[Verse 1]
The diamond necklace played the pawn
Hand in hand, some drummed along
Oh, to a handsome mannered baton
(Bygone, bygone)
A blind class aristocracy
Back through the opera glass, you see
The pit and the pendulum drawn
(Bygone, bygone)

[Chorus]
Columnated ruins domino
Canvass the town and brush the backdrop
Are you sleeping?

[Verse 2]
Hung velvet overtaken me
Dim chandelier awaken me
To a song dissolved in the dawn
(Bygone, bygone)
The music hall, a costly bow
The music, all is lost for now
To a muted trumpeter swan
(Bygone, bygone)

[Chorus]
Columnated ruins domino
Canvass the town and brush the backdrop
Are you sleeping, Brother John?
[Alternate Verse]
Dove-nested towers, the hour was
Strike the street, quicksilver moon
Carriage across the fog
Two-step to lamplight's cellar tune
The laughs come hard in "Auld Lang Syne"
The glass was raised, the fired rose
The fullness of the wine, the dim-last toasting
While at port, adieu or die
A choke of grief, heart-hardened I
Beyond belief, a broken man too tough to cry

[Alternate Chorus]
Surf's up aboard a tidal wave
Come about hard and join
The young and often spring you gave
I heard the word, wonderful thing
A children's song

[Outro]
(Child, child, child, child, father of the man)
(Child, child, child, child, father of the man)
A children's song
Have you listened as they played?
Their song is love
And the children know the way
That's why the child
(Child, child, child, child, father of the man)
(Child, child, child, child, father of the man)
That's why the child
(Child, child, child, child, father of the man)
(Child, child, child, child, father of the man)...