[Verse 1] The mayor rang the dinner bell At half past ten on Tuesday Said, “Our little town is thriving,” As the roof slid down the stairway The baker sold his last warm loaf To a portrait of the king The portrait paid in promises And promised everything [Call and Response] Who keeps the ledger? — The clerk with the ink-stained sleeve Who gets the harvest? — The crows, if you believe Who’ll mend the bridge? — The bridge has gone downstream Who called this place a paradise? — The man who sold the dream [Spoken Break] By order of the council, all bad news shall be delivered after supper. Naturally, supper was canceled. [Verse 2] The vicar blessed the empty well The blacksmith blessed the chain The captain drew a map of land That vanished in the rain A fiddler played for seven guests Who’d left before the tune And still the mayor kept smiling wide Beneath the falling moon [Chorus] Raise a glass to what remains A chipped cup and a borrowed name We built our house on borrowed ground Then praised the view as it went down Raise a glass, the bill is due The town’s in debt, the sky is blue And every fool who led the parade Is waving from the wreckage he made [Spoken Break] The official report says the village is perfectly safe. It was written from a village safely elsewhere. [Bridge] You kept the key, you kept the seal You swore the flood was make-believe Now every door swings open wide And there’s no room left to hide [Chorus] Raise a glass to what remains A chipped cup and a borrowed name We built our house on borrowed ground Then praised the view as it went down Raise a glass, the bill is due The town’s in debt, the sky is blue And every fool who led the parade Is waving from the wreckage he made [Outro] The bell still rings above the square Though no one’s left to hear The mayor takes his final bow And thanks the empty chair
