"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 someone calling you down
Calling you down, calling you down
But I do my best
And I do good business, I do it well
There's a lot of people asking for my time
Trying to get ahead
They're trying to be a good friend of mine

I deal in dreamers and telephone screamers
Lately I wonder what I do it for
If l had my way
I'd walk through those doors
And wander down the Champs-Élysées
Going café 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
(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 was a free man in Paris
(I felt unfettered and alive)
Nobody was 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)