Hit it 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 talking you down Now, I do my best and I do a 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 And you know I'd go back there tomorrow But for the work I've taken on Stoking the star-making 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 out those doors And wander down the Champs-Élysées 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 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 Smoking the star-making machinery Behind the popular song