[Verse 1] 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
[Chorus] 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
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“Free Man in Paris” is Joni Mitchell’s story of music promoter/agent David Geffen’s discontent with the music business.
Thematically the song tackles a desire for a simpler life, and a rejection of the politics and the general smoke and mirrors business of music.
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What did Joni Mitchell say about "Free Man in Paris"?
I wrote that in Paris for David Geffen [the entertainment mogul and then-president of her record label], taking a lot of it from the things he said… . Another song about show business and the pressures. He didn’t like it at the time. He begged me to take it off the record. I think he felt uncomfortable being shown in that light.