“Free Man in Paris”

Insomnia has rendered me nearly insensate today, but I plan a nice science post tomorrow, assuming I’ll be able to write and think. Today we get music.

“Free Man in Paris” is a song written, sung, and performed by Joni Mitchell, describing record and film producer David Geffen kvetching about busy life in the US, where many people importuned him constantly. It’s about his celebrating his freedom from that importuning in Paris. The song first appeared on Mitchell’s “Court and Spark” album in 1974.

Geffen originally signed Joni to Asylum Records (part of Atlantic), and here’s a bit more about the song from the Wikipedia links above:

Joni Mitchell and Geffen were close friends and, in the early 1970s, made a trip to Paris with Robbie Robertson and Robertson’s wife, Dominique. As a result of that trip, Mitchell wrote “Free Man in Paris“ about Geffen.

The song is about music agent/promoter David Geffen, a close friend of Mitchell in the early 1970s, and describes Geffen during a trip the two made to Paris with Robbie Robertson and Dominique Robertson. While Geffen is never mentioned by name, Mitchell describes how he works hard creating hits and launching careers but can find some peace while vacationing in Paris. Mitchell sings “I was a free man in Paris. I felt unfettered and alive. Nobody calling me up for favors. No one’s future to decide.”

I love this song, as I love Joni—at the top of singers/songwriters/musicians of our era. Here she is playing it in 1979. The sax is great, and Joni plays electric. (The recorded version is here.)