Jimmy Buffett’s 5 Odes to His Beloved City of New Orleans

Upon graduating from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1969, Jimmy Buffett moved to New Orleans and worked briefly as a reporter at Billboard magazine, before releasing his debut album Down To Earth in 1970 and moving to Nashville. While living in New Orleans for one year, Buffet was often busking on Decatur Street in the French Quarter and playing at Bourbon Street bars, an experience that left him with a lifelong love for the Big Easy.

By the late ’80s, Buffett became a mainstay at the annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival since his first appearance there in 1989, often including songs in his set—his own and covers—honoring the city.

“This is where it all started,” said Buffett on stage during his 2012 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival performance. “New Orleans was my Paris before I got to Paris.”

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Within Buffett’s catalog, it’s hard not to hear references to the Crescent City from”Life is Just a Tire Swing” in 1974—And I’ve never been West of New Orleans, or East of Pensacola— to his 1977 song “Biloxi” singing And the storms will blow from off towards New Orleans … And the Sun will set from off towards New Orleans … And the sky is red from off towards New Orleans.

In “I Will Play for Gumbo” from his 1999 album Beach House on the Moon, Buffett declares Don’t beignets, too much sugar and dough—an honest nod to Cafe du Monde in New Orleans—but I will play for Gumbo.

When Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, Buffett went to the city to perform benefit concerts and would play Steve Goodman’s 1971 song “City of New Orleans.” He later recorded a live version of Louis Armstrong’s “Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans” for his 2010 album Encores, along with many more lyrical tokens to the city he always loved.

[RELATED: Jimmy Buffett’s First Hit and a Song That Helped Save His Life, “Come Monday”]

A devoted New Orleans Saints fan, Buffett also performed the Live from New Orleans television special in 1992 and appeared on an episode of NCIS: New Orleans.

Buffett also wrote more specific songs in tribute to New Orleans, including these five spanning the early 1970s through one final tribute to Bourbon Street on his last album Equal Strain on All Parts.

“The Wino and I Know” (1974)

Written by Jimmy Buffett

On his fourth album Living and Dying in ¾ Time, Buffett sings about everything from the ups and downs and life lessons learned in the Big Easy—In a Bourbon Street bar, I received my first scar—to the strong coffee and hot beignets at Cafe Du Monde.

The ice cream man he’s a hillbilly fan
Got seventy-eights by Hank Snow
Walks down the street, shufflin’ his feet
To a rhythm that only he knows

And I’ve seen him in so many places
I saw him the night I was born
In a Bourbon Street bar, I received my first scar
From an old man so tattered and torn

And the wino and I know the pain of street singin’
Like a door-to-door salesman knows the pains of bell ringin’
Strange situation, wild occupation
Livin’ my life like a song

Coffee is strong at the Cafe Du Monde
Donuts are too hot to touch
Just like a fool, when those sweet goodies cool
I eat ’til I eat way too much

“Breathe In, Breathe out, Move On” (2006)

Written by Jimmy Buffett and Matt Betton

Take the Weather with You marked Buffett’s 26th album and was released a year after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. On the album, Buffett shares “Bama Breeze,” an homage to the beach-front bars along the coast that were destroyed by the hurricane, and another song he co-wrote for Coral Reefer Matt Betton for the victims of the hurricane on the heartfelt acoustic ballad “Breath In, Breathe Out, Move On.”

The song is one of resilience mixed with metaphors and imagery of the effects Katrina had on his beloved city—And it poured, the earth began to strain / Pontchartrain leaking through the door, tides at war.

And it rained, it was nothing really new
And it blew, we’ve seen all that before
And it poured, the earth began to strain
Pontchartrain leaking through the door, tides at war

If a hurricane doesn’t leave you dead
It will make you strong
Don’t try to explain it, just nod your head
Breathe in, breathe out, move on

“Serpentine” (2013)

Written by Jimmy Buffett and Mac McAnally

Buffett’s 28th album Songs from St. Somewhere from 2013, went to No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and without missing a beat, revisits New Orleans again in “Serpentine.” Mardi Gras where I learned to have fun sings Buffet on this homage to the annual festival and being enticed by the beads and confetti, flambeaux, and the Ava Gardner stare of the Carnival Queen.

Beads and confetti were littering the air
When the Queen looked at me with her Ava Gardner stare
Though tomorrow would bring ashes and penance by the ton
Mardi Gras where I learned to have fun

There’s a flambeaux man with a gold earring
And the cold north wind smells like kerosene
I’m still in love with the Carnival Queen
I want to wrap her in serpentine

“Blame It On New Orleans” (2017)

Narrative by Jimmy Buffett

In 2017, Buffett released Buried Treasure: Volume 1, a collection of unreleased demos that he recorded in 1969, which were unearthed by John and Martina McBride and Buffett’s first producer Travis Turk at the Creative Workshop Studio (renamed Blackbird Studio) in Nashville producer Buzz Cason (1939-2024). “Jimmy is a great writer and storyteller,” said Turk of the find. “This is the origin point.”

The McBrides originally purchased the studio in 2002 from Cason—who co-wrote “Ellis Dee (He Ain’t Free)” on Buffett’s 1970 debut and several more tracks on his 1971 follow-up High Cumberland Jubilee. The first session at the studio, where Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, the Judds, and the Doobie Brothers, among others, also recorded, was for Buffett’s High Cumberland Jubilee.)

Along with the songs released on Buried Treasure: Volume 1, there is one outlier track, a narrated piece by Buffett, “Blame It On New Orleans” and his reflections while listening back to some of the old songs.

“Listening to these tracks brings up a lot of memories about the source of the lyrics of these early songs,” Buffett says on the track. “Most of them came out of the fact that when I returned to Mobile after several years of playing and living in New Orleans, I started writing songs. New Orleans will do that to you.”

“University of Bourbon Street,” Featuring Preservation Hall Jazz Band (2024)

Written by Jimmy Buffett and Will Kimbrough

Buffett’s final album, Equal Strain on All Parts, released two months after his death in 2023, featured 14 final tracks, including one last ode to New Orleans, “The University of Bourbon Street.” In the song, Buffett sings about the life and musical lessons and education he received from the city—I got my Lucky Dog Ph.D. at the University of Bourbon Street.

From the music and the people
To the cookin’ and the joy
It really ain’t a mystery
I just followed my dancin’ feet
To the University of Bourbon Street

I got my Lucky Dog Ph.D.
At the University of Bourbon Street
Yeah, I just followed my dancin’ feet
To the University of Bourbon Street
And a Po’ Boy Master’s Degree
At the University of Bourbon Street

The music video is a patchwork of scenes from Buffett’s many times in the city throughout the decades, along with footage of him recording in the studio, despite battling a rare form of skin cancer.

Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic