Ten Favorite Jimmy Buffett Songs: He Went to Paris (#6)

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While Dorian is battering Florida it’s time to pray for those folks, and to think of sunnier days in the Sunshine State. For the past 40 years or so that’s usually brought Jimmy Buffett’s music to mind. Here’s another one of my favorite songs by him. #6: He Went to Paris Oh, will this song break your heart. Eddie Balchowsky is the name of the man who inspired the song. Embellished (Balchowsky was only 73 when he died, not living “86 years of perpetual motion;” furthermore, he lived in Chicago, not “the islands”), yes; however, the power of this song will knock you on your butt. A painful, brutal look at life (“the war took his baby, the bombs killed his lady and left him with only one eye” [Balchowsky lost his right arm to the elbow in the Spanish Civil War, not his eye]) and the proper attitude (“Jimmy, some of it’s magic, some of it’s tragic, but I’ve had a good life all the way”). It’s one of Buffett’s most popular songs among the Parrotheads. Buffett said on his first live album that it was his favorite. Good taste. He Went to Paris Written by Jimmy Buffett From A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean, 1973 He was impressive: