He went to Paris lookin' for answers

To questions that bothered him so

He was impressive, young and aggressive

Savin' the world on his own



But the warm summer breezes

The French wines and cheeses

Put his ambition at bay

The summers and winters

Scattered like splinters

And four or five years slipped away



Then he went to England, played the piano

And married an actress named Kim

They had a fine life, she was a good wife

And bore him a young son named Jim



And all of the answers and all of the questions

Locked in his attic one day

'Cause he liked the quiet clean country livin'

And twenty more years slipped away



Well the war took his baby, the bombs killed his lady

And left him with only one eye

His body was battered, his whole world was shattered

And all he could do was just cry



While the tears were a-fallin' he was recallin'

Answers he never found

So he hopped on a freighter, skidded the ocean

And left England without a sound



Now he lives in the islands, fishes the pilin's

And drinks his Green Label each day

Writing his memoirs, losin' his hearin'

But he don't care what most people say



Through eighty-six years of perpetual motion

If he likes you he'll smile and he'll say