[Intro]
               7/8
| C D F*   | C G A    |
            3/8  4/4
| C D F*  | C G | A | % |
[Verse]
           A 
"The way I see it", he said, 
                D/A 
"You just can't win it ... 
            C/G 
Everybody's in it for their own gain 
                      G 
You can't please them all 
               F                    A 
There's always somebody calling you down 
                           D/A 
I do my best and I do good business 
                        C/G 
There's a lot of people asking for my time 
                       G 
They're trying to get ahead 
                  F                    A   %  
They're trying to be a good friend of mine
[Chorus]
        F/C 
I was a free man in Paris 
         G              C 
I felt unfettered and alive 
                 Asus4             D 
There was nobody calling me up for favors 
             A 
And no one’s future to decide 
             F/C 
You know I'd go back there tomorrow 
            G               C 
But for the work I've taken on 
            Asus4        D 
Stoking the star-maker machinery  
           A 
Behind the popular song
[Instrumental]
| Em9 | A | Em9 | A |
               7/8
| C D F*   | C G A    |
            3/8  4/4
| C D F*  | C G | A | % |
[Verse]
          A 
I deal in dreamers 
              D/A 
And telephone screamers 
         C/G 
Lately I wonder what I do it for 
            G 
If I had my way 
         F                            A 
I'd just walk through those doors and wander 
                 D/A 
Down the Champs-Élysées 
              C/G 
Going café to cabaret  
                            G 
Thinking how I'll feel when I find 
     F                     A   %  
That very good friend of mine
[Chorus]
        F/C 
I was a free man in Paris 
         G              C 
I felt unfettered and alive 
                 Asus4             D 
There was nobody calling me up for favors 
             A 
And no one’s future to decide 
             F/C 
You know I'd go back there tomorrow 
            G               C 
But for the work I've taken on 
            Asus4        D 
Stoking the star-maker machinery  
           A 
Behind the popular song["]
[Instrumental]
| Em9 | A | Em9 | A |
[Outro]
               7/8 
  C D F*     C G A     
               7/8 
  C D F*     C G A     
            3/8 
  C D F*    C G    A