A Two-Word Philosophy of Life: “Bubbles Up”
Few people would mistake singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett for a theologian.[1] Yet, like all of us, Jimmy had a philosophy of life.
The “tropical troubadour” died from a rare skin cancer on September 1, 2023. He was 76. Before his passing, Buffett was working on the album, Equal Strain on All Parts, which was released posthumously on November 3, 2023. The album includes the song, Bubbles Up, which contains a compelling two-word summary of Jimmy Buffett’s philosophy of life.
But where does the phrase “bubbles up” come from, and what does it mean?
Buffett wanted to be trained like a Navy Seal. While he wasn’t allowed to do the full training, his connection with a Rear Admiral allowed Jimmy to do part of the training. Seals are trained to find their way to the surface in case of a capsized boat. They’re submerged in the water in the dark to simulate the disorientation of a shipwreck. Just before Buffet was tossed overboard for his training exercise, he asked the Admiral for any advice. The Rear Admiral told him,
“The only advice I’m allowed to give is this. ‘Bubbles up.’ When you’re disoriented, follow the bubbles. They always go up.”
Paul McCartney praised the song, saying Buffett:
“Turned a diving phrase that is used to train people underwater into a metaphor for life when you’re confused and don’t know where you are just follow the bubbles — they’ll take you up to the surface and straighten you out right away.”
Bubbles Up is about regaining your orientation when you feel lost. Since Jimmy knew he was dying of cancer when he wrote the song, we can imagine something of the disorientation he was experiencing.
“Look Left, Look Up.”
Three years ago, right after Shirley’s stroke, Shirley and I were disoriented. We tell our story in Look Left, Look Up.
As an initial result of Shirley’s stroke, she experienced “left neglect”—her brain would not communicate to her eyes to look left. In her stroke rehab room, Shirley asked me to place a large sign on her right with the simple words, “Look Left” as a reminder to train her brain to teach her eyes to look left again.
This physical disorientation was accompanied by a spiritual disorientation that we both experienced as we sought to deal with the shock of Shirley’s life-threatening and life-altering stroke. So we constantly reminded ourselves to “Look Up.” We needed to look up to Christ and His good heart and good plans even when we couldn’t trace His hands. Here’s a picture of our rehab reminders to Look Left, Look Up.
The Lyrics
I had not heard Bubbles Up until earlier this week. As soon as I heard the song, and the story behind it, I thought of Look Left, Look Up. Here are the lyrics to Bubbles Up.
When this world starts a-reelin’
From that pressure drop feelin’
We’re just treading water each day
There’s a way to feel better
Be well set to weather
The storms ‘til the sun shines again
When your compass is spinnin’
And you’re lost on the way
Like a leaf in the wind, friend
Hear me when I say
Bubbles up
They will point you towards home
No matter how deep or how far you roam
They will show you the surface, the plot and the purpose
So, when the journey gets long
Just know that you are loved
There is light up above
And the joy is always enough
Bubbles up
To my friends who are jolly
When melancholy knocks
Sometimes they let her in
To sit and share stories
Of flops and of glories
It ain’t half as bad as the bends
Sometimes living’s a struggle
Multiplied double
But they love it too much
For the party to end
Bubbles up
They will point you towards home
No matter how deep or how far you roam
They will show you the surface
The plot and the purpose
So, when the journey gets long
Just know that you are loved (you are loved)
There’s light up above (up above)
And joy, there is always enough
Bubbles up
Let’s pop a cork to the rough and the right
To the bright blazing days
And the sweet starry nights
Bubbles up
They will point us towards home
No matter how deep or how far we roam
They will show you the surface
The plot and the purpose
So, when the journey gets long
Just know that you are loved (you are loved)
Ther’’s light up above (up above)
And joy, there’s always enough
Bubbles up
Bubbles up
Bubbles up
(Source: LyricFind, Songwriters: Jimmy Buffett / Will Kimbrough. Bubbles Up lyrics © Bluewater Music Corp.)
Here’s a link to the official Bubbles Up video.
And here’s the link to the official Bubbles Up video with lyrics.
Life Knocks Us Down and Disorients Us
If you’ve ever fallen out of a boat or been spun upside down and around by a rough ocean wave, you know that survival tip sailors and divers use: Bubbles up. Air bubbles always go up, leading you to the surface where you can breathe freely again. Bubbles Up captures Jimmy Buffett’s life philosophy. When life tosses you around like a wild wave, pause, exhale and follow the bubbles up.
I don’t know to what extent, if any, Jimmy Buffett was consciously communicating biblical principles (perhaps “subconsciously” from his religious upbringing?). But I sure hear a theology of life in his lyrics.
I hear not only “Bubbles Up,” but even more, “Look Up”—“Look Up to Jesus.”
In the opening words, I hear what sounds to me like biblical lament psalms. Like a Psalm 13, or a Psalm 88, or a Psalm 27.
When this world starts a-reelin’
From that pressure drop feelin’
We’re just treading water each day
There’s a way to feel better
Be well set to weather
The storms ‘til the sun shines again
When your compass is spinnin’
And you’re lost on the way
Like a leaf in the wind, friend
Hear me when I say
Sometimes living’s a struggle
Multiplied double
When melancholy knocks
Life in a fallen world “starts a-reelin.’ The stormy weather clouds our vision of God. Life in our sinful world disorients us, and blinds us—our “compass is spinnin’” and we’re “lost on the way like a leaf in the wind.” Surely we can agree that “sometimes living’s a struggle multiplied double.” Sometimes “melancholy knocks” and we experience depression, doubt, and despair (just read Psalm 88—the Lament Psalm of the Dark Night of the Soul).
“Bubbles Up.” “Look Up to Jesus!”
So what do we do? We do what lament psalms counsel us to do—we look up to God.
Bubbles up
They will point you towards home
No matter how deep or how far you roam
They will show you the surface, the plot and the purpose
So, when the journey gets long
Just know that you are loved
There is light up above
And the joy is always enough
Bubbles up
Point you toward home. When King David was disoriented due to enemies within and without, he needed to be pointed toward home—toward His heavenly Father—dwelling in the house of the Lord.
One thing I ask from the Lord,
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
and to seek him in his temple.
For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent
and set me high upon a rock (Psalm 27:4-5).
No matter how deep or how far you roam. This phrase reminds me of the prodigal son in Luke 15. Having roam far from home, he returned and received the Father’s grace, mercy, forgiveness, and love. David experienced this same grace.
Hear my voice when I call, Lord;
be merciful to me and answer me (Psalm 27:7).
They will show you the surface, the plot and the purpose. I just love this phrase! They will show you the surface—Look up! They will show you God’s affectionate sovereignty—the plot and the purpose. There you will see God.
My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, Lord, I will seek (Psalm 27:8).
“The plot and the purpose” reminds me of Romans 8:17-29 where the Apostle Paul suffers and struggles. Where Paul tells us that the Spirit groans with us in our pain. And where Paul reminds us that even in the worst days of our lives, God works all things together for good—Christ has a plot for our story and a purpose for our lives. But to see it, to sense it, to believe it, we must look up!
So, when the journey gets long, just know that you are loved, there is light up above. I don’t know exactly what Jimmy had in mind, but this phrase sure reminds me of the love of Christ.
Just know that you are loved, there is light up above.
When David was forsaken by everyone, he looked up above to His good Father’s love.
Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger;
you have been my helper.
Do not reject me or forsake me,
God my Savior.
Though my father and mother forsake me,
the Lord will receive me (Psalm 27:9-10).
Bubbles up.
Look up.
Parrot Heads and Christ the Head
Jimmy Buffet fans are known as “Parrot heads” or “Parrotheads.”
Ephesians 5:25-27 tells us about the love of Christ who is the Head of the Church.
“… as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”
Just know that you are loved, there is light up above—this love from above is the love of Christ our Savior who died to save us from our sins, to give our lives a plot and a purpose, and to one day welcome us home with Him forever.
Notes
[1]In his book, A Pirate Looks at Fifty, Buffett tells that he left the faith after attending Catholic school in his youth, but that he still attended Mass once a year. The lyrics of many of his songs wouldn’t be sung in church. However, there is a religious consciousness in many of his lyrics, especially related to a longing for the perfect, peaceful, purposeful existence—heaven on earth, or heaven itself, and the longing for real friendship—fellowship.
