Jimmy Buffett speaks about a touching moment before singing one of his classic songs.
Not too many years ago, Jimmy Buffet sat down with his lovely daughter Savannah at his bar, Margaritaville, in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana to have a heart-to-heart and sing one of his songs, “Life Is Just a Tire Swing.”
Giving him the interview, Savannah spoke to him about Jazz Fest; how it was very family-oriented, and about how one of her favorite memories is when he and her watched Stevie Wonder in the pouring rain. Jimmy smiled and nodded yes while saying, “Yes, I remember.” As they thought about that for a moment, Savannah asked him, “Do you have any other particular moments that stand out?”
Jimmy answered, “The most touching moment was after the hurricane. When there was so much that went into whether they were going to have a Jazz Fest or not. Truly, when you look back retrospectivly, music saved the city. I have no doubt about that. And putting that festival on that year againsts all odds, and the people that supported it, was the rebirth of New Orleans as far as I’m concerned.”
Jimmy Playing “Life Is Just a Tire Swing”
After their talk about Jazz Fest and the hurricane, Savannah smiled and asked Jimmy if he’d maybe play a song for them if she could “hunt up” a guitar, to which he gladly said yes. She then informed him that she actually planted a guitar in the bar and it was right behind him.
“Oh, there’s a guitar over there. Let me get that,” Jimmy said, as he got out of his chair to reach for the instrument. “So, we can do the tire swing song,” he said, as he stummed the strings to make sure they were in tune.
“Sure, it’s your bar. We can do whatever you want,” Savannah replied.
“Oh, it is my bar! I always liked that,” Jimmy joked.
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Here’s the part of the song we heard Jimmy Buffet sing.
With a full salted-rimmed glass of margarita with a lemon in it sitting next to him, he strummed the cords to the iconic classic, “Life Is Just a Tire Swing,” and started to sing.
The song went a little something like this, “Life is just a tire swing / ‘Jambalaya’ still the only song I could sing / Like Blackberry pickin’, eatin’ fried chicken and I never knew a thing about pain / Life was just a tire swing / In a few summers my folks packed me off to camp / Yeah, me and my cousin’ Baxter in our pup tent with a lamp / In a few days Baxter went home and he left me by myself / But I knew that I’d stay, it was better that way, and I could get along without any help / Life was just a tire swing / Life was just a tire swing.”
Everyone loved his playing and honored him for his performance.
Everyone clapped, cheered, and clanked their glasses as Jimmy finished and Savannah honored her father by telling him how awesome it was to hear him play the song.
“Cheers dad, thank you so much for playing with us,” she said as father they cheersed.
“Thank you my hostest and daughter,” Jimmy said lauging before speaking a few french words proabbly no one understood but everyone clapped to.
The heartfelt moment just reminds us of how awesome of a person Jimmy Buffet was and how lovely his daughter Savannah was as well. You can watch the two in the full interview video below and listen to Jimmy performing the song.