#87 – Hey, That’s My Wave
#87 – Hey, That’s My Wave
-by Stacy Garwood-
Jimmy Buffett was great at creating a picture, a scene, or demonstrating a lifestyle with his music. The music can invigorate the listener, it can make us feel emotional or nostalgic, often times it can make us smile, or laugh right out loud. Hey, That’s My Wave hit’s both the humor and the nostalgia, bringing to mind days when the surf was less crowded and there was enough room that people did not need to brawl in the water to catch a wave. The water and many of its activities, including surfing, were an integral part of Jimmy’s life, and I am grateful that he was able to bring so much life to my mind through his music.
“Hey, that’s my wave, Surfin’ is my life, Hey, that’s my wave, Takes away the strife…”
Hey, That’s My Wave was released on JB’s 2020 album Life On The Flip Side. The album is full of refreshing songs, and this is no exception. I think of Life On The Flip Side as Jimmy’s pandemic gift to us. It was released in May of 2020 when much of the world was still reeling from the reality of pandemic lockdowns and a complete change in routine in most people’s lives. This album felt like a soothing balm to my tenderized soul, and this was one of the songs that I connected with immediately on that record. I know how much I looked forward to its release.
The album Life On The Flip Side, which we have visited before on this journey with The Devil I Know and Slack Tide. This album was recorded at the end of 2019 and was produced by long time Coral Reefer Band members Mac and Mike, also known more formally as Mac McAnally and Michael Utley. It was released right after Memorial Day in 2020 and was the perfect way to kick off the summer season that most of us knew, because of the pandemic, was going to be different than any summer we had experienced before.
This song has Jimmy’s classic humor and love of all things related to the sea, along with Jimmy’s personal love of surfing. I feel like I connected with it immediately when I first listed to the album when it arrived, but it perhaps already had a familiar feeling since some of its upbeat music had been used for promos for the album in the months up to release. This week, it has been a bit of an ear worm for me, and so I decided that it was time to share a little about the humorous surfing song.
Hey, That’s My Wave was written by Jimmy, Mac McAnally and Glen Goodman. Jimmy has had multiple solo songwriting gifts to us over the years, as well as songs he has written with others, and of those, he has a group of several people that he has often written with over the years, such as the aforementioned Mac McAnally. But Glen Goodman is not one of those people.
“It used to be so easy, Life was so well-defined, Walk to the beach and ride the ocean, Any place, any time…”
Glen Goodman is actually Dr. Glen Goodman, a chiropractor from Sag Harbor, Long Island, New York. He and Jimmy had met briefly, but really got to know each other while waiting to catch a wave off the coast of Montauk, a surfing hotspot at the east end of Long Island. Glen Goodman is a longtime surfer, just like Jimmy, and they started by sharing stories. They bonded over surfing mostly, as well as music, and became friends.
At some point in their friendship, Glen Goodman, who was not only a chiropractor and surfer, but was also a musician and songwriter, had some songs to share. He had recorded a six-song disc of music, and he gave the CD to Jimmy to have a listen to. According to Goodman, about an hour later, Jimmy called him up and said “we gotta do that song”, and by that song he meant Hey, That’s My Wave. The surfing, songwriting chiropractor also said that Jimmy said we are going to “Buffett-ize” it, which in this case meant Jimmy took it to his longtime friend and writing companion Mac McAnally and they went to work on perfecting the song, putting humor mixed with angst of older surfers feeling invaded by young ones to a surf-style music beat.
“When that summer swell starts rollin’, Pods of people droppin’ in, Dirt lot’s full of new pickups and Beamers, I want my mornings back again…”
Goodman said they co-created a “derivative” of the original song, and he was quite pleased with it, saying it had a “Dick Dale-style surf guitar” sound throughout with the Buffett normal of conga and steel drums. He was even able to sing back-up vocals on the song. What an amazing time, to have your modified song on a Jimmy Buffett record and you get to put your own voice to work. Honestly, it probably felt like a dream come true.
I enjoyed the touch of American surf rock nostalgia with the mention of Dick Dale. My parents are products of the sixties, and they both loved surf style music. Of course, since we are talking about Dick Dale, we must mention the Del-Tones, but there was The Beach Boys, The Surfaries, The Ventures, and Jan and Dean. Dick Dale was a stage name for Richard Monsour, a gifted guitarist who started his career playing country and rockabilly music. He is given credit for “creating” the surf guitar sound in the fifties playing clubs in California, but his first hit was 1961’s Let’s Go Trippin’. Dale was a left-handed guitarist who played a right-handed guitar, like Jimi Hendrix, but unlike Jimi Hendrix, he never restrung his guitars. Even after getting left-handed guitars, he continued to reverse-string his instruments, part of his unique playing style and sound.
Dale is called the “King of the Surf Guitar” for his refreshing, staccato and reverb style that he passed on to other musicians of his era, but he was also known as the “Father of Heavy Metal” because of the incredible volume he could achieve in his playing. While playing guitar in his unique style, Dick Dale blew multiple Fender amplifiers while playing at the Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa, California; as a matter of fact, he blew so many amplifiers that Fender was a little insulted and could not understand what was going on. Dick Dale was attempting to play louder than the crowd was screaming. Discussing his problems with representatives from Fender, and with help from the Lansing speaker company, he was part of creating the Single Showman Amp, and later helped create what is known as the Dick Dale Transformer, also known as the Dual-Showman Piggy Back Amp.
Probably his biggest hit was Miserlou, which he released as part of Dick Dale and the Deltone’s (or Del-Tone’s, I have seen it both ways). That song was a hit in 1962 and again in 1975 for Dick Dale, and it might be familiar to many because it was featured in Quentin Tarantino’s hit movie, Pulp Fiction in 1994. Great music always hangs around.
So, adding a little surf guitar to Jimmy’s Hey, That’s My Wave surfing song seems more than appropriate, as a nod to fellow surfer Dick Dale, the history of surfing in America, as well as to all the people out there fighting for a wave to ride.
“They’re all paddlin’ on the inside, Floating sideways on the board, Takin’ selfies in a whitewash, Nobody works any more…”
This song was not the first surfing song Jimmy has recorded. 2009’s Buffet Hotel had Surfing In A Hurricane, written by Jimmy and Will Kimbrough, and 2013’s Songs From St. Somewhere was blessed with two surfing songs; Einstein Was A Surfer, written by Jimmy and Mac McAnally, and Oldest Surfer On The Beach, written by Mark Knopfler.
Jimmy loved the water. He loved the coastlines, the white caps and the salty air, and he loved all activities involved with the water such as sailing, swimming, scuba diving, snorkeling, fishing, kayaking, paddling and things I am no doubt forgetting to mention. And he loved to surf. And he wasn’t just a casual surfer, he was good at it. Although I am not sure when Jimmy started surfing, I know that he surfed for many years. He enjoyed the exercise, the time in nature, and I think he probably enjoyed all surfers, hanging out and waiting for a wave to catch.
“The ocean’s always been my mother, Salt water is the perfect cure…”
Kelly Slater, a professional surfer who is one of the greatest professional surfers of all time, just based on the number of surfing championships he has attained, was a good friend to Jimmy. According to Slater, they met in 2010, and quickly bonded over music and surfing, and he considered Jimmy to be surrogate father to himself. When Jimmy and Co were just getting their feet wet touring again as pandemic restrictions were being relaxed, Jimmy was in California for some shows, and he called Kelly Slater up to visit as casual as can be while driving down the highway. In that video, Jimmy discusses surfing along the coast of California, as well as fish tacos. At least for one memorable occasion, Slater has been called on stage to perform Margaritaville alongside Jimmy, which I would consider a great honor. After Jimmy’s death, Kelly Slater discussed Jimmy’s love of surfing and his messages about being is St. Barts in January of 2023, where Jimmy said he was back in “surfing shape” and that there had been great waves all month and that Jimmy had gotten a “few big ones”.
The aforementioned video is a great little piece that shows Jimmy’s love of music and his excitement to begin touring again, as well as several locations in southern California. Jimmy even pauses during his road trip to check out the surf in San Onofre and talks about being in his late thirties and surfing this location with the legendary Bill Stewart of Stewart Surfboards, who is known for building “the modern longboard” and certainly in bringing back interest to surfing with longboards.
Colin Jost, comedian, writer, actor and Saturday Night Live alumni, talked about meeting Jimmy in St. Barts in 2014, and Jimmy finding out Jost was a surfer, so invited him to come out surfing with him and Jimmy’s kids. During this excursion, Jost’s leash, also called a leg rope, got trapped under some rocks, pining the actor. The surf was coming in and the water was rising, but Jost says he didn’t want to let anyone know he was in trouble. Jimmy must have been keeping a close eye on him because he swam over, pulled out a knife and cut the leash, freeing Jost. Jost later reminisced about how he had to be saved by a quite older Jimmy Buffett, who then pointed the way to the “kiddie beach”. Hard to say if “kiddie beach” is really what Jimmy said, but the story outlines that Jimmy was a savvy surfer and was also concerned with the wellbeing of those around him.
“I think it’s time for a safari, Find a new spot far away, Leave the clowns and crowds behind me, Fightin’ for rides the whole damn day…”
In the last dozen or so years, Jimmy also became a fan of SUP surfing, SUP standing for Stand-Up Paddleboard. Paddleboarding has become the rage all over the country, often used on tame rivers and calm lakes, but the style was actually designed for surfing on the ocean. SUP surfing was noted in the surf of Waikiki Beach and became useful for helping teach people learn to surf. Back in the 1940’s and 1950’s there was a Hawaiian surfer named John AhChoy who was first noted to be using a paddle with his longboard to get out past the break then ride his board in. A group of young surf instructors, called the Waikiki Boys, noted his style and used it to help with novice surfing lessons. AhChoy had developed his style because he had poor knees and it was getting harder for him to jump up on his board, so standing up the entire time gave him the ability to maintain the activity he loved. AhChoy was a bit of a Waikiki legend and many recall him standing up and paddling out, while smoking cigarettes, before letting the surf carry him back to shore, still smoking cigarettes. He sounds like a pretty chill dude.
Another great surfer, Laird Hamiliton, was photographed in 2004 performing in a SUB surfing competition and that made this variety of surfing quite popular. Hamilton also went on to help design better boards for Stand-Up Paddleboard surfing, and Jimmy bought one of Hamilton’s newly designed boards, a 12-footer, but then admitted he had no idea what to do with it. By happenstance, Jimmy soon ran into Hamilton in Malibu, and talked the surf pro into giving him some lessons, which Laird Hamilton agreed to do. I have seen multiple pictures of Jimmy surfing over the years, but in the last few years, it has always been on a stand-up board. He often used the paddle boards for fishing, as well. His Christmas album, ‘Tis The Season from 2016 even features Jimmy on a SUP with two of his beloved dogs, all of them decked out in Christmas attire.
Perhaps Jimmy, like John AhChoy, enjoyed the thrill he could get from the stand-up board surfing, while also enjoying a more “easy on the knees” way to surf. Heck, my knees are certainly not what they used to be, so I don’t blame anyone for taking that route. Age gives us wisdom, life gives us tools… and ways to be more kind to our knees.
“Hey, that’s my wave, Surfin’ is my life, The thrill I crave, Hey, that’s my wave, Takes away the strife, Let’s all behave…”
I have never been on a surf board in my life, and I am almost certain even if I climbed on a stand-up paddle board, I would dump myself over in about three seconds flat, but I love the idea of surfboarding, the videos and images that capture both the strength and artistry of people who can. It always felt like something Jimmy must have genuinely enjoyed and I admired his athleticism for what appears to be a less than easy sport. I hope somewhere in the heavens, he has found the perfect wave to ride, and that it is all his, no sharing required.
Stacy
Please enjoy Hey, That’s My Wave. I have included the link below. Enjoy!
2020 Studio Version:
The link is from Jimmy’s official YouTube channel, which I have no personal affiliation with.
Links to articles of interest:
Jimmy Buffett reminiscing in California video: https://fb.watch/qBITROM1oF/ (you might need to have Facebook to watch this)
Sag Harbor Chiropractor… Chiropractor pens the song “Hey, That’s My Wave” for Buffett | BuffettNews.com
Dick Dail and the Deltones… Dick Dale and the Deltones (history-of-rock.com)
John AhChoy, the Waikiki Boys and Stand-Up Paddling… Tracing the Colorful History of Stand Up Paddling | The Inertia
**edited for spelling and punctuation – Yikes!
