Weather Report #4: The Annotated King of the Coast
CONDITIONS
A low-pressure system of restless ambition forms over the Gulf Coast, fueled by equal parts escape, instinct, and defiance. Early movement shows a young drifter pushing past boundaries—geographic, cultural, and internal—carried by warm winds of possibility and a refusal to stay anchored. Expect shifting emotional tides: from uncertainty to confidence, from outsider to self-appointed ruler of a personal domain.
OUTLOOK
Conditions trend toward full autonomy with increasing sunshine breaking through earlier instability. As the system matures, identity consolidates—less searching, more declaring. The “King of the Coast” phase emerges: not literal dominance, but a mindset defined by freedom, resilience, and self-direction. Long-range models suggest continued movement along coastlines both real and metaphorical, with sustained creative energy and a rejection of conventional paths.
ADVISORY
Travelers entering this system should be prepared for sudden departures from expectation and a high tolerance for risk. Traditional routes may become irrelevant. Recommended gear includes independence, adaptability, and a willingness to embrace discomfort as a catalyst. Advisory remains in effect for those attempting to impose structure—this system resists containment and strengthens under pressure.
KING OF THE COAST
written by Ned Henry and Whitney Lester
Well you heard about the hippie hailed from Mississippi
Running from the Sisters and religion
Westward to New Orleans
To make up for so much lost time
And take a stab at chords and rhyme
Some success there, but he wanted more ones
Got a deal in Nashville there but
Down to Earth went no damn where
Looking back that worked out for the best
Him and Jerry Jeff in their
Ragtop Packard open air
Hopped on A1A bound for Key West
So raise a tin cup chalice
All you gypsies in the palace
To the hippie from Mississippi here’s a toast
Ora te natura
The good times will endure-a
So raise a glass to the King of the Coast
The Chart Room let him play for beers
For vagabonds and buccaneers
He threw away his long pants and his comb
And right there then on Duval Street
He put those flip-flops on his feet
Then he knew he’d found him a home
Country couldn’t take a joke
And he wasn’t really rock or folk
So that’s when he invented Gulf and Western
He took the summer on the road
Brought it to the ice and snow
Made Chicago feel like it was Destin
So raise a tin cup chalice
All you gypsies in the palace
To the hippie from Mississippi here’s a toast
Ia ora te natura
The good times will endure-a
So raise a glass to the King of the Coast
With songs of every different kind
He could conjure up a state of mind
And fill your head with answers, dreams and questions
Like love the now and life’s a game
Where’s the salt? and who’s to blame?
Adventures? Listen close he’s got suggestions
He bought a bar down in Saint Bart
Put out Songs You Know By Heart
Seems everybody’s got an inner beach bum
Y’all know where it goes from here
The restaurants and Land Shark beer
And the Parrotheads - no one saw that com-in’
So raise a tin cup chalice
All you gypsies in the palace
To the hippie from Mississippi here’s a toast
Ia ora te natura
The good times will endure-a
So raise a glass to the King of the Coast
So raise a tin cup chalice
All you gypsies in the palace
To the hippie from Mississippi here’s a toast
Ia ora te natura
The good times will endure-a
So raise a glass to the King of the Coast
So raise another glass to the King of the Coast
Yeah raise another glass to the King of the Coast
ANNOTATIONS
The song starts with the chord progression from Ringling, Ringling and tempo typical of early Buffett songs.
Jimmy grew up in Mississippi and couldn't wait to escape his Catholic upbringing.
He was trying to get to San Francisco where the hippie thing was happening but didn't quite have the money to get there so he only got as far as New Orleans.
Jimmy said in a 60 Minutes interview that when he got to New Orleans he "couldn't wait to make up for lost time!"
He played guitar in a band called the Upstairs Alliance which performed in the French Quarter. Check out: https://youtu.be/kGCC5nw_PvA?si=ntVthONLgxbLp-FX
He went to Nashville and worked for Billboard Magazine while trying to launch his own music career. He recorded Down to Earth on Barnaby Records and sold about 300 copies.
It's a good thing Nashville didn't work out… otherwise Jimmy might not have ended up in Coconut Grove, having showed up the wrong week for a gig… with time to kill, Jerry Jeff Walker took Jimmy in his old Packard (The Flying Lady) down A1A from Miami all the way down to Key West.
Tin Cup Chalice (from A1A)
Gypsies in the Palace (from Last Mango in Paris)
A nod to One Particular Harbour.
Jimmy said to “keep the party going.”
Jimmy would play for beers at the Chart Room in Key West. You can see video clips of this on Tales From Margaritavision if you still have a VHS player. Or just look on YouTube.
Duval Street - ground zero for Key West in the 70s.
Flip flops - alluding to Margaritaville, which would happen a few years later.
I Have Found Me A Home (from A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean).
Direct reference to Why Don't We Get Drunk (and Screw) - Jimmy's response to the suggestive songs on country radio at the time.
His music was uncategorizable. So he just invented in own genre.
The instrumental bridge quotes Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes; Margaritaville and Volcano.
Margaritaville has been a state of mind since 1977.
Allusions to I Love the Now (lead track from Floridays), Lage Nom Ai (from Barometer Soup), and Margaritaville.
Jimmy was an owner of Autour Du Rocher in St. Bart - you need to check out his song about that.
Officially titled Songs You Know By Heart: Jimmy Buffett's Greatest Hit(s)
The lifestyle becomes a brand and then an empire.
Glenn Frey is credited with coining the term Parrothead