{"id":5526,"date":"2024-12-28T10:59:04","date_gmt":"2024-12-28T15:59:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/?p=5526"},"modified":"2024-12-28T11:00:18","modified_gmt":"2024-12-28T16:00:18","slug":"margaritaville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/margaritaville\/","title":{"rendered":"Margaritaville (Jimmy Buffett, of course)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Margaritaville (Jimmy Buffett)\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gYSfpQPjeE8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I was so out of touch with popular culture in 1977 that when a young woman requested &#8220;Margaritaville&#8221; I didn&#8217;t know what she was talking about. I was busking in Harvard Square with my friend Rob Forbes playing washboard, and she was there with a much older man, who I assumed was her father. Rob dismissed that notion as typically naive, but as it turned out, it was her father, and somehow we ended up at her place a few <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-5572\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Jimmy-Buffett-e1735400931336.jpg?resize=255%2C289&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"255\" height=\"289\" \/>days later, and she played us the Buffett record, and I think Rob may have dated her for a while. Her name was Heidi.<\/p>\n<p>That was that, for the time being, since we went off to Europe at the end of the summer and Buffett hadn&#8217;t hit over there. I probably got my next taste in the mid-1980s, when I hitchhiked down the East Coast and along the Gulf Coast to Mexico &#8212; which meant I was mostly traveling through Buffett country, and disappointed a lot of people by not having a repertoire of his songs.<\/p>\n<p>I may have learned this during that trip, or maybe when I got back home. In any case, I picked up two or three of his albums and liked them, and learned a half-dozen of his songs. I&#8217;ve already posted &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/peanut-butter-conspiracy\/\">The Peanut Butter Conspiracy<\/a>,&#8221; and will definitely be posting &#8220;He Went to Paris,&#8221; and maybe &#8220;Miss You So Badly,&#8221; which I played for a while but am not sure I remember all the way through&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;and I&#8217;ve never performed &#8220;Margaritaville,&#8221; because it was so overdone, but when I got into Congolese guitar I found that this fell really nicely under my fingers; Buffett&#8217;s mix of Caribbean rhythms and country-western was exactly the sort of thing the Congolese acoustic players liked, and I&#8217;ve enjoyed picking this for more than forty years. The lyric is admittedly pretty silly, especially the pop-top\/flip-flop verse, but in a relaxed, lazy, Buffett way, and it&#8217;s fun to sing. Apparently he wrote it in Austin, Texas, feeling homesick for Key West, and sounds like it.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5573 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/steve-james-scaled-e1735401329527.jpg?resize=250%2C319&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"319\" \/>Which brings me to Steve James, my buddy in Austin &#8212; later in Seattle, and now gone, but I stayed with him a bunch of times in Austin and almost blew up his house once by leaving one of the gas burners slightly on, which feels like the kind of thing the singer of this song would do. Steve always liked my pseudo-Congolese guitar arrangements &#8212; we first bonded over my version of &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/iko-iko\/\">Iko Iko<\/a>&#8221; &#8212; and was particularly amused by this one. He was always annoyed by folkies and blues fans who self-righteously avoided the Top Forty, and was charmed that I&#8217;d demonstrate the adaptability of what I&#8217;d learned from Jean-Bosco Mwenda with a megahit Buffett song. (For some reason, I&#8217;ve found this style matched several major hits: previous posts with fingerpicked rumba accompaniment include &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/hell-have-to-go\/\">He&#8217;ll Have to Go<\/a>&#8221; and &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/under-the-boardwalk\/\">Under the Boardwalk<\/a>.&#8221;) So, this one&#8217;s for Steve, and the shirt I&#8217;m wearing in the video was one of his; I&#8217;ve never worn guayaberas, but he liked them and I inherited this one, and it fits the song.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was so out of touch with popular culture in 1977 that when a young woman requested &#8220;Margaritaville&#8221; I didn&#8217;t know what she was talking about. I was busking in Harvard Square with my friend Rob Forbes playing washboard, and she was there with a much older man, who I assumed was her father. Rob &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/margaritaville\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Margaritaville (Jimmy Buffett, of course)<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Margaritaville (Jimmy Buffett, of course) - Old Friends: A Songobiography<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One of my favorite guitar arrangements, a Congolese take on a Gulf Coast classic, dedicated to my old friend Steve James.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/margaritaville\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Margaritaville (Jimmy Buffett, of course) - Old Friends: A Songobiography\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of my favorite guitar arrangements, a Congolese take on a Gulf Coast classic, dedicated to my old friend Steve James.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/margaritaville\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Old Friends: A Songobiography\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-28T15:59:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-28T16:00:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Jimmy-Buffett-e1735400931336.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elijah Wald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ElijahWald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ElijahWald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elijah Wald\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/margaritaville\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/margaritaville\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elijah Wald\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9\"},\"headline\":\"Margaritaville (Jimmy Buffett, of course)\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-28T15:59:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-28T16:00:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/margaritaville\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":552,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/margaritaville\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/Jimmy-Buffett-e1735400931336.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/margaritaville\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/margaritaville\\\/\",\"name\":\"Margaritaville (Jimmy Buffett, of course) - Old Friends: A Songobiography\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/margaritaville\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/margaritaville\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/Jimmy-Buffett-e1735400931336.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-28T15:59:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-28T16:00:18+00:00\",\"description\":\"One of my favorite guitar arrangements, a Congolese take on a Gulf Coast classic, dedicated to my old friend Steve James.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/margaritaville\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/margaritaville\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/margaritaville\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/Jimmy-Buffett-e1735400931336.jpg?fit=255%2C289&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/Jimmy-Buffett-e1735400931336.jpg?fit=255%2C289&ssl=1\",\"width\":255,\"height\":289},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/margaritaville\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Margaritaville (Jimmy Buffett, of course)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Old Friends: A Songobiography\",\"description\":\"Revisiting the songs that have made a home in my head\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9\",\"name\":\"Elijah Wald\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i1.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i1.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i1.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1\",\"width\":70,\"height\":85,\"caption\":\"Elijah Wald\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i1.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Margaritaville (Jimmy Buffett, of course) - Old Friends: A Songobiography","description":"One of my favorite guitar arrangements, a Congolese take on a Gulf Coast classic, dedicated to my old friend Steve James.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/margaritaville\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Margaritaville (Jimmy Buffett, of course) - Old Friends: A Songobiography","og_description":"One of my favorite guitar arrangements, a Congolese take on a Gulf Coast classic, dedicated to my old friend Steve James.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/margaritaville\/","og_site_name":"Old Friends: A Songobiography","article_published_time":"2024-12-28T15:59:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-12-28T16:00:18+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Jimmy-Buffett-e1735400931336.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Elijah Wald","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ElijahWald","twitter_site":"@ElijahWald","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elijah Wald","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/margaritaville\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/margaritaville\/"},"author":{"name":"Elijah Wald","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#\/schema\/person\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9"},"headline":"Margaritaville (Jimmy Buffett, of course)","datePublished":"2024-12-28T15:59:04+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-28T16:00:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/margaritaville\/"},"wordCount":552,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#\/schema\/person\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/margaritaville\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Jimmy-Buffett-e1735400931336.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/margaritaville\/","url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/margaritaville\/","name":"Margaritaville (Jimmy Buffett, of course) - Old Friends: A Songobiography","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/margaritaville\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/margaritaville\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Jimmy-Buffett-e1735400931336.jpg","datePublished":"2024-12-28T15:59:04+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-28T16:00:18+00:00","description":"One of my favorite guitar arrangements, a Congolese take on a Gulf Coast classic, dedicated to my old friend Steve James.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/margaritaville\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/margaritaville\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/margaritaville\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Jimmy-Buffett-e1735400931336.jpg?fit=255%2C289&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Jimmy-Buffett-e1735400931336.jpg?fit=255%2C289&ssl=1","width":255,"height":289},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/margaritaville\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Margaritaville (Jimmy Buffett, of course)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/","name":"Old Friends: A Songobiography","description":"Revisiting the songs that have made a home in my head","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#\/schema\/person\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#\/schema\/person\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9","name":"Elijah Wald","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1","url":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1","width":70,"height":85,"caption":"Elijah Wald"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1"}}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5890,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/he-went-to-paris\/","url_meta":{"origin":5526,"position":0},"title":"He Went to Paris (Jimmy Buffett)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"August 10, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"This may be my favorite Jimmy Buffett lyric, though I haven't tended to perform it (unlike \"Peanut Butter Conspiracy\" and \"Margaritaville,\" both of which have edged into my repertoire at times, and which I've covered in previous posts). I've mostly played it for myself, remembering old guys I knew in\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Eddie-Balchowsky.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1854,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/peanut-butter-conspiracy\/","url_meta":{"origin":5526,"position":1},"title":"Peanut Butter Conspiracy (Jimmy Buffett\/shoplifting)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"July 24, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm pretty sure I got my first Jimmy Buffett album after getting back from my first two-year stint in Europe, but it fits that part of my songobiography because this was the first song of his I learned, and I learned it as a souvenir of my brief life of\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Carcassonne","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Carcassonne.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":371,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/iko-iko\/","url_meta":{"origin":5526,"position":2},"title":"Iko Iko (David &#038; Roselyn\/ African guitar)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"February 9, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Chronology be damned -- it's Mardi Gras! So today's song and reminiscence is a salute to one of my favorite towns and two of my favorite people...","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"masked","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/masked-300x248.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4441,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/watermelon-dream-guy-clark\/","url_meta":{"origin":5526,"position":3},"title":"Watermelon Dream (Guy Clark)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"October 16, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"This is probably my all-time favorite summer song -- partly because of the lyrics and the way they fit with the melody, and partly because the guitar arrangement fell together so comfortably. It may have taken an hour or so, just playing and seeing what felt right, and that was\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Guy-Clark-old-no1-300x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5202,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/under-the-boardwalk\/","url_meta":{"origin":5526,"position":4},"title":"Under the Boardwalk (The Drifters)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"May 25, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I always liked the Drifters, as who didn't? Like most vocal group fans, I particularly liked the original line-up featuring Clyde McPhatter, a defining lead vocalist of the early Rhythm and Blues era, and I've paid tribute already with a version of their early hit, \"Money Honey\" -- not that\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Drifters-Boardwalk-e1715238537321.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1808,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/romance-jeux-interdits\/","url_meta":{"origin":5526,"position":5},"title":"Romance (Jeux Interdits)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"July 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"From London, Rob and I took the ferry to France, then hitchhiked down the coast to Spain. It was slow going with two young men together, and in Zaragoza we gave up on that tactic and made our separate ways to M\u00e1laga -- my way started with a driver who\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"elijah in Spain 1978, by Abbe Kalos","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/elijah-in-Spain-1978-by-Abbe-Kalos-300x276.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5526"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5526\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5575,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5526\/revisions\/5575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}