He Went To Paris

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 — Jimmy Buffet

Jimmy Buffet wrote the song years ago. I made this picture years ago. Aside from the subject, I thought it was appropriate to pair them. I made this picture using Tri-X, not the new and improved version, but the old school film. Yep. Film. From start to finish. I developed and printed it in a wet darkroom. It’s just that old.

I’m not always very creative. This is a fairly common scene on the river. It wasn’t hard to find. Just walk to it. Either bank is fine. Mostly, this is a tourist picture although I know a couple of world class photojournalists — brothers — who wander around making pictures like this of their adopted hometown.

First day of March.

Beware of the Ides.

Whatever they are.