Lots of places claim Jimmy Buffett. Now two Louisiana politicians want to name a bridge after him.

Jimmy Buffett sang about oceans, aging pirates and lost shakers of salt, along the way gaining millions of adoring fans over six-plus decades.

But chances are he never envisioned a drawbridge over Lake Pontchartrain bearing his name.

If one of the late singer’s fans has his way, Buffett will join a cadre of celebrities, pols and personalities who are memorialized in the asphalt and steel that crisscross the state of Louisiana.

A Louisiana Senate committee last week unanimously approved Senate Bill 44, which would name a section of the U.S. 11 bridge linking Slidell and New Orleans as the “Jimmy Buffett ‘Changes in Latitude’ Memorial Crossing.” The bill, authored by northshore Sens. Patrick McMath and Robert Owen, could go before the full Senate this week.

“I’m probably the biggest ‘Parrot Head’ you’ll ever know,” McMath, R-Covington, said Monday, referring to the name that Buffett’s fans call themselves. “Jimmy was near and dear to a lot of people.”

Buffett died last year at the age of 76, surrounded "by his family, friends, music and dogs," according to his website. His death was followed by an outpouring of remembrances.

The move to name a stretch of Highway 11 after the singer follows a similar effort in Florida, where the Legislature has sent Gov. Ron DeSantis a bill naming Florida highway A1A, which runs along the Sunshine State's Atlantic coast, the "Jimmy Buffett Memorial Highway."

Gulf Coast ties

Born in Pascagoula, Buffett's cultural reach went way beyond his music, and he built a business empire that included restaurants and clubs and even best-selling novels.

McMath said his ties to the New Orleans region are well documented. Buffett was a near constant at Jazz Fest. And he played early music gigs in the French Quarter while he was a student at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, no doubt making the drive through Slidell countless times. 

“I figured that route played a role,” McMath said. “This could help call attention to how much he meant to the city of New Orleans.”

If the "Jimmy Buffett 'Changes in Latitude' Memorial Crossing" is approved, and McMath sees no real opposition in sight, the singer will share part of the bridge with former New Orleans Mayor Robert Maestri, for whom the entire bridge was named after the state purchased it in the late 1930s. Meanwhile, TV personality Frank Davis, who died in 2013, is memorialized nearby, where the I-10 twin spans carry the "Frank Davis 'Naturally N'Awlins' Memorial Bridge" moniker. 

Just up the road, a stretch of Highway 11 through the Slidell area is the "Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown Memorial Highway," named after the legendary musician who called Slidell home and died in 2005. Good musical company indeed.

And if — if — someone were to object?

"I'd suggest they go listen to some Buffett," McMath said. "Maybe a little 'Margaritaville.'"