Iam Tongi is using the power of his voice to honor Jimmy Buffett. Tongi recently took to Instagram to share a tribute to the late singer with a cover of one of his most beloved songs, “A Pirate Looks at Forty.”
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With his signature guitar in hand and the camera zoomed close into his face, Tongi kept his eyes closed as he sang, his sweet voice soaring on such poignant lyrics as, Yes, I am a pirate/Two hundred years too late/The cannons don’t thunder/There’s nothin’ to plunder/I’m an over-forty victim of fate/Arriving too late. “Jimmy Buffett was truly a legend,” the American Idol champion writes in the caption, his cover drawing acclaim from many fans in the comment section.
[RELATED: Jimmy Buffett’s Sister Shares His Final Words]
“A Pirate Looks at Forty” was released in 1975 as a single off Buffett’s album, A1A. Written solely by Buffett, the song is about a pirate named Phillip Clark whom he met when he moved to Key West, Florida, in 1972. Though it didn’t make a strong impression on the charts, “Pirate” is a fan-favorite song and one of “The Big 8” hits he recorded.
Buffett passed away on September 1 at the age of 76 from a rare form of skin cancer known as Merkel cell carcinoma. “I knew my dad my whole life, but in his final days, I saw who he was: a man whose spirit could not be broken,” his daughter Delaney shared on Instagram. “Despite the pain, he smiled everyday. He was kind when he had every excuse not to be…Yes, he loved his weed and his wine, but the truth is, most of the time, he was just high on life, and that is what he wanted for everyone: to enjoy the fantastic trip that life can be.”
Paul McCartney, James Taylor, Elton John, Kenny Chesney and Alan Jackson are among the many artists who’ve paid tribute to Buffett in the wake of his passing.
Photo Credit: Lorenzo Bevilaqua/Disney General Entertainment
