In the days immediately following, I wrote a ton, trying to describe his effect on my family, only to delete it all. Others have said it better and the rest can't really be caught in words. I will say this: the day we moved away from Havre MT, my 5 year old daughter looked at the clear blue sky and said "It's a ragtop day!"
What made the news especially weird for us is that it came on the morning of a family wedding. My brother Bill's fake* son was married on Sept. 2. We were in the strange position of celebrating a truly happy event we'd been looking forward to for years while part of each of us went into mourning. But you know what? That's kind of perfect. One can NOT contemplate the life and music of Buffett and be sad. So FINS UP! and party!!
The wedding was in the early afternoon, with an hour between the end of the ceremony and the reception so about 2 dozen of us went to a nearby Applebee's for cheeseburgers and margaritas in between.
"Margaritas at 2 in the afternoon?" someone asked.
"It's five o'clock somewhere." someone else replied.
"today, it's five o'clock everywhere."
When we all had our margaritas, Zach stood and offered this toast
" 'Follow in my wake, you've not that much at stake
For I have plowed the seas, and smoothed the troubled waters
Come along and let's have some fun, the hard work has been done
We'll barrel role into the sun, just for starters.' To Jimmy!"
I saw a guy on the far side of the restaurant watching us. He raised his glass and tipped his head as well. Five O'clock everywhere, indeed.
If the verse that Zach read sounds familiar to you, it's the opening verse to Jimmy's song 'Barometer Soup' but it's really just Jimmy's take on Matthew 11:28-30.
Ask any Parrothead what the 8th deadly sin is and they'll shout "PIZZA!"
The reception was at a wonderful, gorgeous outdoor spot, perfect for a party. There were tables set up under a roof but no walls and plenty of green space all around with 360 degree views of rolling hills, fields and trees. Really gorgeous! The temps were in the high 90s but a thin cloud cover and a light breeze kept things from being uncomfortable. Huge water barrels made staying hydrated easy, too. After the dinner of New Orleans' finest (from corn bread and red beans and rice to shrimp jambalaya and a table filled with beignets) there were the traditional speeches. My brother Bill gave one, as the (fake)father of the groom. He got pretty choked up toward the end. Whether that was because of the overwhelming pride and happiness for the new couple or because of the Buffett quote he ended on, I'll leave that to your imagination.
We cleared the floor and danced. And danced and danced and danced. My niece Meg got the gal in charge of the playlist to add "Fins". She told the girl "Half this crowd is huge Buffett fans and he died today." We danced and laughed and danced some more.
We had thought that an early afternoon wedding and a reception that began at 3 would be a perfect early night for us old folks. We were wrong. We danced and celebrated until long after the sun had set. Us old folks did manage to be home by 10. Those under 30 were still dancing up a storm when we left.
Tonight a flock of them are getting together at my sister's house to play Buffett songs and cry. On the menu: junior mints, fruitcake, peanut butter, sardines and tequila. and PIZZA!
As others have pointed out, it's fitting that Buffett died labor day weekend, the traditional end of summer, but it just occurred to me how lucky we were that he died when we were all going to be together anyway. There really are two kinds of people in the world: those who get Buffett and those who don't. For those who do: my condolences. For those who don't: my pity.
Aside from the music, one of the things we love about Buffett is how he lived his life. The title of this post refers not to Buffett's own popularity but to a song he released in 1973 about a poet who only became successful posthumously. Another song on that album got him banned from country music stations. He was cancelled five decades before cancelation was a thing! In '74, on the album A1A, he addressed his banishment from polite country music society with a song called "Making Music for Money" in which he sings
I said, "I know that this may sound funny
But money don't mean nothin' to me
I won't make my music for money
No, I'm gonna make my music for me"
Even after Margaritaville was a huge crossover hit, he was persona non grata on country music stations.
50 years later, he died a billionaire. Cynics will think he didn't mean those words when he wrote them but I believe he did. I believe that success in art comes only when you are true to yourself. Jimmy was true to himself and he worked really hard every day of his career. It's not his fault that his work happened to be having more fun you can imagine. I don't think he ever measured his success by his bank account; he could have retired a long time ago if that's what he cared about. Do what you were born to do, work really hard at it and financial success is a byproduct.
We should all be so lucky to live like that and in the end be able to say
some of it's magic, some of it's tragic
But I had a good life all the way
* Bill married Jen and both her kids 12 years ago. they didn't like the designation 'step father', and agreed 'fake father' is much better.