#104 – Lage Nom Ai
#104 – Lage Nom Ai
-by Stacy Garwood-
Some songs just catch your attention from the moment you hear them, even if you have no idea what the song is about or if you are even sure what the lyrics are, and Lage Nom Ai is one of those songs. It’s almost impossible not to hear it and sing along. You might even find yourself tapping a foot, swaying to the music, or just getting up and dancing in place. Lage Nom Ai is that kind of song.
“Lage nom ai nom ai, When you know that life is just a game, Lage nom ai nom ai, He’s the man who gave up his own name…”
Lage Nom Ai was released in 1995 on JB’s album Barometer Soup that was released in August of that year. The majority of the songs on that album were written and recorded at Shrimpboat Sound Studio’s in Key West in January and February of 1995. The song was written by the writing team of Jimmy Buffett, Roger Guth, Russ Kunkel, Peter Mayer and Jay Oliver. That writing team is noted for writing ten of the twelve songs on the album, including Barometer Soup, The Night I Painted The Sky, Barefoot Children, Bank Of Bad Habits and Remittance Man. The two exceptions are Jimmy Dreams, which was written by Jimmy himself, and Mexico by James Taylor, a song Jimmy covered and that he reported was always one of his favorites.
So, what does Lage Nom Ai mean, anyway?
It has been reported that Lage Nom Ai is patois, which roughly translates to a dialect of French Caribbean language, or as Jimmy Buffett has said, in “island patois” it means “man who gave up his own name”. With a little research, I have found other options for Lage Nom Ai as being “man no name”, or even “say no more” or “let it be”. I suppose it really depends on where your location in the Caribbean might be, or what a person was taught. I honestly speak no dialects of anything close to the Caribbean, so for the sake of this song, let’s go with the rough translation of “man who gave up his own name”, because that is basically what the song lyrics tell us.
But what does that mean?
It’s a catchy little song, full of steel drums and percussion that makes you feel like if you aren’t actually in the islands, you could at least pretend to be in the islands. It has an upbeat tempo and catchy lyrics, and you can sing along without even knowing what you are singing. If you even get the lyrics correct. I can assure you that the first time or two that I heard this song, I had no idea what I was singing along with, and even with looking at Lage Nom Ai (Nom Ai) lyrics, I was no doubt still getting it wrong.
But the great thing about this song is that doesn’t really stop you from feeling the rhythm and wanting to sing along.
So, what does it mean to be a person who gives up their own name? In a way it made me think almost immediately of marriage, when women are traditionally expected to assume their new spouses last name, although as I have grown older, I have really wondered why this is expected. Certainly, there are reasons and theories, but the marriage name game isn’t for this discussion.
The other thing that comes readily to mind is a person who changes their name, or assumes an alias, as a form of hiding from someone or disappearing from their own life. Which is what this song seems to be really about. It will not be the first or last time that Jimmy has written songs that talk about people giving up aspects of their old lives to start over, usually in a beach bar in the tropics, and giving up your name seems to fit right into this category.
“In a roll of cosmic dice, you win one heart and lose it twice, Before you know, Love is fine until you taste, This melancholy bouillabaisse called letting go…”
The song is right up the Jimmy Buffett Boulevard of Escapism and does it with steel drums and a catchy island beat. Escapism really covers almost every album Jimmy ever released, lands squarely on the pages of his novels and even ties to his stores, restaurants, hotels and even cruise ships. He even worked on two musicals about escapism, Don’t Stop The Carnival, based on Herman Wouk’s novel, and Escape To Margaritaville, based on Jimmy’s own music, one of which made it to Broadway, the biggest stage in America for musical theater.
And I think that Jimmy recognized in his fan base, not a large group of people who really wanted to change their names and go live in a beach shack forever or disappear into the jungle, but people who wanted to live like they could, for a week, a weekend, or even for a two-hour concert. People who just needed to escape from the realities and stress of their lives, if even for a little while.
Escapism that lasts as long as the song or album lasts. In a way, it’s like a cosmic lifestyle reset, and you can hit replay as many times as you might need.
Other songs to name a few about escapism in Jimmy’s basket of tricks are his classic Margaritaville, Fins, Cowboy In The Jungle, Livingston’s Gone To Texas, Boat Drinks, and One Particular Harbour. Even Desdemona and her Rock Ship are about escapism, just at a much more distant location.
“Nordstrom was a simple man, Who hatched a non-conformist plan to save his ass, Every night he danced alone, And blotted out the monotone that was his past…”
“He packs his bag of mysteries, And leaves the lonely memories where they belong, They came and went so easily, This rising tide identity, Sings like a song…”
So, what inspired this song?
A couple things are tied to the inspiration for this song. One is a novella included in the Jim Harrison literary work called Legends Of The Fall, which is actually a collection of three novellas. The middle novella in the series is titled The Man Who Gave Up His Name. The main character of that novella is a man called Nordstrom, who has some similarities to our song, including his name, dancing alone and moving to Boston, and generally leaving his previous life behind.
Jim Harrison was an American poet and novelist. He wrote books, both fiction and nonfiction, poems, essays, screenplays, memoirs and children’s literature, as well as reviews on food, travel and sports. He was born in Michigan, had a fairly normal upbringing besides losing an eye to a childhood accident. He got married, had some children and worked as a college professor before focusing on a full-time writing career.
Jim Harrison was a friend to Thomas McGuane, a writer friend of Jimmy’s who started as his landlord in Key West and eventually became Jimmy’s brother-in-law. Through Tom McGuane, Jimmy was introduced to Jim Harrison and a budding friendship was born.
And since Jim Harrison was a friend and acquaintance of Jimmy Buffett’s, they shared an interest in each other’s work and stories. As a matter of fact, they had a few road trips together under their belts with plenty of time to share stories and even worked on a documentary together, called Tarpon, which is about fly-fishing for tarpon off the coast of Key West. Harrison worked on the script and Jimmy Buffett worked on the music for the movie, and they both earned themselves free tickets to Paris and free room and board for several weeks while they worked on the project.
Jimmy has shared a funny story, about how during the filming of the project, with most of the filming crew speaking French, that Jimmy told them to let him know when they were edited down to 6 hours of footage, so he could come to Paris to start working on the music for the film. Instead, Jimmy arrived in Paris to find out that there was still over 600 hours of footage. He and Jim Harrison were both in Paris, staying at a large home that Jimmy referred to as a castle, and they had access to some good marijuana and the wine cabinet to pass the time until their input was needed for the film. Jimmy joked that they lived like Gypsies In The Palace for several weeks.
Then once they got down to the editing process, the men worked in an office building with other films being edited at the same time. One film that was being worked on was Emmanuelle, based on the novel The Joys Of A Woman. The film embraced its x-rating and became a huge success, which was the beginning of the Emmanuelle adult film franchise. Jimmy says that he and Jim were aware of the film Emanuelle that was being edited and Jimmy laughingly stated in an interview, that they two men often said to each other, “Boy, that movie is going to be a lot better than our fish movie”. While they might not have been able to compete with Emmanuelle in the box office, the film Tarpon is considered a cult classic (if your cult is fishing) and has become a favorite of fly fisherman everywhere.
Everyone and everything have their own perfect audience.
“He moved on up to old bean town, And summered on the vineyard sound, To pass the day, Island hopping, Crap cay bound, Tending bar he thinks he’s found a better way…”
But there is another interesting connection between Jimmy Buffett and Jim Harrison, and it comes to sharing stories. Jimmy said that he had told Jim that his grandfather was a sailor who shipped out to all sorts of exotic locations, and told the story about how Jimmy’s grandfather was in Cuba harbor in the early twenties, on Jimmy’s own father’s first birthday, and to celebrate and acknowledge the birthday, his grandfather raised his ships flag, which was then joined by many other ships flags in the harbor, all honoring Jimmy’s fathers first birthday.
This story ended up in one of Jimmy’s own songs, called False Echoes (Havana 1921), a poignant musical summary of a story that Jimmy shared with Jim Harrison many years before. In the novella Legends Of The Fall, when Tristan goes off to sea, Jim Harrison later told Jimmy that aspect of the story was about Jimmy’s grandfather and his leaving home and seeking adventure on the seas.
“Now were back where we belong, Without a clue and still without a master plan, Incident or accident, It all depends on if you’re meant to understand…”
So, Jimmy inspired Jim’s story, and Jim’s story inspired Jimmy’s song. What a lovely tribute to each other and a beautiful example of art inspiring art.
This song gets a fair amount of play on RadioMargaritaville, and thank goodness it does, which has certainly cemented it into my musical memory and love of all things Jimmy. The song also got a lot of play over the years in Jimmy’s live concerts and performances, especially in the late nineties and early two-thousands. It’s a fun song and was often used near the beginning of the set list to rev the crowd up, and most often it served as the show opener. That is actually quite an honor for a song, to get the party started at a Jimmy Buffett concert.
Well, the official party anyway, since the “unofficial” party usually really kicked off in parking lots and tail gates around concert venues across the country.
“Lage nom ai nom ai, When you know that life is just a game, Lage nom ai nom ai, He’s the man who gave up his own name…”
“He’s the man who gave up his own name… He’s the man who gave up his own name…”
I hope you enjoy the little bit of steel drum, island rhythm and escapism that this song provides, and now have a little more of an idea of what the Nordstrom in the song was escaping from, and even if you can’t escape your whole life, at least this song will help you escape for a few minutes of fun and relaxation. Lage Nom Ai style!!!
Stacy
Please enjoy Lage Nom Ai. I have included the link below. Enjoy!
1995 Studio Version:
The link is from Jimmy’s official YouTube channel, which I have no personal affiliation with.
Other links that might be of interest:
The beautiful pessimism at the heart of Jimmy Buffett’s music (theconversation.com)
Jimmy Buffett and Jim Harrison Had a Helluva Good Time in the ’70s – Men’s Journal (mensjournal.com)
