System of Usher - Momus

John Cage gets into the airport

But the airport is not into him

And so they agree to part amicably

And Cage takes the train into town

Ants have a system of governance

From which one could learn, I dare say

But when I get an ant on the tip of my tongue

I spit it away with a cry

I have a dear friend, Captain Harlock

And he sits at a table of wood

Lapping my words up, because he has heard that

Some words are better than food

I love throwing rocks at the tigers

As they cower in their cage at the zoo

But now that the weather is colder

I’d rather be throwing those tigers at you

An old electrician from Bremen

Took a frazzled electrical cord

Connected one end to the Devil

The other he lashed to the Lord

Everyone’s murdered by Charlie

Or would be if they lived long enough

He moves in and grows in the holes of your nose

And sooner or later you snuff

This is the problem with dreamers

They’re all sitting safe as a house

For all the world, sirs, as the earthquake occurs

As if butter would melt in our mouth

The fall of the system of Usher

Was achieved by a triumph of will

The clown as a proxy for Mother

And Daddy takes care of the bill

The loneliness of Kaspar Hauser

Strange thoughts occur in the brain

If you want to stay strong, make up little songs

To stop you from going insane

So John Cage gets into the airport

But the airport is not into him

They agree that it’s key to live separately

And Cage takes the train into town

And everyone’s murdered by Charlie

Or would be if they lived long enough

He moves in and grows in the holes of your nose

And sooner or later you snuff