Ship of Fools Lyrics

Reinhard Mey, The Ship of Fools - 1998

A sea shanty


The mercury's falling, all signs point to storm
But bitching and giggling is heard from the helm
And a dull grinding sound coming up from the machine

With rolling and pounding, and heavy seas
The deck orchestra plays "Nearer to Thee"
And crazed laughter rings out from the latrine

The cargo is rotten, all the papers are fake
The bulkheads block, and the bilgepumps leak
All hatches wide open, alarm bells are a-ringing

The seas roll in, man high, down the hold
St. Elmo's fire flickers from the derrick yard
But no one on board is able to see what's coming

The helmsman's lying, the captain's a junky
The engineer's lost in his lethargy
And the crew, all villains on perjury,
Won't send SOS, they're too cowardly
On the ship of fools that a Hobgoblin steers
Full speed ahead, and straight for the reef!

Sheet lightning afar - the signs o' the times
Wickedness, and pettiness, and vanity blinds
Those fools on the bridge, and the simple minded

In muddied waters, the sawtoothed shark
Is landing his catch, to bypass the tax
On the Sand Bank, a well known treasure island

Where moneycleaners wait, together with pimps,
Slotmachine barons and brothel kings
In broad daylight, no one needs to be hiding

In the banana republic, where even the president
Without scruples, or shame, likes to decorate
Himself with tax thiefs in his following

The helmsman's lying, the captain's a junky
The engineer's lost in his lethargy
And the crew, all villains on perjury,
Won't send SOS, they're too cowardly
On the ship of fools that a Hobgoblin steers
Full speed ahead, and straight for the reef!

One has made it all up, and all is arranged
Those once high ideals irrefutably damaged
And the big rebel, who never got tired of fighting

Mutates into a servile, poisonous gnome
And sings lamely for the bad old man in Rome
His songs, indeed: "The Times they are a-Changing"

Once young savages have all become tame
Narcotized, bought, obedient and lame
They have traded sharp claws for some velvet paws

And vain old men boldly show themselves
With far too young women on the upper shelves
Who warm limp limbs and chew for toothless jaws

The helmsman's lying, the captain's a junky
The engineer's lost in his lethargy
And the crew, all villains on perjury,
Won't send SOS, they're too cowardly
On the ship of fools that a Hobgoblin steers
Full speed ahead, and straight for the reef!

Look out for the enemy! But the enemy's inside,
His arm round your throat, coming up from behind
Protected by law, he plays his marked cards

And all look away, though everyone can see
And bad men, out of cover, with impunity
Sell drugs, right in front of the kindergarten

The lookout on the mast cries: End times are near!
But they're all as if petrified, and don't want to hear
Like lemmings, they run in a willingless horde

It is as if everyone has lost their mind
Conspiring with the others to decay and decline
And a will-o'-the-wisp has now become their beacon.

The helmsman's lying, the captain's a junky
The engineer's lost in his lethargy
And the crew, all villains on perjury,
Won't send SOS, they're too cowardly
On the ship of fools that a Hobgoblin steers
Full speed ahead, and straight for the reef!

The helmsman's lying, the captain's a junky
The engineer's lost in his lethargy
And the crew, all villains on perjury,
Won't send SOS, they're too cowardly
On the ship of fools that a Hobgoblin steers
Full speed ahead, and straight for the reef!


Full speed ahead, and straight for the reef!


---------


This song dates back to 1998 -
but as its author, the German
singer / songwriter
Reinhard Mey himself says,

"It gets truer with every government."


A live performance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWQUyDU4-oA