“I’d rather die while I’m living than live while I’m dead.”
I have a secret. I don’t really reveal it to anyone and in fact, it took me a number of years to admit it to Adi until I finally realized I couldn’t keep it from her anymore. I am a Parrothead. Yes, it’s true. It runs through my blood and as much as I hate to admit it, no matter how long I may go on the wagon without listening, when I rediscover Jimmy Buffett, I can’t go long without my fix. I can’t stop listening to his poetically lyrical verses that are joined with calypso melodies in a marriage that are nothing short of toe tapping. For a long time, I was ashamed to admit this. I didn’t even tell my closest friends.
Hear David narrate this blog on Spotify!
For those unfamiliar, a Parrothead is a fan of Jimmy Buffett, his music and the beach lifestyle that has become the hallmark of his music and his career. The origin of the term “Parrothead” dates back to June 28, 1985 when one of Jimmy Buffett’s former Coral Reefer Band members, Timothy B. Schmit, gave birth to the phrase. Buffett and his Coral Reefer band were playing a concert held at the Timberwolf Amphitheater in Cincinnati, Ohio and as Jimmy looked out over the vast crowd, he couldn’t help but notice that an overwhelming number of concertgoers were wearing tropical clothing and parrots on their heads. On a whim, Schmit called them Parrotheads and the name stuck. From that day forward, rabid fans became proud to call themselves Parrotheads.
I certainly never intended to join this rather strange group of radical fans. Early on, it wasn’t considered cool to label oneself a Parrothead, that is until it was cool in a kitschy kind of way. I didn’t even know that this ragtag group existed when I first discovered Buffett’s music around 1986. It would be years later that I would learn that Jimmy’s fans were called Parrotheads and their backgrounds ranged from attorneys to dentists or island dwellers who long ago dropped out of the rat race. When I was introduced to the music, I was a young high school boy living in Iowa with dreams of one day leaving my small town to embark on a career in comedy. When friends introduced me to Buffett and his music, I was instantly struck by his themes of following an unconventional life path and living out one’s wildest dreams.
I had dreams as a young kid living in Iowa—dreams most people in a small community didn’t really understand. While many of my friends were either debating which college they would attend or how they could become a foreman one day at the local factory, I dreamed of becoming a stand-up comedian. I didn’t really fit in and therefore I kept my aspirations to myself. Jimmy Buffett became the soundtrack to those very dreams.
My parent’s home in Iowa was about a mile walk from a beautiful city park called Eagle Point Park in the north part of the town. It overlooked the widest point of the Mississippi and on many an evening I would walk to the park with Jimmy Buffett playing in my headphones as my dreams of creating a comedy career and one day living on the beach percolated in my head. I walked alone. I dreamt alone. By design, no one knew my plans because I knew no one would understand my dreams—Jimmy Buffett understood. Jimmy Buffett encouraged me to forget what everyone else thought and just say, “Go for it. What do you have to lose?” At least I told myself he did and that was enough to keep the fire ignited in my belly to keep me moving forward one step at a time.
Songs like He Went to Paris, Banana Republic and A Pirate Looks at Forty gave me permission to dream. They became anthems for me to remain laser-focused on my dreams. They inspired me to never become deterred or to give up living the life I wanted to live. This is the tableau of Jimmy’s music. He sings anthems of iconoclasm and measured rebellion. He covertly sings songs that encourage listeners to question everything we have been told and to follow our own hearts.
He preached, “I’d rather die while I’m living than live while I’m dead.” These words resonated in my soul. Each time Jimmy sang about giving up the traditional life and living life by the sea I made myself the promise, “I will follow my dreams and one day I will live in a beach town!” I was 16 at the time; it was a long way from becoming a reality. I was living in Iowa by the Mississippi, not quite a beach town but near water, nonetheless. I was aiming for island paradise.
When I finally did leave Iowa, Jimmy Buffett moved into the background of my life. In the ensuing years he was replaced with new heroes like Humphrey Bogart, Frank Sinatra, Hemingway, Picasso and other Herculean personalities that inspired me to break the rules and live an authentic life. In my twenties, I dreamed of living in Paris while living out life like they did in the Roaring Twenties. Although Jimmy Buffett wasn’t prominent in my life at this time, he quietly waited in the background, patiently knowing that one day I would return to hear him serenade me once again.
When Adi and I came to Galveston it felt right. It wasn’t exactly the beach that I had pictured when I was a kid. At that time the picture looked more like Malibu or Hawaii, but as Adi and I drove around the island, Jimmy Buffett began stirring inside of once again. Being by the ocean made me reminisce about my walks to Eagle Point Park. Those dreams never died and in fact, I now had 35 years of experience to look back on those dreams and realize—they came true.
They didn’t look exactly like I thought that they would back then. I dreamed of hosting the Tonight Show on national television, like one of my heroes, Johnny Carson. Instead, my dream looked differently. I got to host Four Day Weekend (learn more) for almost 23 years. I dreamed of finding my soulmate and living by the beach in Malibu. I found my soulmate and we landed (for the moment) in Galveston. Dreams are funny that way. They will materialize, however oftentimes they look just a little differently than we picture. This is how we two-step with the Universe. We state our intentions and then the Universe co-creates with us. We have to be open to the Universe’s co-creation and not become too attached to our “picture” of how it’s going to look.
I never really became the “star” that I thought I would. Instead, I became something just a little bit different. I didn’t become what I thought I wanted at age 16, however what I didn’t realize then, that I understand now, is that I never had to compromise my integrity or authenticity on my journey. I can’t say that would have been the case had I become the “star” that I longed to be as a young man. In hindsight, I am quite certain I wouldn’t have handled it well. The Universe spared me what I thought I wanted and delivered something else to me—something close, just not an exact replica of my dreams. For that, I am thankful. The Universe had my back in a strange way. My soul understood what I really needed, and I was guided perfectly on the journey, even when I didn’t know I was being guided.
Which brings me back to Jimmy Buffett. Jimmy was never the biggest star in the music industry most of his career. He did very well and had a very loyal fan base (I share this with Jimmy), but there were much bigger music stars during his career. He never really quite “fit in.” The musical industry didn’t really know what to do with him and so, he just kept playing his music his way and remained authentically himself. He wrote and played from his soul and let the Universe handle the other details. His authenticity is what drew his fans to him. His devil may care attitude is what created the legion of fans known as Parrotheads.
Last week while Adi and I were driving around the island and admiring the ocean on our drive, I turned to her and said, “Did I ever tell you how much Jimmy Buffett inspired me?”
“You’ve told me a little bit.”
“He inspired me to leave Iowa and pursue my dreams. I’ll be forever thankful to him for that and he doesn’t even know I exist.”
We drove in silence for awhile and drank in the beachcombers setting up for their daily visit on the shore. Then, I did the only thing I knew to do. I pulled up my Spotify and typed in “Jimmy Buffett” in the search bar. Jimmy and I had been estranged for too long. It was time for us to reunite. I knew in my heart that I could no longer be embarrassed by my love of Buffett. It was time to own what has always resided deep inside my soul—I was a Parrothead. A proud one at that.
As Jimmy’s song came to life through the car speakers, the first strum of the guitar took me instantly back to Iowa. 35 years whizzed by, I thought, and I barely noticed because I was so busy trying to achieve. I was so busy trying to become a “star” that quite a lot of the time I simply forgot to just stop and take a look around to enjoy all that had happened. Jimmy’s music transported me back to the past and to those former dreams that I held so closely in my heart when I was a young high school boy daydreaming of what could be. I now had the luxury of hindsight as more of the puzzle of my life had been filled in. As Buffet’s lyrics poured forth from the car speakers as Adi and I drove, I remembered looking out at the Mississippi 35 years ago and dreaming of this very day. I didn’t know her then but now she had become one of the central pieces of my life’s puzzle. Adi and I listened as Jimmy Buffet provided the soundtrack on our drive.
We’ve gotta roll with the punches
Learn to play all of our hunches
Makin’ the best of whatever comes your way
Forget that blind ambition
And learn to trust your intuition
Follow your heart. Follow your soul. It will never mislead you. What we often think we want doesn’t always serve our greatest evolution and many times this glorious Universe knows better and prevents things from manifesting into our lives. At 16 I wanted to be famous at the expense of almost everything. The Universe had other plans. The 51-year-old me knows things that the 16-year-old me could never have understood.
“Forget that blind ambition and learn to trust your intuition.”
My intuition brought me with Adi to Galveston. Although we don’t know exactly where this is going to lead us, we have to trust. And when we trust this is where the magic happens. We just have to trust and like Jimmy sings…
“Life is a journey that’s measured not in miles or years but in experiences, and the route your life takes is built not of roads but of songs.”
Sing on, Pirate. Sing on. You’re inspiring the world with your music.