What Goes Around Comes Around

Pleasin & Teasin · Post by **Pleasin & Teasin** » October 4, 2006 7:59 pm

Interesting column From the Meridian Star
Published: October 04, 2006 01:28 am

Destin lament

By Robert St. John / food columnist

DESTIN, Fla. — Two fellow Mississippians, Jimmy Buffett and Mac McAnally, wrote a song about being down in this part of the country during the off-season: “The Coast is Clear.”

Twenty years ago, when I first heard the song, I couldn’t relate to it. I thought, that’s just two old guys who don’t like to be around the action anymore. I was living here in Destin at the time, and could imagine how boring it must be when the crowds are gone. I was young and foolish.

...................

From now on, I think I’ll take Mr. Buffett and Mr. McAnally’s advice:

The tourist traps are empty, vacancy abounds
It’s almost like it used to be before the circus came to town
That’s when it always happens, same time every year
I come down to talk to me, when the coast is clear.

Robert St. John is an author, chef, restaurateur, and world-class eater.

http://www.meridianstar.com/local/local ... 12837.html

chippewa · Post by **chippewa** » October 4, 2006 8:01 pm

Well, now he "gets it". Took twenty years, but he "gets it".

Pleasin & Teasin · Post by **Pleasin & Teasin** » October 4, 2006 8:03 pm

chippewa wrote:Well, now he "gets it". Took twenty years, but he "gets it".

my thought, exactly!!!!

ragtopW · Post by **ragtopW** » October 4, 2006 8:37 pm

funny I loved that song the first time I heard it..

and have never been to the Gulf Shores

chuck wagon · Post by **chuck wagon** » October 4, 2006 9:45 pm

Another one of those great "slow" songs ...

"We'll laugh and smoke and cuss and joke
And have a glass of wine"

Crazy Navy Flyer · Post by **Crazy Navy Flyer** » October 4, 2006 9:50 pm

Always loved that song, I lived on Pensacola Beach on my boat when that song came out, I could identify.

rogue · Post by **rogue** » October 5, 2006 10:36 am

ragtopW wrote:funny I loved that song the first time I heard it..

and have never been to the Gulf Shores

Yeah, but you have been around enough tourist traps to understand the tranquility that comes when they leave.

comtnfish · Post by **comtnfish** » October 5, 2006 11:04 am

Living in Boulder, then Aspen and now Newport, I have always loved this song - and in fact I do most of my 'tourist' travelling in the fall if I can! No crowds, usually amazing weather, cheaper rates and often 'locals deals' abound.....

Glad another one finally 'got it'!! Wait a minute....if everyone 'gets it', then will the circus ever leave town????

LIPH · Post by **LIPH** » October 5, 2006 11:18 am

I put When The Coast Is Clear on every year after they take the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree down and I can finally go outside at lunchtime again. Damn goober toursts.

Cubbie Bear · Post by **Cubbie Bear** » October 5, 2006 11:18 am

Two of my three trips to key West have been in off season and i definately relate to this too. Laid back, tables in restaurants, half the
t-sh!t shops closed. Peaceful and easy.

The time I went just before Christmas was a totally different feel

Quiet and Shy · Post by **Quiet and Shy** » October 5, 2006 11:54 am

I've loved this song since the first time I heard it. It so wonderfully captures a solitude when you can hear yourself think. I so enjoy the energy of a busy places at times but a quiet beach in an off-season can be a very special place.

finz2oob · Post by **finz2oob** » October 5, 2006 12:03 pm

Living in a tourist beach town and visiting Key
West in the off-season has always made me
appreciate this song. It never ceases to paint a
picture in my mind as I listen to it.

SchoolGirlHeart · Post by **SchoolGirlHeart** » October 5, 2006 12:22 pm

I've also loved this song since the very first time I heard it. It stopped my in my tracks... Although it was written on and about the Gulf Coast, it spoke to me about my corner of the Atlantic; the New England Coast. I love it when the crowds disappear, things are quiet, you can actually think.

Hello mister other me
It's been a long, long time
We hardly get to have these chats
That in itself's a crime

There's that "other me" in those who love the coast; the one who only comes out when the circus departs....

I have never heard this song live without crying like a baby....

citcat · Post by **citcat** » October 5, 2006 12:34 pm

comtnfish wrote:
Glad another one finally 'got it'!! Wait a minute....if everyone 'gets it', then will the circus ever leave town????

ahhhh.....the conundrum of it all.

LIPH · Post by **LIPH** » October 5, 2006 12:40 pm

citcat wrote:
comtnfish wrote:
Glad another one finally 'got it'!! Wait a minute....if everyone 'gets it', then will the circus ever leave town????

ahhhh.....the conundrum of it all.

It'll be a lot harder to get tickets.

Pleasin & Teasin · Post by **Pleasin & Teasin** » October 5, 2006 1:28 pm

SchoolGirlHeart wrote: it spoke to me about my corner of the Atlantic; the New England Coast. I love it when the crowds disappear, things are quiet, you can actually think...

...and I'm enjoying fire island just that way, as we speak!!

haititxn · Post by **haititxn** » October 5, 2006 2:20 pm

For us, any weekend that we go to a certain beach here is hectic. Too many Haitians around with loud monotonous music and people trying to sell us stuff or begging. We try to go to a secluded resturant on the beach during the week now where they serve us fresh grilled lobster and fried bananas with rice. It's a bit quieter better.

Also there we run a retreat center on a knoll above a secluded bay called Zanglais. That brings to mind "One Particular Harbour". No lobster there but well worth the seclusion.

And people wonder why I like being a missionary in Haiti....duh!

Dad and Daughters at Zanglais