<P> Buffett wrote the song about musician Eddie Balchowsky, a one - armed Spanish Civil War veteran he met while playing in Chicago . On the live album You Had to Be There, Buffett mentions this as a favorite song he wrote . </P> <P> The song appears on Songs You Know By Heart, a greatest hits compilation that includes Buffett's concert favorites ranging from 1973 to 1979 . However, "He Went to Paris" was the only song off that album that Buffett rarely played live, until he found out that Bob Dylan likes the song and decided to start playing it on a more frequent basis . Buffett included a live version, recorded in Paris, France in 2009, on his album "Encores". </P> <P> Outlaw country singer Waylon Jennings covered the song on his 1980 album Music Man . </P>

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