Lyrics to
Free Man In Paris

This version of Free Man In Paris was released by Joni Mitchell in 1974.

Our Joni Mitchell Songs profile has Free Man In Paris lyrics from 1974 and most if not all of the lyrics by Joni Mitchell that we have here at Decade Lyrics.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Joni Mitchell or about the 1970s in general.

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 I had my way
I’d just walk through those doors
And wander down the Champs-Elysees
Going cafe 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
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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Want more lyrics and songs by Joni Mitchell?

Joni Mitchell has released many songs over the years besides Free Man In Paris. Joni Mitchell released songs from 1968 to 2007 spanning across albums like Song To A Seagull, Clouds, Ladies Of The Canyon, Blue, For The Roses, Court And Spark, The Hissing Of Summer Lawns, Hejira, Don Juan's Reckless Daughter, Mingus, Wild Things Run Fast, Dog Eat Dog, Chalk Mark In A Rainstorm, Night Ride Home, Turbulent Indigo, Taming The Tiger, Both Sides Now, and Shine. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Joni Mitchell.

If you're a fan of popular 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1974 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Free Man In Paris by Joni Mitchell

The lyrics for Free Man In Paris are defined as the words making up the song released by Joni Mitchell in 1974. It also includes the verses and words used by the background chorus in the song. Like many hit songs, the lyrics to Free Man In Paris have different meanings to different people. While it is clear in some of the lyrics what the artist is trying to really say, only Joni Mitchell and those working with them know all of the meanings behind all of the lyrics to their songs.

Some folks are interested in word and phrase etymology. It is easy to understand the lyrics to Free Man In Paris by Joni Mitchell if you think through it. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Free Man In Paris" means the words set to the music of Free Man In Paris, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Joni Mitchell. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Free Man In Paris and the lyrics to Free Man In Paris are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Joni Mitchell who came here looking just for the lyrics to Free Man In Paris, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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