They've announced the new writer in residence
They've announced his name
But we'll call him Marquis of Sadness
The professors say he's sad
He's the leading light of the Bitterati
But we will invite him to our party

I'll get along quite nicely in this university
In my little office with its sofa and its key
They'll call on me at all hours for gin and sympathy
Bringing bad but intimate poetry

They've announced the new writer in residence
And the cleverest girls in the arts faculty
Must read poetry in his presence
And if our poems are bad
They'll still be evidence
Of our desire to make him desire us

I'll get along quite nicely in this university
In my little office with its sofa and its key
They'll call on me at all hours for gin and sympathy
Bringing bad but intimate poetry
Bad but intimate poetry

They've announced the new writer in residence
We've read all his books
And now we're longing for his presence
And the more he tells us we're bad
It might sound strange but in our madness
The more we'll fall in love with the Marquis of Sadness
Marquis of Sadness
Bad but intimate