Anywhere but Margaritaville

One night last week, I spent a couple of hours ripping some old Jimmy Buffett tunes.

I mentioned it, and a friend sent a good-natured little rip of his own.

“I’ll let you slide on this,” he said.

I know what he’s thinking. Jimmy Buffett? Not cool. Not cool for a long time, really. Sold out long ago. Too much marketing. Too many shade-, Hawaiian shirt-, board short- and flip-flop-wearing wannabes out there.

Yeah, maybe.

But I was looking to kick back that night, and I was scouring my old Buffett records for some laid-back tunes. That was the great thing about listening to Buffett way back when, that you could chill out to him as easily as you could get your party started with him. That seems to have gotten lost in the endless celebration of the Margaritaville lifestyle.

So I dug, and I found some Buffett from the leeward side of the islands.

Snap the cap on a cold one, put your feet up and go with the flow.

“A Pirate Looks At Forty,” Jimmy Buffett, from “A1A,” 1974. Ah, the wistfulness that comes with age.

“Banana Republics,” Jimmy Buffett, from “Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes,” 1977. The cautionary tale of the expatriated American.

“Growing Older But Not Up,” Jimmy Buffett, from “Coconut Telegraph,” 1980. Yeah, I’d rather die while I’m living than live while I’m dead.