Buffett and his lyrics provide a life lesson

By Trent Modglin

OK, so I realize Jimmy Buffett is not for everyone. Like a lot of musicians or public figures, he has a type of polarizing effect. A lot of people love him, some not so much, and then you have the indifferent, who shurg their shoulders all the way through life on most things. But I find that most people, in general, have at least a part of them that can associate with Buffett and his way of life.

I am an admitted Parrothead, through and through. Have been since I was a kid. I own a ton of CDs. Not just the kind you buy at the store, but old, rare cuts. The kind of stuff that sounds like he’s at a bar in front of 20 drunkards back in the ’70s. I’ve made CDs with him singing songs with celebs like Frank Sinatra and others with him telling stories in the middle of songs. I’ve been to better than 20 concerts, spanning six states.

And for my money, there is no better storyteller than Buffett. His lyrics often describe a simpler plan for life, a way of putting enjoyment and relaxation in front of responsibility and stress. Way in front. His concerts bring a sense of escapism to otherwise hectic lives. Lawyers, teachers and firemen all look the same in Hawaiian shirts with margarita stains down the front. As he said at one of his Labor Day weekend shows at Wrigley Field last year, he figured out that his job description is to keep summer around as long as possible.

And I, for one, try to buy into that way of thinking. Yes, I live in the city, commute to the suburbs for work, but I do my best not to get caught up in the mainstream of life. You know, nose to the grindstone, plugging away from 9-to-5, seeing less and less of your friends and family, too focused on things that really don’t matter in the long run, letting vacations become the mundane, three-day variety instead of the momentous adventure you’re still telling stories about 20 years later.

At some point, not so long ago, either down in Tinley Park last weekend or with Buffett crooning in my car, no doubt stuck in traffic on the Edens and wishing I was at happy hour with friends or on the beach playing volleyball, I started putting together a mental list of my favorite lyrics from songs Buffett sings. The words I’d like to live by, if it were just that easy. Or at least words that may just mean something if you stop to think about them. Here is just a sample. Ponder them and smile, and then realize that your life may change, but that doesn’t mean you have to grow up.

“It’s 5 o’clock somewhere”

Yes, no matter where you are, it’s never too early to loosen the tie, let your hair down and have a drink.

“Reading departure signs in some big airport, reminds me of the places I’ve been.

“Visions of good times that brought so much pleasure, makes me want to go back again.”

From the song “Changes in Lattitude, Changes in Attitude,” which says a lot in its own right. Sometimes we can get so caught up in the craziness of life that we don’t have many opportunities to look back and recall the times that made us who we are.

“Yes, I am a pirate, two hundred years too late. The cannons don’t thunder, there’s nothin’ to plunder, I’m an over-forty victim of fate. Arriving too late, arriving too late.”

Jimmy believes that as a lover of the sea and a man incapable of a desk job, his true calling had to have been as a pirate, if only he had been born in another time.

“I’d rather die while I’m living than live while I’m dead.”

“I’m growing older but not up.”

“If the phone doesn’t ring, it’s me.”

“There’s no place like home when it’s this far away.”

“Well it’s only up to you, no one else can teach you to go out and have some fun.”

“Fiction over fact always has my vote. And wrinkles only go where the smiles have been.”

“Jimmy dreams, he’s a child to the end.

“What a joy, when you are your best friend.

“The world’s such a toy, if you just stay a boy, you just spin it again and again.”

“I treat my body like a temple. You treat yours like a tent.”

“Mysteries — don’t ever try to solve them. We’re just players in a game, and no one’s keeping score.”

“Is love what we truly want, or merely a protection?”

“Are we destined to be ruled by a bunch of old white men, who compare the world to football and are programmed to defend?”

“Like a novel from the five and dime, take another road to another time.”

“I heard I was in town.”

“The weather is here, I wish you were beautiful.”

“I recommend you try a little mental floss.”

“It’s midnight, and I’m not famous yet.”

“It’s a permanent reminder of a temporary feeling.”

Trent Modglin
Publisher
The Real Chicago
Trent@TheRealChicago.org

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