Funeral Tango
Scott Walker Lyrics

Oh I can see them now
The singer sees the mourners at his funeral

Clutching a handkerchief
The mourners are holding a handkerchief due to sadness or stuffiness or formality

And blowing me a kiss
The mourners are saying goodbye or expressing their love for the singer

Discreetly asking how
The mourners are quietly inquiring about the cause of the artist's death

How came he died so young
The mourners are questioning why the artist died young

Or was he very old
The mourners are questioning whether the singer was old or young

Is the body still warm
The mourners are curious about the state of the singer's body

Or is it already cold
The mourners are questioning whether the artist's body is still warm or already cold

All doors are open wide
All of the drawers and compartments in the artist's room have been searched

They grope around inside
The mourners are searching through the artist's things in a somewhat invasive manner

At my desk my drawers my trunk
The mourners are looking in various spots in the singer's room

There's nothing left to hide
The mourners have found everything there is to find

Some love letters are there
The mourners found love letters among the singer's things

And an old photograph
The mourners found an old photograph among the singer's things

They've laid my poor soul bare
The mourners have found everything and exposed the singer completely

And now all they do is laugh
The mourners are now laughing or having a good time after completing their search of the artist's things

Oh I can see them all
The artist sees more mourners

So formal and so stiff
The mourners are very formal and not showing much emotion

Like a sergeant at arms
The mourners are formal and robotic, similar to a sergeant at arms

At a policeman's ball
The mourners are overly formal, like they're attending a ball for policemen

And everybody's pushing
Everyone is trying to get to the front and be seen

To be the first in line
People are trying to be the first to move by the coffin or be the first out of the cemetery

Their hearts upon their sleeves
The mourners are showing their emotions openly

Like a ten cent valentine
The mourners' emotions are cheap and insincere, like a cheap Valentine's Day present

The old women are there
There are elderly women at the funeral

Too old to give a damn
The elderly women don't care much about the funeral

They've brought along the kids
The elderly women brought children with them to the funeral

Who don't know who I am
The children don't know who the artist is

They're thinking about the price of my funeral bouquet
Some of the mourners are thinking about how much the funeral flowers cost

What they're thinking isn't nice
The thoughts of the mourners regarding the cost of the flowers aren't kind

For now they'll have to pay
They will have to pay for the bouquet regardless of whether they deem it expensive or not

Oh I see all of you
The artist sees all of his so-called friends

All of my phony friends
The artist is calling his supposed friends 'phony'

Who can't wait for it ends
The artist's friends are waiting for the funeral to be over so they can leave

Who can't wait till it's through
The singer's friends can't wait until the funeral is over

You've been laughing all these years
The artist's friends have been laughing at the artist for years

Now all that you have left
The singer's friends were just pretending to be kind to him

Are a few crocodile tears
The supposedly emotional reactions from his friends are as insincere as the tears of the reptilian creatures

Ah you don't even know
His friends don't even know

That you're entering your hell
The supposed friends are unaware that they are living through something that might later haunt them mentally

As you leave my cemetery
The friends are leaving the cemetery, thinking they are guiltless and have escaped any future haunting thoughts

You think you're doing well
The friends thinks that they are doing well in carrying on with their lives after the funeral

With that one who's at your side
The friends have someone accompanying them, whom the singer realizes will prove to be not just physically but also emotionally damaging for them

You're as proud as you can be
The friend seems to have gotten someone whom they deemed fit, hence feeling proud

Ah she's going to make you cry
The person that the friend is with in future will make them cry, emotionally disturbing them for years to come

But not the way you cried for me
The artist states that their friend will not cry for them the way they will cry for the new person they will later be with

Oh I can see me now
The singer is imagining their own funeral

So cold and so alone
The artist feels that they will be very cold and very much alone in death

As the flowers slowly die
The flowers on the singer's grave are wilting

In my field of little bones
The singer's remains are just bones

I can see me at the end
The singer sees their own death

Of this voyage that I'm on
The artist describes their journey through life as a voyage

Without a love without a friend
The artist will die alone and without love or a true friend

Now all this that I see
The singer reflects on what they see when imagining their own death

Is not what I deserve
The singer does not think that this is what they deserve

They really have a nerve
The mourners and the phony friends have the nerve to show insincere sorrow at his death

To say these things to me
The artist thinks that it is inappropriate for people to be saying things about them now that they're dead

No girls just bread and water
The artist did not have any girls, only mere essentials like bread and water to sustain themselves until death

And your money you must save
The singer advises readers to save their money instead of waste it on him

For there'll be nothing left for us
There will be nothing left for the mourners after they have spent their money on the artist

When you're dead and in your grave
When in one's grave, one cannot take money with them.