In the United States Margaritaville reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and went to number one on the Easy Listening chart, also peaking at #13 on the Hot Country Songs chart. Billboard ranked it number 14 on its 1977 Pop Singles year-end chart. It remains Buffett's highest charting solo single.
Bare bodkin is the salient point (no pun intended) of this line, so it gets the stresses. This creates a pyrrhic/spondee/iamb/iamb/iamb rhythm. Bodkin at the time meant a sharp instrument, much like an awl, used for punching holes in leather.
Definition of swab. 1a : mop; especially : a yarn mopb (1) : a wad of absorbent material usually wound around one end of a small stick and used especially for applying medication or for removing material from an area (2) : a specimen taken with a swabc : a sponge or cloth patch attached to a long handle and used to clean the bore of a firearm.