October 2023
Hello everyone,
A margarita for Jimmy !
September began with some sad news, and it was one of you who was the first to tell us: the death at 76 of Jimmy Buffett, an American singer little known in France, but immensely popular in his own country, where he had become the official singer of bars and beaches since the success of his song Margaritaville.Although not a permanent chart-topper, he had built up a huge and immensely loyal following, with tens of thousands of people flocking to his shows, all dressed in Hawaiian shirts and brightly-colored hats - some of them in the shape of multicolored parrots, which led to them being called Parrotheads.
I discovered Jimmy?s music on my first Pacific crossing, on the radio of the US Armed Forces, then the crew of a friendly American trimaran let me borroxhis album (at the time a cassette!) Changes in Latitude.
J'ai eu la chance de rencontrer Jimmy Jimmy in the Turks and Caicos Islands, where he was flying his private plane and I was filming our documentary on the Greater Antilles in a Cessna. He, whose life of tropical islands, beaches and sailing boats was the envy of all Americans, told me that he envied my life ! Years later, when he came to sing at the Paris Olympia Music-hall (raised in Louisiana, he has always loved everything French), he invited me to sing his Chanson pour les Petits Enfants with him, and it's an unforgettable memory!Dylan considered him one of the greatest songwriters, the Eagles paid tribute to him, and Paul McCartney, who took part in his last album (to be released in November), said of one of his new songs, Bubbles Up, that it was the best song he'd ever heard.
Jimmy is now sailing the waves of the afterlife, barefoot as he was on stage, sipping an eternal margarita (in paradise there's no need for moderation!).
Our summer in the Auvergne, with the thermometer rising and falling like a crazy yo-yo, saw us discover a very pretty flower garden garden in the village of Prompsat, and climb the picturesque bell tower of the church in Manzat.
Still, we succumbed for a few days to the call of Provence, with a visit to a few vineyards, including Catherine de Montgolfier's, where the cellars have a science-fiction look (they are ?Beaune eggs?)
... ?); not forgetting a few tapas by the beach in Gruissan; an amusing discovery near Béziers: a motorway service area dedicated to the memory of... French singer Bobby Lapointe, , of whom I've always been a great fan: I chose his " "Maman des poissons"( Mother of fishes) to illustrate the first film in the ?Iles était une fois? series ( shown on Discovery?s Travel Channel around 1995), beautiful underwater images of the Seychelles.
My next letter should be sent to you from Australia, if the little fish don't eat me.
AntoinePrevious letter | Next letter
©Antoine.tv 2016