Buffett Hits & New Music Take the Stage in Escape to Margaritaville

Welcome to Margaritaville, where people come to get away from it all—and stay to find something they never expected.

Enjoy a two-hour beach vacation at the hilarious and heartwarming musical with the most unforgettable songs from one of music's greatest storytellers—Jimmy Buffett. USA Today calls it “A little slice of paradise!” and Entertainment Weekly raves, “It will knock your flip-flops off!” So don't let the party start without you at Walton Arts Center.

Would you call yourself a Parrothead? Or, just brushing up on your Jimmy Buffet song knowledge? Check out the background of some of Buffett’s hits and get ready for the island musical, Escape to Margaritaville.

Set Your Mind on Island Time

Shelly Lynn Walsh as Tammy, Peter Michael Jordan as Brick, Chris Clark as Tully, Sarah Hinrichsen as Rachelin Jimmy Buffett’s ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE. © Matthew Murphy

“Fins”

"Fins" is a song written by Buffett, Coral Reefer Band members Deborah McColl and Barry Chance, and author Tom Corcoran. It was first released on his 1979 album Volcano. It reached No. 35 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and No. 42 on the Easy Listening chart.

The title refers to the fins of metaphorical sharks, i.e. "land sharks," men who attempt to pick up the woman who is the subject of the song.

“It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere”

"It's Five O'Clock Somewhere" is a song performed by Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett, and written by Jim "Moose" Brown and Don Rollins. It was released on Jackson's compilation album Greatest Hits Volume II. It spent eight non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in summer of 2003. In addition, the song hit No. 17 on the US Hot 100, making it the biggest pop hit for Jackson and the first top forty hit for Buffett since the 1970s.

“Why Don’t We Get Drunk”

Rachel Lyn Fobbs as Marley, Matthew James Sherrod as Jamaland Companyin Jimmy Buffett’s ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE. © Matthew Murphy

The song is a parody of standard country music love songs. Buffett states that he made the song "as a total satire [and] wasn't even going to put it on the album. We did it foolin' around in one take. But immediately that song became controversial, and there were jukebox sales." The song is a fan favorite and, up until the 2007 Bama Breeze tour, was almost always performed at Buffett's live concerts.

“Son of a Son of a Sailor”

"Son of a Son of a Sailor" is the opening track of the 1978 album of the same name. The song is a fan favorite, although it was not a concert staple until the 2005 Salty Piece of Land tour. The song has gone through several changes during live performances over the years. See what style they go with in Escape to Margaritaville.

“Margaritaville”

This song was written about a drink Buffett discovered at Lung's Cocina del Sur restaurant on Anderson Lane in Austin, Texas, and the first huge surge of tourists who descended on Key West, Florida around that time. He wrote most of the song one night at a friend's house in Austin, and finished it while spending time in Key West. In the United States, "Margaritaville" reached No. 8 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 No. 14 on its 1977 Pop Singles year-end chart. It remains Buffett's highest charting solo single. "Margaritaville" has been inducted into the 2016 Grammy Hall of Fame for its cultural and historic significance

“Volcano”

The song and album are named for the then-dormant Soufrière Hills volcano on the island of Montserrat in the British West Indies where Buffett recorded the album in May 1979 at AIR Studios. The studio was destroyed by Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and Soufrière Hills erupted again in 1995. The lyrics describe the narrator's anxiety about his possible whereabouts following the impending eruption of a volcano.

Shelly Lynn Walsh as Tammy and Peter Michael Jordan as Brick in Jimmy Buffett’s ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE. © Matthew Murphy

“Cheeseburger in Paradise”

The song is about a man who "is trying to amend his carnivorous habits" with health food such as sunflower seeds, but it was inspired by the artist's experience: he had been forced to eat only canned food and peanut butter due to a boating mishap in the Caribbean, but eventually made it to landfall and managed to order the song's titular dish in paradise.

“Come Monday”

Buffett wrote the song to his wife while he was on tour. At a live performance in 1974, Buffett mentioned that he had written the song heading out to California the previous year, meaning that it would have been written as he was "heading up to San Francisco for the Labor Day Weekend show" in 1973. The single version replaces the third line, "I've got my Hush Puppies on," with "I've got my hiking shoes on."

Company of the National Tour,Jimmy Buffett’s ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE. © Matthew Murphy

It is one of Buffett's more popular songs, and is part of "The Big 8" that he has played at almost all of his concerts, typically changing the line "I just can't wait to see you again" to "It's so nice to be in...(location of show)...again".

“One Particular Harbor”

Buffett has said in radio interviews about the song that he wrote it while travelling the islands and that he was moved to write it one afternoon during his journeys, as he sat on the balcony of his hotel room watching the local children (memorialized in the lyric "Where children play on the shore each day").

The song begins with lyrics in Tahitian:

Ia ora te natura
E mea arofa teie ao nei

The translation given is:

Nature lives (life to nature)
Have pity for the Earth (Love the Earth)

It concludes with the same verse plus:

Ua pau te maitai no te fenua
Re zai noa ra te ora o te mitie

This is translated as:

Bounty of the land is exhausted
But there's still abundance on the sea.

Enjoy all of these songs, and more, at Jimmy Buffett’s Escape to Margaritaville, playing at Walton Arts Center on Oct. 22-27. Come for the island-vibes and escape the day to day in the comfort of the theater.

Listen to Escape to Margaritaville's Cast Recording on Spotify