Joni Mitchell w/Pat Metheny & Jaco Pastorius - Free Man In Paris (Live 1979) [View all]

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Last edited Tue Sep 3, 2024, 10:19 PM - Edit history (1)

Santa Barbara Bowl, Santa Barbara, CA, September 9, 1979.

Joni Mitchell: Vocals, Guitar
Pat Metheny: Guitar
Michael Brecker: Tenor Saxophone
Jaco Pastorius: Bass
Don Alias: Drums, Percussion
Lyle Mays: Keyboards

Mitchell wrote “Free Man in Paris” about her close friend, David Geffen. She told the Los Angeles Times about a time in Paris with Geffen, The Band’s Robbie Robertson, and his then-wife, Dominique. Geffen lamented the stress of the music business and said he felt most “alive” in Paris, away from the office.
-American Songwriter

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 out 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

Songwriter: Joni Mitchell