We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

The Muffled Drum

from CURLY'S AIRSHIPS by JUDGE SMITH

/

lyrics

CURLY:-
Then I was standing in the rain,
Watching her burn,
And there was dear old Airey
In his flying kit,
Just as I remembered him.

AIREY:-
I've been expecting you, you ass...

CURLY:-
He said.

They took them back:
Those hard, black, crusty,
Anonymous, stinking things,
Things that we didn't need now,
Back to the Lying in State,
The grand cortege,
The silent crowd a half-a-million strong, That official, noble grief
We British do so bloody well,
Back to the Mass Grave
And the Muffled Drum...

But, as they poked around the wreckage,
Slippery underfoot with human fat,
They found, beneath the ashes,
A woman's shoe...

Oh horror! Could there have been...
Oh calamity and dishonour,
A Woman on board?

A secret investigation at the highest level
Finally revealed
That the shoe had belonged
To Lord Thompson,
Though I can't imagine
What he used it for...

All dead but six,
No officers or VIPs among them,
And they didn't get much to say
At the Enquiry;
It was understood...

SENIOR COMMITTEEMAN:-
Let sleeping dogs...

JUNIOR COMMITTEEMAN:-
Least said, soonest...

CHAIRMAN:-
Laundry in public...

SENIOR COMMITTEEMAN:-
Not in the National Interest...

JUNIOR COMMITTEEMAN:-
De Mortuis...

CHAIRMAN:-
Spilt milk...

SENIOR COMMITTEEMAN:-
No one to blame...

JUNIOR COMMITTEEMAN:-
One of those things...

ALL:-
Kismet!

CHAIRMAN:-
Just make damn sure that the other ship
Won't fly again.
If the thing was a success,
It would make us look bad.
Send it for scrap the first moment
That we possibly can.

credits

from CURLY'S AIRSHIPS, released April 10, 2020
Vocal Credits:-
CURLY - JUDGE
AIREY & SENIOR COMMITTEEMAN - DAVID SHAW-PARKER
THE CHAIRMAN - ARTHUR BROWN
THE JUNIOR COMMITTEEMAN - NICK LUCAS

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

JUDGE SMITH Glastonbury, UK

Judge Smith co-founded the band Van der Graaf Generator in 1967 with Peter Hammill, & has since been involved in many music projects as writer, composer or performer. He has written stage musicals, classical & rock libretti, songs for television & a book on Life after Death; directed a prize-winning short film, & released fourteen CDs & two DVDs. He was born in 1948 & lives near Glastonbury, UK. ... more

contact / help

Contact JUDGE SMITH

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like JUDGE SMITH, you may also like: