History Lesson, history lesson…

I first heard Fruitcakes the song driving from New Jersey to New Hampshire, somewhere on the Mass Pike. I stopped off at a strip mall music store in Plaistow, New Hampshire, and bought the newly released album on cassette so I could play it for the last hour of the drive to my parents’ house in Barrington. I’d always liked Jimmy Buffett, but not enough to pull the car over to buy his latest. But for a song that fills me with delight and makes me think, I will (Lyle Lovett’s Church from Joshua Judges Ruth was the second one that got me to pull over).

It’s a wonderful mix of covers and original songs, poking fun at and holes in the boring, question-ending, rigid answers to life, the universe, and everything – and just plain fun to sing along to. Jimmy Buffett was a master at poking fun rather than making fun – no malice or bitterness. Thirty years later, the whole album is still on my most frequently listened to list. To take life and all its complexity seriously, and to hold it lightly; to delight in what life brings, even the mistakes. To lighten the burdens of others, even for the length of a song, is a gift. And a life lesson…