Allen Touissant wrote “Hang With Jimmy Buffett”

Allen Touissant wrote “Hang With Jimmy Buffett”

The late Allen Touissant wrote a song about his friend, Jimmy Buffett and there is a recording of him singing Hang With Jimmy Buffett at the 2005 Jazz Fest: “I don’t believe it has to be like this; Life holds more than a single twist; I saw some birds flying south today; I think my feathered friends have pointed the way. I’m gonna hang with Jimmy Buffett; Gonna swing with Jimmy Buffett; I’m gonna lay back in the sun; Partake of all the fun; I’m gonna hang with Jimmy Buffett.’’
Buffett compared Touissant’s work as a producer, pianist, songwriter (Southern Nights), musical genius and composer and his influence on New Orleans music to Satchmo himself. Touissant (and Jesse Winchester) were part of Buffett’s 2010 free convert at Gulf Shores Public Beach.
“It is rare in anybody’s life that your heroes wind up being your close friends,” Buffett wrote on facebook after Touissant’s passing in 2015.
“More than often those we worship from afar don’t quite measure up. But Allen was simply one of the good guys. When I realize I can’t text him about the Saints. When I go to New Orleans next week and there realize, that we can’t have dinner and talk about new talent in the city or plan fishing trips on Long Island next summer. That is when I will know that he is gone. But as the good nuns and brothers used to tell us, ‘The soul lives forever.’
“Too many gifted people either squander their talent or never get to see themselves and their work appreciated fully. That was certainly not the case with the ‘Maestro.’ He has left to the city he loved so much, a legacy, in my humble opinion, equal to Louis Armstrong. The body of work that his soul produced is hard to wrap your head around. Allen went out doing what he loved – playing for people. You can’t ask for more than that.”