After visiting St. Barts by boat in the late ’70s, Jimmy Buffett settled on a home in the small village of Baie de St. Jean in 1978, where his family could go during the winters. A year later, his first daughter, Savannah, was born, and she had many of her first memories on the island with her father at Maison Blanche.
“We had a house called Maison Blanche, which was at the top of the hill, and I remember her [Savannah] riding down that hill in a Mini Moke convertible,” recalled Buffett. “She was very curious and liked the air in her hair.”
Buffett was inspired by his daughter’s carefree spirit living on the French West Indies island and wrote “Little Miss Magic” about his daughter’s younger years. “I think when you write about your children, people probably connect to that,” said Buffett. “I don’t write for myself. I write because I think that as a performer, you’re writing stuff that you project out that you hope will make some connection with an audience, and sometimes they will take it home after the show, and you’ll connect deeper.”
He continued, “Some songs will connect deeper than others, and I think this is one of them.”
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“Little Miss Magic”
A lesser-known track on Buffett’s tenth studio album, Coconut Telegraph from 1981, “Little Miss Magic” captures the sweet innocence of childhood, seen through the eyes of a father.
Constantly amazed by the blades of the fan on the ceiling
This clever little glances she gives me can’t help but be appealing
She loves to ride into town with the top down
Feel that warm breeze on her gentle skin, she is my next of kin
I see a little more of me every day
I see a little more mustache turning gray
Your mother still the only other woman for me
Little Miss Magic, what you gonna be?
Sometimes I catch her dreamin’ and wonder where that little mind meanders
Is she strollin’ on the shore or cruisin’ o’er the broad savannahs?
I know one day she’ll learn to make up her own rhymes
One day she’s gonna learn how to fly, oh, that I won’t deny
I catch a little more dialogue comin’ my way
I see those big brown eyes just start to lookin’ astray
Your mother’s still the only other woman for me
Little Miss Magic, what you gonna be?
‘Songs You Don’t Know By Heart’
“Little Miss Magic” was one of 15 tracks Buffett revisits on his 2021 album, Songs You Don’t Know By Heart, a collection of rarely played songs from his nearly 50-year career. The album was fueled by Buffett fans, who first suggested he re-release some rarer songs since he was off the road during the pandemic. The album formed a tracklist after tens of thousands of fans responded to the question posted on the artist’s social media: “What little-known Jimmy Buffett songs would you like him to revisit?”
The top songs were tallied, and Buffett and his daughter, filmmaker Sarah Delaney Buffett, began shooting a weekly video series around each track and shared the stories behind each song. “The concept was to film dad and give intimate looks into songs and go down memory lane,” said Delaney. “I sat down one-on-one with him and got an unplugged version of these songs. Not only to jog his memory, but also mine to remember the stories he would tell.”
Produced by Buffett’s longtime collaborator and Coral Reefer bandmate Mac McAnally, Songs You Don’t Know By Heart features deeper cuts pulled from nearly half of Buffett’s 30 albums, including “The Captain and the Kid,” off 1970 debut Down to Earth, “Chanson Pour Les Petits Enfants” from Volcano, “Tin Cup Chalice,” off Buffett’s fifth album, 1974’s A1A, “Delaney Talks to Statues” off 1994’s Fruitcakes, and more deeper cuts.
“The interesting thing about being quarantined and not being out there running at full speed is to do this and look back on these songs, because I forget I’ve been doing this for 45 years,” said Buffett. “I’ve written a lot of songs, and it’s kind of having a little vacation with my former self to play these songs.”
Photo: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images
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