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On January 16, 1996, Bono and US country-pop legend Jimmy Buffett went on a plane trip to the Caribbean. An Easy Sunshine Reggae trip that led directly to a life-threatening situation – triggered by a fatal mix-up. “Margaritaville” singer Jimmy Buffett (who died at the beginning of September 2023 at the age of 76) had chartered a Grumman HU-16 Albatross amphibious aircraft for the brisk party, which was called “Hemisphere Dancer”. The destination was Jamaica. On board: Island Records founder Chris Blackwell as well as Bono, his wife and the U2 frontman’s two children.
Warning before departure
There were concerns even before the start. Buffett’s long-time pilot buddy Jim Powell warned urgently about the weather conditions on the north coast of Jamaica, as he reported to the US daily Chicago Tribune. The sea is too rough for a safe water landing and alternative landing options have not been approved by the local authorities. Powell advised postponing the trip – and decided not to fly himself.
A decision that, in retrospect, turned out to be prescient. Instead of landing in Montego Bay as planned, the plane ended up landing in the western port area of Negril. While the seaplane was still bobbing over the water after landing, Jamaican security forces suddenly opened fire. They thought the plane was a drug smuggling plane. Bono later recalled in the Irish press that it felt like a James Bond film – only without a script. Around 100 shots hit the “Hemisphere Dancer”, the windshield was destroyed and the hull was damaged. Luckily no one was injured. The safety of his children in particular worried him deeply in those minutes, said Bono.
Musical processing
The Jamaican government publicly apologized for the incident. Bono and his family immediately returned to Miami. Jimmy Buffett, on the other hand, processed the experience in his own way – musically. Just five months later his album “Banana Wind” was released, which includes the song “Jamaica Mistaica”.
In it, Buffett transformed the traumatic experience into an ironic narrative, including a refrain that resolves the situation with his typical humor. The verse goes like this: “Come back, come back, back to Jamaica. Don’t you know we made a big mistake-a? We’d be so sad if you told us goodbye. And we promise not to shoot you out of the sky.” A song as an echo of a moment in which vacation plans almost turned into a tragedy.