CNN –
According to a statement posted on his official website, Paul McCartney is sending all his love to his friend Jimmy Buffett, the beloved tropical rock musician who passed away on Friday.
He was 76.
The Beatles icon posted a lengthy and moving tribute to Buffett on his verified Instagram page on Saturday, in which he wrote about some of the fond memories the two musicians shared.
“It seems that so many wonderful people are leaving this world, and now Jimmy Buffett is one of them,” he wrote, adding, “I have known Jimmy for some time and found him to be one of the kindest and most generous people.”
He went on to write about a time when Buffett had one of his “roadies” restring one of his guitars so that McCartney, who is left-handed, could play after he forgot his own guitar on a trip.
“He then followed up this act of generosity by giving me my own beautiful left-handed guitar, built by one of his luthier friends,” he wrote. “It’s a beautiful instrument and every time I play it now it will remind me of what a great man Jimmy was.”
The “Maybe I’m Amazed” singer also recalled a “really fun” recording session with Buffett on “one of his newest songs called ‘My Gummy Just Kicked In,'” where he got to hear some of Buffett’s new songs, unreleased ones Music.
“One song I particularly liked was ‘Bubbles Up’. And I told him that not only was the song great, but the singing was probably the best I’ve ever heard from him,” he wrote, adding that Buffett was “a diving phrase used to talk people under “Exercising in water has turned it into a metaphor for life.” If you’re confused and don’t know where you are, just follow the bubbles.”
According to an updated obituary posted on his official website, Buffett was battling Merkel cell skin cancer at the time of his death. He suffered from the disease for four years and remained productive during treatment.
According to a statement posted on his social media at the time, the singer-songwriter was briefly hospitalized in May after a trip to the Bahamas. The next day, he informed his followers that he was heading home from the hospital and planning a “fishing trip with old friends.”
McCartney wrote in the tribute that Buffett “had an incredible love of life and a wonderful sense of humor.”
“Until the last minute, his eyes still sparkled with a humor that said, ‘I love this world and I’m going to enjoy every minute of it.'”