.