words and music by Joe Jackson)



(on the 40th anniversary of the end of World War II)



Here in Berlin people line up to get in

To wait for the end, living in glorious sin

They've looked around and now there is no looking back

To when rivers ran red, now it's the sky that grows black

Shadows are cast as two giants roam over the earth

We light a match, but what is that little flame worth?



Once allies danced and sang

But it was forty years ago



Here in D.C. they talk about 'Euro-disease'

And how the French are always so damn hard to please

Motions are passed in Brussels but no-one agrees

And no-one walks tall, but no-one gets down on their knees



Once allies laughed and drank

But it was forty years ago



Where I come from they don't like Americans much

Think they're so loud and so tasteless and so out of touch

Stiff upper lips are curled into permanent sneers

Self-satisfied awaiting the next forty years



Once allies cried and cheered

But it was forty years ago



(C) 1986 Pokazuka Ltd. (ASCAP