Saturday 9: Margaritaville

Saturday 9: Margaritaville (1977)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) In this song Jimmy sings of "booze in the blender." What do you prepare in your blender?

A. Mostly protein drinks. Occasionally I switch it out with the food processor tool and chop up chicken meat for chicken salad. I'm a real go-getter with the blender, I am.


2) As the song opens, Jimmy is sitting on his front porch swing. Describe the front porch of the building you're in right now.

A. Our house has a recessed front porch, with a cement floor. It is not very large and we don't use it.

3) Jimmy sings of being able to smell boiling shrimp. Do you prefer your shrimp boiled, glazed or breaded?

A. I used to love shrimp anyway it was prepared, but I have had to stop eating it. It gives me a terribly swollen sore throat. It's not exactly an allergy but it makes me very ill. This is something that just started about three years ago. Actually it started right after they began allowing shrimp back onto the market after the BP spill. My theory is I'm not actually reacting to the shrimp, I'm reacting the toxins in the shrimp from the oil spill. But what do I know.

4) During the song, he mentions his flip flops. Have you put your flip flops and sandals away till spring? Or is it still warm enough to wear them?

A. I never wear either. I wear sneakers all year long.

5) Jimmy Buffett had hoped this song would be recorded by Elvis Presley, but The King died before he could perform it. What's the first Elvis song that comes to mind?

A. I Can't Help Falling in Love With You.

6) Buffett fans are known as Parrotheads. Concert attire for a well-dressed Parrothead often includes a Hawaiian shirt and a foam fin hat. What will you be wearing tonight?

A. A tie-dyed T-shirt, blue jeans, and sneakers.


7) Loyal Parrotheads paid between $500 and $5000 to see Mr. Buffet at a fundraiser for Barack Obama's 2012 Presidential campaign. What's the most you would pay for a concert ticket?

A. I think we paid about $100 to see Elton John perform some years back. I can't remember what my husband paid to see the Rolling Stones. I guess if you want to see a concert bad enough, you will pay any price. However, there isn't anyone I want to see bad enough to pay more than $100 for a ticket.

8) Jimmy is an outspoken environmentalist and supports causes like ocean conservation, saving the manatees and expanding the Dallas Zoo. What steps do you take to help save the planet?

A. I recycle paper and plastics. My husband and I last year (along with a grant from the government) spent about $70,000 to fence the cattle out of the streams and the pond and drill a well. This created a buffer zone so that the water downstream, which flows in the City of Roanoke's water basin, would not have our cow poop in it. I've also written a number of articles about preservation and conservation over the years.

9) Uh-oh. When Jimmy and the Coral Reefers played in Wisconsin this past August, more than two dozen concertgoers got tickets for possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. Do you believe pot should be legalized?

A. I believe most drugs should be legalized, and we should set up clinics to help the addicts, not put them in prison. If we worked as hard at creating a better society as we do at making millionaires and having wars, we'd have a completely different world where maybe folks wouldn't need to run away from their troubles so much.