In 1972, Kentucky singer and songwriter Keith Sykes visited his management office in Coconut Grove, Florida, and then decided to head down to Key West. While there, Sykes asked his friend Jerry Jeff Walker to introduce him to some people in the area. When Sykes arrived, Walker wasn’t around, but a girl he was dating at the time recommended that he go to a spot on Caroline Street, where he would meet everyone he needed to in Key West.
“So I did,” said Sykes.”And that’s where I met Jimmy Buffett.”
Sykes remembered Walker telling him that when he played with Buffett, they had his name out front, and people would come into the venue looking for an all-you-can-eat buffet.
“When we met, I had that in the back of my mind,” recalled Sykes. “I don’t know what Jerry Jeff told Buffett about me when they were touring, but when we met, he said, ‘Keith Sykes, I’ve heard of you.’ I said, ‘I’ve heard of you too.’ He wasn’t a star or anything yet.”
Videos by American Songwriter
‘When I left the coast of Marseilles’
Released on Syke’s 1977 album The Way That I Feel, “Coast of Marseilles” was written by Sykes during his time in Key West, yet recalled a love story from the south of France.
I sat there on the coast of Marseilles
My thoughts came by like wind through my hand
How good it’d be to hold you again
How good it’d be to feel that way again
How good it’d be to feel that way again
Would you be remembering me
I ask that question time and again
The answer came and haunted me so
I did not want to think it again
I did not want to think it again
You make it hard for me to forget
I haven’t stopped loving you yet
When I left the coast of Marseilles
I hadn’t done what I’d come to do
I spent all the money I’d saved
And still did not get over you
No, I did not get over you
Jimmy Buffett immediately connected to “Coast of Marseilles” and even said the song sounded as if Sykes’ song had been “molded” for him.
“I believe that this is one of the best songs I have ever heard,” said Buffett. “Keith Sykes wrote this years back when he was hanging around Key West, and it felt as if it had been molded for me. I never get tired of singing this song.”
Along with Syke’s “The Last Line,” Buffett recorded a cover of “Coast of Marseilles” with the Coral Reefers for his 1978 album, Son Of A Son Of A Sailor, and later included the latter on his 1992 box set, Boats, Beaches, Bars & Ballad.
[RELATED: Jimmy Buffett’s 5 Odes to His Beloved City of New Orleans]
“Volcano” and the Coral Reefer Band
Sykes and Buffett became close friends, bandmates, and collaborators. In 1979, Buffett asked Sykes to join the Coral Reefer Band. Sykes toured with Buffett and the band that year, first on the You Had to Be There Tour, then later around Buffett’s ninth album, Volcano.
“I couldn’t have been more flattered, so in February [of 1979] we met up in Coconut Grove, Florida, and began rehearsals for the first tour of that year,” recalled Sykes on his website. “Talk about a wild time. Everywhere we went, we went first class, and every night we had a packed house. Jimmy was the best person in the world to work for and was always very caring when it came to the band and crew.”
The two also collaborated, co-writing “Volcano”—along with Coral Reefer bassist Harry Dailey—the title track from Buffett’s 1979 album. Sykes, who also wrote with John Prine and Rodney Crowell, among others, played guitar on Volcano.
“‘Volcano’ is a super song,” said Sykes. “Even if I didn’t have anything to do with it, I would think that. But since I did get to be involved in that in a major way, it’s very much a point of pride that it’s done so well and so many people enjoy it. I have a lot in that song – it’s my melody, and he and I wrote the lyrics. Jimmy made it be fun.”
Photo: Fred Hermansky/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank
Leave a Reply
Only members can comment. Become a member. Already a member? Log in.