I have a favorite song. It was patched together by Jimmy Buffett, inspired by the life of a one-armed pianist, Eddie Balchowsky. The song was released in 1973. I discovered it many years later – and rediscovered it a few days ago.
I love it because it tells a life story. It starts with a young man “looking for answers to questions that bothered him so.” As his life fills up, he sticks his questions in the attic, only to explore the answers in his 80s.
I’m deeply touched by the lyrics, and I can’t quite figure out why. Maybe I hear pieces of many people’s lives in this one beautiful song.
In the end, the man turns to Buffett and sums up his existence this way, “Jimmy, some of it’s magic, some of it’s tragic, but I had a good life all the way.”
I hope, when I’m 86, I can have a similar answer to “questions that bother me so.”