The Mousetrap Songtext
von Peter Hammill

After all is said and done
Not very much will have been either way
I′m a chronicler of action
I'm an actor in the play
I know the lines I have to speak
I know that I won′t ever quit, corpse, or dry
But the performance gets so pointless
And the days just drift on by

Oh, every time
That I go to turn the pages of the calendar
In the third act of this twenty-ninth year of the show
I'm aware of the latest leading lady and get mad at her
It's perfunctory, but why, she′ll never know


When I began, I had my hopes
Believed that I could be a leading light of the stage
But now I′ve stunned myself to silence
Exhausted all my inner rage
Extinguished all my joy of violence
Trapped all my feelings in a cage

And every time
That I go to turn the pages of the calendar
I can see that I'm not really going anywhere
All these years
I have skirted round experience like a scavenger
Can I really feel, I wonder, if I dare?

At the end of the run, will there be anyone who cares?
And behind the actor′s pose, heaven knows
If there's anyone left in there