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Free Man in Paris

"The way I see it," he said
"You just can't win it...
Everybody's in it for their own gain
You can't please 'em all
There's always somebody calling you down
I do my best
And I do good business
There's a lot of people asking for my time
They're trying to get ahead
They're trying to be a good friend of mine

I was a free man in Paris 

I felt unfettered and alive 

There was nobody calling me up for favors 

And no one's future to decide 

You know I'd go back there tomorrow 

But for the work I've taken on 

Stoking the star maker machinery 

Behind the popular song 

I deal in dreamers 

And telephone screamers 

Lately I wonder what I do it for 

If l had my way 

I'd just walk through those doors 

And wander Down the Champs Elysees 

Going cafe to cabaret 

Thinking how I'll feel when I find 

That very good friend of mine 

I was a free man in Paris 

I felt unfettered and alive 

Nobody was calling me up for favors 

No one's future to decide 

You know I'd go back there tomorrow 

But for the work I've taken on 

Stoking the star maker machinery 

Behind the popular song."

(Joni Mitchell, Court and Spark, 1974)