In 1975, Jimmy Buffett struck up what would become a lifelong friendship with the Eagles after opening for the band on August 3 of that year at a show in Columbia, South Carolina. “Waiting to go on that night seemed like an eternity,” remembered Buffett, following Glenn Frey‘s death in 2016. “Mixed emotions were flowing, fear, excitement, and a lot of ‘what ifs’ were running through my head when the door suddenly opened, and in walked Glenn Frey.”

That night was the first time Buffett met Frey, who put him immediately at ease. “He greeted me and the band warmly, thanked us for being there, and said to me how much he loved ‘A Pirate Looks at 40,’ recalled Buffett. “He wished us luck and then went back out the door. That was the beginning of a long and lovely friendship.”

When Buffett eventually broke out in 1977 with his album Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes and hit anthem “Margaritaville,” he kicked off the year opening for the Eagles on their Hotel California tour. Several years later, the Eagles also invited Buffett to sing backing vocals on the Frey and Don Henley-penned “The Greeks Don’t Want No Freaks,” from the band’s sixth album, The Long Run.

[RELATED: 4 Songs You Didn’t Know Glenn Frey Wrote for Other Artists]

Jimmy Buffett performs at the US Festival at Glen Helen Regional Park, San Bernardino, California, September 5, 1982. (Photo by Bromberger Hoover Photography/Getty Images)Mad Dog Ranch

Buffett said the Eagles had a significant impact on his career from their first meeting in 1975. “Only a few people really know how significant Glenn, Don, Irving [Eagles manager Irving Azoff], and the Eagles were to my rise through the ranks of bands trying to achieve just of sliver of the success that they had achieved,” said Buffett, who also inducted the band into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

“When the Eagles were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, they asked me to give their induction speech,” Buffett added. “I was humbled. Glenn was a true friend, a true professional, an inspiration, and sometimes could be a handful. I cherish great memories of our time spent together and will never forget his kindness that first night and our friendship for all these years.”

Throughout the years, Frey continued to collaborate with Buffett, and by the mid-’80s, the two also became neighbors in Aspen, Colorado. Frey also purchased Mad Dog Ranch from Buffett and converted it into a studio in 1986. Located in Old Snowmass in the Rocky Mountains, the space became a regular recording studio for Frey and was where he recorded his 1992 solo album, Strange Weather.

‘Last Mango in Paris’

It was Mad Dog that also inspired the only song Frey and Buffett would ever collaborate on, “Gypsies in the Palace,” released on Buffett’s 1985 album Last Mango in Paris. The song memorializes some of the wild parties they’d throw with the caretakers at the Mad Dog Ranch.

So long Boss, knock ’em dead, don’t worry ’bout a thing
Wish that we could come along, we’d love to hear you sing
The limo’s here, your bags are packed, the list is by the phone,
Me and Snake will watch your place and treat it like our own

Look at all this liquor
Look at all this food
It’s only gonna go to waste
We’re not really being rude
But the good stuff’s in his closet, I swear he wouldn’t mind
Hell, we”ll just shoot the lock off, I do it all the time

We’re gypsies in the palace, he’s left us here alone
The order of the sleepless knights will now assume the throne
We ain’t got no money, we ain’t got no right
But we’re gypsies in the palace, we got it all tonight

Photo: Jimmy Buffett at Shoreline Amphitheatre on June 15, 1991. (Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images)