Wagner at the Opera

I'm laying on the pavement

And the last thing I recall

Picked up by the arms and legs

And taken from the hall

For squaring up to culture

In the circle and the stall

All because they're playing Wagner at the opera

All because they're playing Wagner at the opera

Hurt can make you act without

Apology or regret

Over half a century

But still I can't forget

Ideology makes a mockery

Of the string quartet

All because they're playing Wagner at the opera

All because they're playing Wagner at the opera

When they came to take me

I was standing on a chair

I can't keep quiet

I have something to declare

Listen to my rattle

For my rattle says "Beware"

All because they're playing Wagner at the opera

All because they're playing Wagner at the opera

A rattle for remembering

The rattle of the chains

A rattle for remembering

The rattle of the trains

From Warsaw down the decades

To hell and home again

All because they're playing Wagner at the opera

All because they're playing Wagner at the opera

For everyone we lost

I swing the rattle loud and long

I swing it 'til I drown out

All the music and the songs

This tattoo will last forever

And my memory is long

Here's to no more playing Wagner at the opera

Here's to no more playing Wagner at the opera

Here's to no more playing Wagner at the opera