Come Monday - written by Jimmy Buffett - performed by The Unsung Heroes

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In 1983, Jimmy Buffett confessed to David Letterman that right before this song became his first big hit, that he had hit rock bottom. Recently divorced, broke, hating the small club, rock and roll lifestyle on the road and missing his new girlfriend; he told Letterman that this song and its success literally saved his life, because he was contemplating suicide right before it hit.

“This is a song that kept me from killing myself in a Howard Johnson’s in Marin County,” Buffett told Letterman about the song. “It hit, I paid the rent, got my dog out of the pound. I was deathly depressed in a Howard Johnson’s under Mt. Tamalpais in Marin County, living there and playing in San Anselmo. It was awful and I wrote this song, and it hit, and the rest is history.”

This song, for way different reasons, was sort of a rebirth for me as well. It was one of the first two songs I ever tried to learn on guitar and sing (the other being Ralph McTell's 'Streets of London'). I got my first guitar in 1973 and my girlfriend at the time liked Come Monday which had just come out. I tried to learn it on guitar, but as a kid I didn't like to sing back then. She suggested I sing it too and well... that's what you do when you're a kid and your girlfriend wants you to do something. So for that, I thank her. She got me out of my shell and eventually I learned to like singing. At least she picked a good song for my first attempt.

So for 50+ years this song has held up and I still love to sing it. For many years it was my opening song at my solo shows, but has been on hold for the last 10 years or so. But a few months back our steel player Bruce, suggested we do it with the band. The original Buffett version featured some nice pedal steel in it so we worked it up.

I tend to think Jimmy Buffett is underrated as a songwriter, likely because his biggest hits (like Margarittaville) were effectively novelty songs, but Jimmy could write a ballad or story song as well as anybody and those were the songs I preferred. I also give him a lot of credit for creating a 'scene' built around his music. He did not just play concerts, he created 'events' and, similar to the Grateful Dead (and maybe now, Swifties) he had an international band of rabid fans who turned all of his shows into 'events'. I saw two Buffett shows and left both of them in a much better mood than when I arrived. That may not be a musical skill, but it definitely is a performance skill and there was nobody better than Jimmy Buffett at making a crowd happy.

I have an indirect connection to one of Jimmy's longtime band mates and having met that person and hearing some stories about Buffett, it seems that Jimmy was pretty much the same guy on and off stage... a nice guy, who loved to have fun along with his crowds. That, to me, is important. It's nice to know that one of your musical heroes is a down-to-earth person and didn't take himself too seriously.

The last thing I will add, going back to Jimmy's songwriting abilities.... if he was good enough for Bob Dylan to put him on his personal list of favorite contemporary songwriters, he's plenty good enough for me. Another one we lost a little too soon. So RIP Jimmy Buffett and I hope you're still partying wherever you are!


@margaritaville