John Wesley Harding

Hitler's Tears

John Wesley Harding


One man's tears stain the pillow
Where he used to lay his head
She's left him for another man
So how come they're both sleeping in his bed?
He can hardly sleep for misery
You can hear him catch his breath
And he grinds his teeth into the night
And God says "Hey, Adolf, are you alright?"

One boy's tears stain the paper
Where he writes his Christmas list
And he inks in broken German
"Send me the skill of a fine artist"
Then he wipes out half a continent
With one flick of his wrist
He's so lonely, so misunderstanding
As he pulls his blanket across the landing

You can hear them falling every day (Hitler's tears)
Just open up the newspaper (Hitler's tears)
You can hide, there's no escape from Hitler's tears--
Just what makes the führer blue?
He's crying for you

One man's tears--he was a fascist
Before it was cool
'Cos now it's so expected
Just accept it that power is cruel
So he'll apply for reinstatement
By new reincarnation rules
'Cos he's the only man, most certainly
Who could claim to have learned from history

Hitler cries himself to sleep, alone in Brazil, no-one calls
How must it feel to be the biggest loser of them all?

One man's tears--saltwater salutes the final trip
A thousand naughty Nazis
A fraülein with a bullwhip
A lullaby of Über Alles
A shaking upper lip
It's all become a Whitehall farce
That's how we tear our fears apart
But you shouldn't take it straight to heart
So the rest of us can get some sleep tonight

You can hear them falling everyday...