Day #36 – Delaney Talks To Statues

Day #36 – Delaney Talks To Statues

In a Rolling Stone magazine article from November 2020, three full years ago now, Jimmy was quoted as saying, “It’s been a large silver lining to spend this time with Delaney revisiting these songs and having the time to recall the inspirations behind them.”

I am not certain if Jimmy or Delaney had any idea the impact that these video interviews would have on Jimmy’s fans, but they certainly did. I for one loved watching them all before, but after Jimmy’s passing, they have a whole deeper meaning for me, and I am so grateful to this father and daughter team for providing us with such a special and personal series.

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Original post from 10/7/2023

Day #36 – Delaney Talks To Statues

Delaney Talks To Statues was released on Jimmy’s studio album Fruitcakes in 1994, which was the first “new release” I purchased after becoming a Parrothead the year before. I listened to this album over and over again and knew the words to this one by heart.

Sarah Delaney Buffett was born to Jimmy and Jane in 1991. She is named after Jimmy’s father JD (James Delaney) Buffett. I am not sure at what point in her young life they decided to call her by her middle name, but pretty early, since this song was released when she was three.

Besides being fan enough to know the names of Jimmy’s children, she wasn’t much on my radar until the pandemic. During Covid lockdowns, Jimmy was no different than most of us, separated from family and friends, and in his case, millions of fans. The idea was introduced to do a fan poll about “little known” songs that people would like to see revisited.

So, Delaney, who was studying film making (and is budding writer herself), and Jimmy did a series of videos, talking about these songs and ending with Jimmy doing an acoustic version of the songs. As you could imagine, I loved this video series. MargaritavilleTV carried them first and now they can be found in several places, including YouTube. The series is called Directed By Delaney, and it is absolutely priceless!

These are a lovely look at the music and a heartfelt look at a Father-Daughter relationship. And they spawned a new album called Songs You Don’t Know By Heart, a play on words of JB’s first greatest hits album called Songs You Know By Heart. In the video, Jimmy And Delaney reminisce about the song and moments that inspired it, and he refers to her as “the second child” and that he knew he wanted to write a song for each of his children.

If you were wondering, I absolutely already knew every one of these songs by heart and have enjoyed Jimmy taking them back into the studio and rerecording them for his fans. I am absolutely grateful that Jimmy and Delaney took the time to do this for the fans, even more so now, in the wake of Jimmy’s loss.

JB cowrote this song with Mac McAnally, who hadn’t joined the Coral Reefers yet, and Amy Lee, saxophonist who was already a member of the band. Jimmy also reports he thinks this was his and Mac’s first songwriting collaboration.

This is a gentle and touching song. Please enjoy the studio version of Delaney Talks To Statues. I have included the link in the comments below. 

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Song’s You Don’t Know By Heart, is a fabulous retake of some of Jimmy’s classic songs, and if not for Delaney, I don’t see how it ever would have come into existence. If you haven’t had a chance to listen to this album or any of the tracks on it, I suggest that it’s absolutely worth it!

Stacy

Please enjoy Delaney Talks To Statues. I have included the link below. Enjoy!

The link is from Jimmy’s official YouTube channel, which I have no personal affiliation with.