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 them all
There's always somebody draggin' you down
I do my best and I do good business
There's a lot of people askin' for my time
They're tryin' to get ahead
They're tryin' to be a good friend of mine
I was a free man in Paris
I felt unfettered and alive
There was nobody callin' 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 I had my way
I'd just walk through those doors and wander
Down the Champs Elysees
Going café to cabaret
Thinking how I'd feel when I find
That very good friend of mine
I was a free man in Paris
I felt unfettered and alive
There was nobody callin' 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