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" A Pirate Looks at Forty " is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. It was first released on his 1974 album A1A and "Presents to Send You" is the B-side of the single. Buffett wrote the song about Phillip Clark, at the Chart Room where Buffett first performed after his move to Key West, Florida. [2] .
He wrote it about Phil Clark, one of the more colorful characters he met when he first came to Key West, Florida, in the early '70s. Clark was a modern-day pirate, described in various accounts as a smuggler, a mercenary, a drug runner and an adventurer. Buffett got to know him, and wrote this song based on their conversations.
The real pirate’s name was Phillip Clark. He was one of the most unforgettable characters I met when I first lived in Key West, back in the days before it turned into a boutique. When I finished the song, I knew I had done him justice, and it is a fitting eulogy to an old friend.
Sep 3, 2023 · This man was Phillips “Phil” Clark, a local legend who tended bar at The Chart Room Bar at the Pier House Hotel. The Church of Buffett included a note from a fellow bartender, whom worked alongside Clark, which we have accessed via the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine:
- 1971 Trip to Key West Changed Everything
- First Beer at Chart Room Bar
- Colorful Key West Characters Inspired Jimmy Buffett
- Buffett’s Key West Transformed
- Subjects Make Their Own Music
- Buffett Backstories
The book marks the golden anniversary of Buffett’s arrival in Key West as a passenger in Walker’s vintage Packard in November 1971 — Atwell refers to it as “the trip that would change everything.” Atwell, who was ten when Buffett first visited his hometown, got the idea for the book while hosting a weekly all-Buffett radio program on a Key West FM ...
Regarding the target audience for “Buffett Backstories,” he says, “anyone with an interest in music or Key West. It’s written in a way that’s accessible but also with enough detail to be considered a reference book. “Parrot Heads will recognize a lot of pieces to the stories but it’s the first time they’ve been brought together on a single page.” “...
There is a lot of early ’70s Key West in “Buffett Backstories.” It was a very different place than today’s high-end tourist mecca and cruise ship stop. It was a Key West that Atwell portrays as an end-of-the-road outpost where a gritty shrimp boat fleet packed the harbor “a stone’s throw from seedy bars with names like the Big Fleet, Mascot Lounge,...
Today’s Key West is a thriving tourist destination but would be a difficult place for a struggling young musician to try to gain a foothold in the business like Buffett did 50 years ago. Housing costs are out of sight and hotel rates average close to $500 a night. Once quaint neighborhoods are now dominated by Airbnb rentals. “The people who actual...
While much of Buffett’s early inspiration centered on Key West, the odyssey wound its way to Texas, where Buffett eked out a living for awhile playing coffee houses and junior colleges around the state, Colorado and his various haunts in the Caribbean. Atwell says his favorite backstory is about “Volcano,” inspired by Buffett’s experience recording...
Release Date:Oct. 1, 2021 Price:$19.71 (softcover), $9.99 Digital Available via: Amazon In Key West at:KW Airport’s Last Chance Gifts, Kino Sandals, Books & Books, and the Conch Train Gift Store.
Jan 13, 2016 · The infamous Phil Clark Jimmy Buffett 's song, "A Pirate Looks At Forty" has been a long-time anthem for those who dream of quitting the rat race and sailing off to some exotic island and living the life of a beach bum.
Sep 5, 2023 · Jimmy actually composed this song about one Phil Clark. Now, Clark was a real person whom Buffett met in Key West, Florida. This was somewhere in the 1970s. Clark was an explorer often characterized as a contemporary pirate. Many even claimed he engaged in major smuggling and mercenary activities.
