Some People Say That There’s A Woman To Blame: The Subtle, Subversive Feminism Of Jimmy Buffet

In Jimmy Buffet’s ballad “Miss You So Badly”, the narrator reveals an enthrallment towards the vocals and lyrics of Patsy Cline, whose words perfectly encapsulate his wistful reminiscence of better times.

While most may see an infantile enshrinement of Cline as a mother figure fairly common among inebriated country music fans, I feel this actually belies an undeniable undercurrent of progressive feminist/womanist thought in the works of this genius, under-appreciated in the very academic realms he advocates for.

Keep in mind: Jimmy Buffet is 69 years old, and this year so far hasn’t exactly been kind to rockers that age. We need to acknowledge Buffet’s contribution to feminist thought before all the inevitable post-mortem thinkpieces cast him as the devil incarnate.

Let’s right this wrong, and let one of the finest male feminists have his day in the sun. But not too much sun; skin cancer is a hell of a way to go.

Yes I am talking about the same Jimmy Buffet that wrote “Why Don’t We Get Drunk [And Screw]”. In the liner notes of the 1992 album box set he states “I thought back to a late night in an Atlanta diner where I was eating and watching this out-of-focus businessman trying to pick up a [sex worker]…