Everyone knows — or should know — that “The Terminator” is the best Halloween movie release and that “Die Hard” is the best Christmas movie (even though it was released in July). But while it’s hard to come up with a best movie for Valentine’s Day, it turns out that there’s a hands-down favorite Valentine’s Day song release: February 14, 1977, was the release date for Jimmy Buffett’s song “Margaritaville,” the classic song of Caribbean beach lovers everywhere.
So in the spirit of the holiday, here are a few “fun facts” about Jimmy Buffett’s only top-ten song:
- During a recording session, Buffett complained to his producer about a bad day he recently had on the beach, which included losing one of his flip-flops, cutting his foot on a beer can pop top, and running out of salt for his margarita, and he said he might turn it into a song. Although his producer told him “that’s a terrible idea for a song,” Buffet (fortunately) ignored him, leading to the recording of the song that came to define his career.
- Margaritaville is often referred to as the most lucrative song ever written, as it not only was a best seller itself, but it also led to restaurants, resorts, apparel, drink mixes, and casinos all over the world, bearing the Margaritaville name.
- Buffet had an uncredited appearance in the “Jurassic World” movie, where he plays a bartender and is shown fleeing the bar — but only after first grabbing two margaritas, one in each hand, to “save” them from the pursuing pterosaurs. His role as “Margarita Guy” is often cited as one of the best cameos in movie history.
- Most true Buffett fans know that Buffett originally planned an extra verse in the song, which focused on “old men in tank tops, cruisin’ the gift shops,” who “dream about weight loss and wish they could be their own boss.” But only the most hardcore fans know that there is an even-earlier version of the song that focused completely on the story of a weary chief compliance officer who was drowning his sorrows with margaritas! I am of course referring to …
Wastin’ Away in Non-Complianceville
Nibblin’ on compliance,
Starin’ at deadlines.
All of those audits showing compliance despoiled.
Whistleblowers callin’,
HR is bawlin’.
All our benchmarking shows compliance char-broiled.
Wastin’ away again in Non-Complianceville,
Searching for my compliance assault.
Some people say, whistleblowers are the ones to blame.
But I know, it’s my own damn fault.
Don’t know the reason,
I missed audit meetings.
Now I’ve got fines that I can’t ignore.
The policies are hazy,
The situation’s crazy.
How do I stop it before it’s enforcement war?
Wastin’ away again in Non-Complianceville,
Searching for compliance in a burial vault.
Some people say, our risk profile is to blame,
But I know, it’s missing compliance at fault.
Investigation’s draggin’,
No clue what’s happenin’.
Got this report, but no way to verify.
I’m drownin’ in emails,
About compliance failures.
Our audits show a mess, and I don’t know why.
Wastin’ away again in Non-Complianceville,
Searching for a compliance gestalt.
Some people say, bad training is to blame,
But I know, it’s time for a halt.
Finally cracked down,
Set rules and reforms.
Built compliance to brave whistleblower storms.
Had a compliance bender,
A whistleblower ender.
And implemented training on all the new norms.
Six months later and I’m vacationing in Margaritaville.
I finished my compliance assault.
Assessed our risk, did the compliance enhancement game.
And our compliance I now toast, with margarita and salt.
