#116 – Take Another Road
#116 – Take Another Road
-by Stacy Garwood
What does it mean to take another road? How many roads are there that can be taken? Limitless, probably. No end to the roads we can take, or the alterations we can make in our lives. It is up to us what road or how we choose, although at times life seems to divert or detour us in a way that we did not see or cannot possibly understand. I guess life makes a “course correction” for us in these cases, and we are left to have faith that it’s part of a great plan on our life’s map. But for the most part, it’s our choice to step forward, choosing the roads before us, such as staying on the same path or offering us a way to Take Another Road.
“Take another road to a hiding place, Disappear without a trace, Take another road in another time…”
Take Another Road was a song released on JB’s 1989 album Off To See The Lizard. It was the first of two singles released from the album, the other being Carnival World. Take Another Road was released in May of 1989, a month prior to the album’s official release date, and the single reached #18 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.
The song was written by Jimmy Buffett, and two of his Coral Reefer Bandmates, Roger Guth and Jay Oliver. Roger Guth has become a long-standing member of the band and has written several songs with Jimmy over the years. If you have ever wondered who the drummer with the sunglasses is at Jimmy’s live shows, that is Roger Guth. Jay Oliver is a jazz musician that has been a part of several bands over the years, including the Coral Reefer Band, and has played with Sheryl Crow, The Eagles, Glen Frey, Wynonna Judd and the Dave Weckl Band. The three men combined to write on of Jimmy’s great songs, and for everyone who has never heard this song, now is the time. It’s beautiful and contains gorgeous lyrics that take people on a voyage while they listen. And it can remind us that it’s up to us to choose the path we walk, and that it’s okay to completely change directions or slightly shift course, if that is what you feel called to do.
It’s hard to imagine that I haven’t featured this song before on my journey sharing Jimmy’s music and stories on this blog, but I haven’t. Even this morning, I went back through all my blog posts, just to double check, and while it feels like I must have, alas, I have not. But that makes me think that it’s obviously been on my mind, but today is the correct time. Today is the correct time to turn down the road that is Take Another Road.
The album Off To See The Lizard connects its songs and characters related to Jimmy’s short story collection, Tales From Margaritaville, which has introduced us to the character Tully Mars in the short story Take Another Road. Although Tully doesn’t get a name mention in this song, his story clearly resonates in the lyrics. Tully Mars gets a start in Tales From Margaritaville and then his story continues in A Salty Piece Of Land. Jimmy could tell a great story, no matter the medium he chose to use.
“Follow the equator, like that old articulator, Sail upon the ocean, Just like Mr. Twain, Never look back, this is my plan, Run my pony in the sand, Somewhere, somewhere…”
Someone who does get a name credit in the lyrics is Mark Twain, pseudonym for Samual Clemens. Jimmy was a traveler at heart, much like Mark Twain, and Jimmy much admired the writing of the globetrotting adventurer and has used him as inspiration for several songs over the years, including Barometer Soup.
A quote by Mark Twain that comes to mind in regards to roads is, “Take any road you please… it curves always, which is a continual promise… your road is everything a road ought to be… and yet you will not stay in it half a mile, for the reason that little seductive, mysterious roads are always branching out from it on either hand, and as these curve sharply and also hide what is beyond, you cannot resist the temptation to desert your own chosen road and explore them”. This is from Mark Twain’s travelogue about Bermuda, but it sounds just like Jimmy Buffett, always ready to explore the next branch in the road.
Another quote that comes to mind is sometimes attributed to Mark Twain but actually shows up in the Lewis Carroll novel Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, which is “if you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there”. The Cheshire Cat says this to Alice in the story, although the saying has also been attributed to Buddha or Confucius or a few other sources, including Plato. I don’t know where the truth lies, but the quote also fits the concept of taking “another road” on the course of your journey.
Around the same time Jimmy was in the process of writing Take Another Road, another great singer-songwriter was penning a song called Any Road. That was the great George Harrison, sometimes known as The Quiet Beatle, he exhibited a talent for beautiful lyrics and storytelling, very similar to Jimmy Buffett. Any Road by George Harrison uses the aforementioned quote by Lewis Carroll as the chorus to his song. A couple lines from Any Road that have always connected with me are “from the past to the future, through space and time”, “with a spin of the wheel or a roll of the dice, you pay the fare”.
It is said that George Harrison wrote the song in 1988 while visiting Hawaii, but it never made it on an album, with his last solo album before his death being 1987’s Cloud Nine, perhaps because at this same time, George was forming The Traveling Wilbury’s and creating the most super group that as ever existed. He is said to have performed Any Road once live, in 1997 during a VH1 interview. After George’s death, the song was released as a single, the last official single released by the great George Harrison. If you have never heard this song, I also recommend it. The music video is a lovely journey through the life and times of George Harrison, The Quiet Beatle who turned out to never have been that quiet and who always had something beautiful and deep and wise to say. I think George Harrison is still speaking to us through his music, and I think Jimmy Buffett is too.
“Seen the false horizon fade away like bison, Headed for the jungle, the cowboy can’t endure, Never look back, that’s what he swore, Run take my pony to the shore, Somewhere, somewhere…”
Speaking of music videos, Take Another Road was made at the height of music video madness, features cool cars, romantic settings, and even riding a horse on a sandy beach. It connects to Jimmy’s past, as well as his future. The music video for Take Another Road was filmed at The Islander Drive-In on Stock Island, a hop skip and jump away from Jimmy’s beloved Key West. The drive-in was open and quite a happening place when Jimmy was first living in the Keys, closing in 1984, eventually abandoned and falling down, with it being torn down sometime after Jimmy filmed this music video. The Islander Drive-In gets a mention in my feature for Grapefruit-Juicy Fruit, which stars the Islander in the lyrics.
I am certain Jimmy and George’s inspirations were quite different, yet they both managed to write beautiful songs about choices and the paths before us. Two dynamic musicians and humans who left an undeniable effect on the world through their music, reminding us that we can always choose a different path. Just like Mark Twain and Lewis Carroll have done.
“Leave my cares behind, Take my own sweet time, Ocean’s on my mind…”
And this also brings to mind a poem about what might happen if you don’t take a road that is presented, such as in the Robert Frost poem The Road Not Taken, which presents two paths and a decision to me made, knowing that if you take one path, you never have the chance to come back and take the other. The poem ends with “Two roads diverged in the wood, and I – I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference”.
One of the reasons this song seems like the correct time, at least for me, is it occurred to me on June the first, when I looked back and wondered what happened to May, or April or even March, that perhaps if I wanted to be more aware of how I was spending my time, or the choices I was making during my time, or potentially why nothing seems to be changing while the time speeds by, why it feels like I am stuck on a circular race track, putting in the miles but not getting anywhere different, is because it’s time to take a different path.
And these choices don’t have to be huge like quitting a job or selling a home and moving to Bermuda or Hawaii or even Key West, it can be trying to drink a little more water and a little less coffee. Or having a sit-down dinner with your family or friends once a week, with the TV and phones turned off, and really remembering how important these connections are. It might be making healthier food choices, adding a new hobby or clearing clutter, which is what my June is dedicated to. This song can be looked at like a beautiful nudge from Jimmy that all roads are open to you, it’s your choice what path you decide to journey down.
“Take another road to a hiding place, Disappear without a trace, Take another road in another time, On another road in another time, Like a novel from the five and dime, Take another road in another time…”
Stacy
Please enjoy Take Another Road, which is the official music video. I have included the link below. Enjoy!
1989 Official Music Video:
https://youtu.be/avk7j3RTiaA?si=nD8DAzJTYp_qu3C-
The link is from Jimmy’s official YouTube channel, which I have no personal affiliation with.
Links that might be of interest:
https://buffettworld.com/albums/off-to-see-the-lizard
https://cinematreasures.org/theaters/22979
http://www.twainquotes.com/Roads.html
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44272/the-road-not-taken
https://thegadabouttown.com/2016/11/29/george-harrisons-any-road
