50-Year-Old Songs: Free Man in Paris

Tweet

The Derby runs today, and I get to sleep in my own bed tonight. More to tell you about, and more music to enjoy! Here’s another song that’s now fifty years old. Wow. Back to 1974 with another song that could’ve made the top ten in any other year. Free Man in Paris - Joni Mitchell No, this isn’t one of those “Lola”-type songs. The “free man” in question is David Geffen, who was the co-founder of Asylum Records. That just happened to be Joni Mitchell’s record label at the time. No, she wasn’t trying to get on his good side. They were friends before Asylum Records came along. And, if he named the label Asylum, you KNOW that Geffen didn’t like the business of “stoking the star-making machine behind the popular song.” As with a number of cool songs, you don’t have to know any of that to enjoy this. In fact, there’s a bit in the Picky Wedia entry on this song that says Bob Dylan interpreted it as being about “where freedom and the guillotine lived side by side.” The Grammys may have had their highest ratings in years earlier this year on the strength of Joni’s appearance. At 80, she’s one of the elder stateswomen of rock and roll. God bless her. Free Man in Paris Written by Joni Mitchell Recorded by Joni Mitchell From Court and Spark, 1974 Unfettered and alive: