That Frozen Concotion That Helps Me Hang On

Having perused From Me To You: Dynamic Discourse in Popular Music by Matthew L. Bailey Shea, I pondered what song could be analyzed through this lens and chose “Margaritaville” by Jimmy Buffet. Arguably, one of the most wonderful songs ever, this laid-back beach anthem does in fact fall in line with some of Shea’s propositions. The narrative follows his activities as he spends his time in “Margaritaville” and contemplates why it is he remains entrenched in that lifestyle.

The song is set in a first-person narrative as he begins to recount his day. Clearly as one listens the song’s persona is none other than himself. However, in the first chorus the lyrics go, “Wasted away again in Margaritaville/Searchin’ for my lost shaker of salt/ Some people claim that there’s a woman to blame/ But I know, it’s nobody’s fault.” The second line, is perhaps a subtle and metaphorical address to a woman he lost. This is a possible inference due to the next line. However, margaritas are commonly coated with salt on the rim, it could be a line to merely make the song flow. Nevertheless, by saying “some people” Buffet brings in an influence from someone other than himself – using me, my, mine, etc.

The fourth and final line of the chorus is the most notable and brings together the whole song. As the song progresses, three choruses in total, that final line of “But I know, it’s nobody’s fault” changes. In the second chorus it reads, “Now I think… hell it could be my fault. The final chorus, Buffet admits that, despite “some people claim” it’s the fault of a woman, it’s actually “my own damn fault” (But I know, it’s my own damn fault”). This progression goes from distant to intimate as Buffet come to terms that he chooses to live the way he does and it’s not attributable to any woman. While the progression to intimacy is not traditional from singer to someone else, it is nevertheless a progression of intimacy within his own.

Shea addresses the topic of a double address where, “singer-songwriters to take advantage of the constant opportunity for what we might think of as a “double address”: the possibility of addressing both the imagined characters in a song’s fictional world and the real audience of listeners” (Shea, 5). This concept could be argued as a plausible possibility in Margaritaville. Clearly, in the song, Buffet is referring to himself as being responsible for wasting away in Margaritaville. However, surely he is not the only man to have been accused of being a certain way because of a traumatic relationship with a woman. 

As Buffet sings about “some people claim[ing] there’s a woman to blame”, you imagine that he has become a hermit in Margaritaville because of what a woman did to him. Not to say this is what Buffet is necessarily saying, nor do I think it is, but in a more serious reality, many men turn to alcoholism and other intoxicants after troubling relationships. 

Buffet could be employing a double address to say that it is never the fault of anyone else for the decisions that you make. Whether those decisions make you happy or not, they are always your decisions. Here Buffet seems to be pleased with his relaxed lifestyle despite the accusations that he is reeling from some woman.