Edward Mendelson, you sealed your doom
When you put Auden's essays all over your room.
Everyone at Yale was gettin' pretty worried
Until W.H. Auden needed essays in a hurry.

You had so many essays that he had forgotten,
And you told him which of his works were rotten.
Pretty soon he was deferring to you.
You had the power -- your authority grew.
"Hey, be my Executor," he said,
"Of all my works after I'm dead".

Edward Mendelson, you sealed your doom
When you put Auden's essays all over your room.

You had so many essays that he had forgotten,
And you told him which of his works were rotten.

How could you do that, Edward?
He's W.H. Auden!

In the matrix, but once removed.
Another man's poems are yours to choose.
Edward Mendelson, what does it feel like?
To be so far into an English guy's psych...

You're so far in there, Edward!
You're in W.H. Auden's mind!

Do you ever get lost in Auden's work?
Do you ever feel like a drygood's clerk?

Just another day, Edward!

In the matrix, but once removed.
Another man's poems are yours to choose.
Edward Mendelson, what does it feel like?
To be so far into an English guy's psych...

You can lose your mind, Edward!

Shufflin' a poem from one stack to another
Definitive editions pile up, brother.

It never ends, Edward.
The work never ends.

Do you ever get lost in Auden's work?
Do you ever feel like a drygood's clerk?

Edward Mendelson, don't despair
People are jealous, you shouldn't care.
You're Auden's guy with complete control.
But sometimes, you must want out on parole.

Let me out!
Let me out of Auden's brain!

In the matrix, but once removed.
Another man's poems are yours to choose.
Edward Mendelson, what does it feel like?
To be so far into an English guy's psych...

I can't take it!

"Time that tires of everyone
Has corroded all the locks
Thrown away the key for fun."

Get me out of here!

"Time that tires of everyone
Has corroded all the locks
Thrown away the key for fun."