The music world was heartbroken after hearing about the loss of Jimmy Buffett due to a rare form of skin cancer, on Saturday, Sept. 2. Many singers, songwriters, and musicians reacted to Buffett’s death the best way they knew how—through song.
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Dave Matthews was one of those artists who wanted to honor the memory of the “Margaritaville.” At his show at the Gorge Amphitheatre on the evening of September 2, Matthews and his band paid tribute with a performance of the song “A Pirate Looks at Forty.”
The song, written by Buffett and released on his 1974 album, A1A, is about a thief/smuggler looking back on the first 40 years of his life with regret and wonder.
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, arriving too late
I’ve done a bit of smugglin’, and I’ve run my share of grass
I made enough money to buy Miami, but I pissed it away so fast
Never meant to last, never meant to last
Check out Matthews’ performance of “A Pirate Looks at Forty” below.
Also paying tribute to Buffet was country singer Kenny Chesney, who chose the same song to honor the 76-year-old singer. Chesney took a seat beside the ocean in Key West, Florida, and gave a melancholy performance of the song.
[RELATED: Kenny Chesney Pays Tribute to the Late Jimmy Buffett]
Many in the music world raced to social media to share their remembrances and condolences for the great loss to music, including Elton John, Brian Wilson, Toby Keith, Blake Shelton, LL Cool J, and many more.
Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Songwriters Hall Of Fame
