Last Sunday, I found myself reading an 8,000 word article about a Jimmy Buffett retirement community, Latitude Margaritaville, in the New Yorker. (I was riveted.)
I didn’t know anything about Jimmy Buffett, and found myself googling, because why not waste away the day a little bit more. I was then surprised to learn that Buffett has had one hit in 40 years of music-making (“Margaritvaville,” natch).
The song was not on his first album or his second or even his third. “Margaritaville” was on his seventh album!
He wrote the song in six minutes, while drunk on margaritas.
Despite having only one hit, Buffett’s a multimillionaire with a legion of fans, a busy touring schedule, countless businesses, real estate properties, books (both fiction and nonfiction), and now, these retirement communities in Florida.
Buffett had long since given up trying to make it big by the time he wrote his most-known song. He moved to Key West, worked on a whaling boat, and wa…