He went to Paris

looking for answers

to questions that bothered him so



He was impressive,

young and aggressive,

saving the world on his own

Warm summer breezes

and french wines and cheeses

put his ambitions at bay



summers and winters

scattered like splinters

and four or five years slipped away



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

to all of the questions

locked in his attic one day

he liked the quiet

clean country living

and twenty more years slipped away



well, the war took his baby

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'

the 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 pylons

and drinks his green label each day

he's writing his memoirs

and losing his hearing

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,

"some of it's magic,

and some of it's tragic,

but I had a good life all the way"



He went to Paris

looking for answers

to questions that bothered him so