Beethoven's gone, but his music lives on

And Mozart don't go shopping no more

You'll never meet Liszt or Brahms again

And Elgar doesn't answer the door Schubert and Chopin used to chuckle and laugh

Whilst composing a long symphony

But one hundred and fifty years later

There's very little of them left to see They're decomposing composers

There's nothing much anyone can do

You can still hear Beethoven

But Beethoven cannot hear you Handel and Hayden and Rachmaninov

Enjoyed a nice drink with their meal

But nowadays, no one will serve them

And their gravy is left to congeal Verdi and Wagner delighted the crowds

With their highly original sound

The pianos they played are still working

But they're both six feet underground They're decomposing composers

There's less of them every year

You can say what you like to Debussy

But there's not much of him left to hear Claude Achille Debussy, died, 1918

Christophe Willebald Gluck, died, 1787

Carl Maria von Weber

Not at all well, 1825, died, 1826 Giacomo Meyerbeer

Still alive, 1863, not still alive, 1864

Modeste Mussorgsky,1880

Going to parties, no fun anymore, 1881 Johan Nepomuk Hummel

Chatting away nineteen to the dozen

With his mates down the pub

Every evening, 1836, 1837, nothing