THE BIRTHDAY DIRGE
tune: "Volga Boatmen"

Happy Birthday! <thud!> Happy Birthday! <thud!>
1. Now you've aged another year
Now you know that Death is near
Happy Birthday! <thud!> Happy Birthday! <thud!>

2. Children dying far and near
Women crying in despair

3. Death, destruction, and despair
People dying everywhere

4. Typhoid, plague and polio
Coffins lined up in a row

5. Now that you're the age you are
Your demise cannot be far

6. Pestilence has struck your town
You yourself feel quite run-down

7. Birthdays come but once a year
Marking time as Death draws near

8. Long ago your hair turned grey
Now it's falling out, they say

9. Burn the castle and storm the keep
Kill the women, but save the sheep

10. Indigestion's what you get
From the enemies you 'et

11. May the candles on your cake
Burn like cities in your wake.

12. They stole your sword, your gold, your house
Took your sheep but not your spouse

13. This one lesson you must learn
First you pillage, then you burn

14. While you eat your birthday stew
We will loot the town for you,