Jimmy Buffett Posthumously Releases 3 New Singles, One Featuring Paul McCartney
By Sarah RumpfSep 8th, 2023, 4:22 pm
Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP
Beloved singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett served up three gifts for Parrotheads in mourning, posthumously releasing three new singles at midnight Friday.
Buffett, 76, “passed away peacefully the night of September 1st surrounded by his family, friends, music and dogs,” his family announced last Saturday. The news of his death brought an outpouring of tributes celebrating his music, Margaritaville business empire, environmental activism — and countless stories of Buffett’s friendly personality and down-to-earth genuine kindness.
The new songs — “Bubbles Up,” “My Gummie Just Kicked In,” and “Like My Dog” — were part of the promotion for his upcoming album, Equal Strain on All Partswhich will be released November 3, reported Vulture writer Rebecca Alter. The singles had been previewed in “short radio sneak peeks” and were now available to stream in full.
“Like My Dog” is a cover of a 2010 Billy Currington song, written by Harley Allen and Scotty Emeticand tells the tale of a guy who wishes he could get his woman “to love me like my dog.”
Buffett posted a preview of the lighthearted song in his final social media post on TikTok on August 29 with video clips of him playing with his numerous canine companions.
@jimmybuffett #likemydog ♬ original sound – jimmybuffett
“My Gummie Just Kicked In” is exactly what it sounds like, “a silly stoner surf-rock track about a lady friend getting a little too wavy-gravy at a beach party,” as Alter put it.
“Don’t know where I’m going / Don’t know where I’ve been / All I know for certain / Is my gummie just kicked in,” Buffett sings on the upbeat track.
Buffett discussed the origins of the song in his last radio interview with WLNG, which the station posted on its Facebook page.
In an Instagram post shortly after Buffett’s passing, McCartney remembered his friend as “one of the kindest and most generous people” and shared that he was “very happy” to have been able to play on one of his upcoming releases. The album credits list the former Beatle as playing bass.
“Bubbles Up” seems destined to find a fond place in the hearts of Parrotheads everywhere, with its signature Buffett tropical ballad style and gently uplifting lyrics that draw inspiration from a nautical theme (in this case, the lesson given to scuba divers to follow air bubbles up to the surface of the water):
When this world starts the reelіn’
Frоm thаt preѕsure drop fеelin’
We’re јust treading watеr eaсh daу
There’s а way to feеl better
Вe well-sеt to weather
The ѕtorms ’til the sun shinеs agaіnWhen yоur compаѕs is spinnin’
Аnd you’re lost on the way
Like a lеaf іn the wind, friend
Нear me whеn І ѕауBubbles up
They will pоint you towards home
No matter hоw deеp or how far you roam
They wіll shоw уou the surfаce
The plot and thе purposeЅo when the jоurney gеtѕ long
Just know that you are loved
There is light up above
And the joy, is always enough
Bubbles up
McCartney was so moved by “Bubbles Up,” he wrote in that Instagram post above, that he not only told Buffett “that not only was the song great but the vocal was probably the best I’ve heard him sing ever.”
“He turned a diving phrase that is used to train people underwater into a metaphor for life when you’re confused and don’t know where you are just follow the bubbles – they’ll take you up to the surface and straighten you out right away,” wrote McCartney.
Fix yourself a margarita (it is, after all, 5 o’clock somewhere) and listen above, via Spotify, or click the links on the song titles for the full version on YouTube.
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Sarah Rumpf joined Mediaite in 2020 and is a Contributing Editor focusing on politics, law, and the media. A native Floridian, Sarah attended the University of Florida, graduating with a double major in Political Science and German, and earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the UF College of Law. Sarah’s writing has been featured at National Review, The Daily Beast, Reason, Law & Crime, Independent Journal Review, Texas Monthly, The Capitolist, Breitbart Texas, Townhall, RedState, The Orlando Sentinel, and the Austin-American Statesman, and her political commentary has led to appearances on the BBC, MSNBC, NewsNation, Fox 35 Orlando, Fox 7 Austin, The Young Turks, The Dean Obeidallah Show, and other television, radio, and podcast programs across the globe.