Titanic

First class costs a thousand bucks,
the second a hundred, the third is pain and fear.
And it stinks of sweat from the hatchway
and smells like dead sea.
Captain, listen to me,
I've got a thousand bucks ready to go,
I want to travel first class
on this beautiful sea.

My daughter’s fifteen and bought a hat in Paris,
if only she’d invite us to her table for dinner, how nice that would be.
And with the orchestra playing these new American rhythms,
we’ll toast to Great Britain with drinks in hand
and with ice in our glasses we’ll make a clinking toast
to this truly global journey, to this giant moon.

But who said that in third class,
that in third class you travel poorly,
this bunk feels like a double bed,
it’s better than a hospital bed.
They’ve always called us lowlifes
but here they treat us like gentlemen,
when it rains we can stay inside
but when it’s nice we come out.

On this sea black as oil admiring this metal moon
and when the sirens sound it almost feels like the rooster sings.
It almost feels like the ice in our hearts is slowly
melting in the smoke of this steam on this high-seas vacation.
And round and round and round goes the propeller and round and round it snows and rains,
for us third-class kids who go to America to survive.

And the radio operator in his tower,
his long fingers reaching into the air,
received messages of good wishes
for this extraordinary cruise.
And he sent greetings and hopes
in almost every language in the world,
communicating between Vienna and Chicago
in just under a second.

And the first-class girl, in love with her own hat,
when she saw it dancing at night, thought it looked so fine.
Maybe because of those icy eyes so hard to avoid,
she thought, "Maybe with a little courage, before we arrive, I’ll get a kiss."
And how beautiful life is tonight, between love pulling and a father preaching,
for us third-class girls who go to America to avoid marriage,
for us third-class girls who go to America to avoid marriage.