Drew Dixon
Jimmy Buffett’s music always had a bit of philosophy.
In the lyrics to his songs, the Florida transplant usually included life lessons, such as dealing with growing older, traveling without losing your mind, and a bit of mixology when making adult beverages.
Now, those lyrics and themes are literally being taught and analyzed in the classroom in a University of Florida (UF) course that began Aug. 30, nearly one year to the day Buffett passed away on Sept. 1, 2023. “Uncommon Arts: Son of a Sailor” is the title of the academic course, which counts for one credit hour as an honors elective class at the UF campus in Gainesville.
The course is a new addition to the academic offerings at UF, taught by Melissa L. Johnson.
“Because this is an honors course, I will be sneaking in some research and archival research skills,” said Johnson, the interim director of the UF Honors Program. “We are going to try and track down everything we can find on Jimmy Buffett in Gainesville.”
The initial offering of the course drew a dozen students to enroll. The class includes lectures through the Fall Semester at UF. Students study the troubadour’s anthology of music and work along with his live performances in the Sunshine State.
While born in Alabama, Buffett wrote extensively about his relocation to Florida, particularly the Florida Keys. But he also had a history of performing in Gainesville, especially in his early years of singing in bars at the modest start of his musical career as he performed at the Great Southern Music Hall in downtown Gainesville and other venues.
Sammie Gupton, a second-year biomedical engineering student in Johnson’s class, grew up in a beach town and often listened to Buffett with her dad.
“Listening to his music is comforting,” Gupton said in a prepared statement from a UF news release. “I took this class because I wanted to know more about his thought process and the philanthropy he has done and to know things about him on a deeper level.”
There will be extensive research assignments from looking for media accounts of Buffett’s early performances to the progressively larger venues he played before he died of complications from cancer last year. The course will also examine his charity work and the social justice movements he was involved in.
From listening to Buffett’s songs to tracking his past concerts to surfing on the Florida coast, UF students are assigned to develop a deeper understanding of the icon and his legacy.
The course development is not limited to just student input. Johnson is asking anyone who attended his concerts and wants to share the experience for academic research to email her at [email protected].
