Wasting away again in Gainesville? New Jimmy Buffett course comes to UF

It’s always 5 o’clock in the University of Florida’s Jimmy Buffett course, (Un)Common Arts: “Son of a Son of a Sailor,” even though it starts at 5:10 p.m.

The one-credit honors elective – a tribute to the late musician and named after one of his songs – is new, and instructor Melissa L. Johnson, Ph.D., believes it is the first Jimmy Buffett college course in Florida (and possibly in the country). Its fall launch comes at a fitting time, considering Aug. 30 is Jimmy Buffett Day and Sept. 1 marks the one-year anniversary of the singer-songwriter’s death.

With a hearty “Welcome, Parrotheads,” Johnson starts her 12-student class in Little Hall Room 119. She encourages her students – no matter their previous knowledge of Buffett – to always learn something new about the American artist, whether it is about his entrepreneurial enterprises, his environmental activism, or his philanthropic endeavors.

The goal of (Un)Common courses at UF is to give honors students an interdisciplinary approach to earning their degrees. Students in the “Son of a Son of Sailor” course span many majors and years in college, but they all come together each Tuesday to share their love of Buffett. 

In class, students study Buffett’s musical catalog – from 1973’s “A White Sport Coat and Pink Crustacean” to the posthumous “Equal Strain on All Parts” from 2023, while learning about what influenced every album in-between. 

“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.”

Buffett performed several times in Gainesville, starting in 1974 in the Great Southern Music Hall downtown for 400 people who were offered glasses of wine in the lobby. He also played in the Florida Gym and the O’Connell Center.

Johnson’s students are searching The Independent Florida Alligator archives and the University Archives at UF, interviewing people in town, and digging around the Matheson History Museum in hopes of making a timeline of when and where these concerts happened (and finding the setlists for each one). 

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. “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.”

First-year environmental science student Owen Rimes – who has similar memories of listening to Buffett by the water – is most excited about the course’s upcoming field trip: surfing in St. Augustine in Buffett’s honor, with the help of the UF Center for Outdoor Recreation and Education.

“I hope that the students gain a larger appreciation of him, more than just his main songs,” Johnson said. “I want them to appreciate the depth of the music as well as what a gifted storyteller and songwriter he was, but also look at his legacy and impact – including the recent renaming of State Road A1A to Jimmy Buffett Memorial Highway.”

From listening to Buffett’s songs to tracking his past concerts to surfing on the Florida coast, UF students are certainly coming away with a deeper understanding of the icon and his legacy.

If you attended a Jimmy Buffett concert in Gainesville and would like to help with the archive, please contact Melissa L. Johnson at mjohnson@honors.ufl.edu.