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,[7] also peaking at No. 13 on the Hot Country Songs chart.[8] Billboard ranked it number 14 on its 1977 Pop Singles year-end chart.[9] 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.
For other uses, see Margaritaville (disambiguation)."Margaritaville"
"Miss You So Badly"
February 14, 1977
November 1976
- Criteria (Miami)
- Quadrafonic Sound (Nashville)[2]
4:09 (album)
3:20 (single)
Jimmy Buffett
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.[10] 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."[11] Buffett maintained a resort chain by the same name.[12]
Origins[edit]
In an interview with Sound on Sound magazine,[13] 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.[13]
Critical reception[edit]
Record World said that "Buffett turns in a melodic performance that could give him his first big hit."[17]
"Margaritaville"
Other versions[edit]
Single edit[edit]
When "Margaritaville" was released to radio stations in 1977, the single edit ran for 3:20, cutting out the instrumental break, and the section during the third chorus and final refrain. So the song structure changed to "riff-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-riff", and the track itself was sped up at half-step. The original recording in the key of D would be E-flat.