When we think of the beach, we imagine a variety of things. Warm sand, crashing waves, the sun perched high in the sky; an image that seems very calming, peaceful, and relaxing. No matter which beach it is, it always induces this unique feeling of comfort and tranquility, facing a seemingly endless expanse of sun-touched water and blue skies.
For me, personally, I feel every bit of that and more. The beach tends to subtly let me know how small I am in the grand scheme of things, as I’m standing on the sand lining the Atlantic Ocean, but it’s oddly comforting. Besides what you would typically find comforting about the beach, like the nice weather, sound of the crashing waves, I find the expanse, the pure size of the ocean in front of me, comforting. It could be thought of as a reflection of the nearly infinite possibilities of people’s lives, which is how I personally think of it. Similarly, I find it almost poetic how the expanse of the ocean allows for travel in any direction to lead to somewhere else in the world. It assures me that no matter how far you travel, or in whatever direction you decide to go, you’ll always end up on another shore.
The beach is also heavily correlated with summer, which is thought of as a period of relaxation and freedom for many people. Students who have gotten out of school or college for summer break frequently head to the beach to soak up the warm weather without the worries of assignments, tests, or classes on their minds. Playing sports in the sand and swimming in the refreshingly brisk waves are summer favorites that can only be experienced at the beach, where the stresses of daily life seem to be lifted off your shoulders.
Something else about the beach that I’ve come to appreciate is how it remains constant throughout life. It’s a place you can always come back to and find everything where it was before; the ocean, the sand, and the sky are all still there, even as the boardwalks, dunes, or local towns change. When you come back to visit, no matter how long time passes, the beach is still there.
The beach being viewed as a constant in life has been expressed in multiple forms of art, as well. One specific case that I think gives the concept justice is Jimmy Buffett’s “Frenchman for the Night.”
“Frenchman for the Night” focuses on how a man visits the shore, and it takes him back to when he was young and in love. While at the shore on Bastille Day, a French national holiday celebrating the overthrow of the Bastille prison that ignited the French Revolution, he purchases a French wine and dances in the water on the beach. It’s implied that he’s reliving his life as “La Vie en rose,” most likely the version sung by Édith Piaf, a French singer, plays nearby. As described in the song, a woman that the man is in love with had waited on the shore for him, possibly a place the two of them would meet at when they were younger. However, time had flown faster than he had realized, and he’s only left with the memory of her in the present day.
The song uses the beach as a constant throughout the man’s life, especially when referencing how a woman from his past would wait for him at the shore, and how he reminisces those memories of love while dancing to “La Vie en rose,” which was created in the 1940s after World War II had ended. Throughout the song, the beach is a reminder of how the bittersweet nostalgia that stems from his past is kept alive.
This is one of my favorite songs by Jimmy Buffett, who has many songs along the themes of the beach and the tropics. I’ve loved his interpretation of the beach almost being like a window into your past, being able to relive those experiences all over again, like how the ocean reflects the sun, the moon, and the stars above. Those three celestial entities, along with every beach and ocean, have all been present for every event on Earth, like a time capsule for memories.
The shore is relaxing, peaceful, calming, fun, exciting, bittersweet, nostalgic, and maybe a mixture of all of those and more. No matter what memories the beach holds for you, it’s always a place that will hold a special place in your heart, capable of creating feelings that words cannot properly express.
