Here I am again in the ship's post office

I want to send a telegram

Send it to the captain

Asking where the hell I am



I've been on this luxury cruise

For twenty five years or more

And I've just begun to wonder

Where we're headed for



Band keeps playing American songs from 1973

Getting wise to the officer's lies

That we've even got a country

You say we're independent

And we've even got the right to choose

Well we're sick of doing nothing

We'd like some work,

We'd like some work,

We'd like some work to do



Swimming pools, the cocktail parties

You keep us plied with drink

But when we cruised through South East Asia

It made us stop and think



We never take on passengers

Though we seem to have lots of room

And I can't escape the notion captain

That this is a floating tomb



Band keeps playing American songs from 1973

Getting wise to the officer's lies

That we've even got a country

You say we're independent

And we've even got the right to choose

Well we're sick of doing nothing

We'd like some work,

We'd like some work,

We'd like some work to do



Some of us have calculated

We must be short of oil

Someone mentioned fission

And blood began to boil



The passengers are restless, captain

This is how they feel

Angry at how it came to be you

Who sits beside the wheel



Band keeps playing American songs from 1973

Getting wise to the officer's lies

That we've even got a country

You say we're independent

And we've even got the right to choose

Well we're sick of doing nothing

We'd like some work,

We'd like some work,

We'd like some work to do



And the band keeps playing the Imperial Waltz From far across the sea

Not a long way from discontent

To open mutiny

You say we're independent

And we've even got the right to choose

Well we're sick of being passengers,

We've got some work,

We've got some work,

We've got some work to do