verse 1 
F#m 
I remember, I remember when my world was hardly grown 
        D                             C#7 
And the daughter of a dead dull king ascended to the throne 
           F#m          A               B               F#dim 
And though I was just a lad at school I saw it all with scorn 
    F#m            E              A          G# 
The solemn, sacred emptiness, the monumental yawn 
        A                            E 
And the slime exuding daily from the sycophantic slugs 
        D                           C#7 
And the coronation ashtrays and the coronation mugs 
        A                                    E 
And the rows of urban (?) mummies with their maggot-eaten brains 
        D                                 C#7 
All the swarms of bloated blowflies the majestic turd sustains 
F#                  E              B             C# 
Droves of decorated duchesses like newly-painted slums 
         F                 E              B               C# 
Kneeling flunkeys, praying monkeys, loyal holes for royal crumbs 
        F#                 G#                 C#7 
And the well-heeled sharks discreetly selling tickets for the show 
         F#              D#m            G#m             C# 
Park lane balconies with champagne at a thousand quid a throw 
          F#               E            B                 C#7 
“Come and cheer the golden fairy queen, forget your daily cares, 
        F#         E            B               C# 
For she radiates a glory that a grateful nation shares” 
        F#             E            B            C# 
And the pageantry, the panoply, the sanctified decay 
      F#                E                 D             C#7 
But I knew the hour was coming that would sweep it all away 
    F#m              A               B                       D 
Now time has me in a corner, and I’m moth-eared (?) from the fray 
        A          E              B 
But Her Majesty is reigning still today 

Chorus 
       F#m                          E 
With a glass cage around her and an absence in her eyes 
           D                               C# 
And though regiments around her they can’t take her by surprise 
         F#          A                E 
She’s as poised as a picture, she’s a sight for all to see 
       D           C#               F#m 
With a glass cage around her on her Silver Jubilee 
       D          C#m            B 
With a glass cage around her she feels free 

verse 2 
  F# 
I remember 1956, division East and West 
        D                           C#7 
British paratroops in Suez, Russian tanks in Budapest 
        F#m               A               B                    F#dim 
And the peaceful marchers singing for the dream that must come true 
     F#m                 E                     A                G# 
Of a world free from the nightmare we’ve since grown accustomed to 
        A                             E 
And the Cuban missile crisis with the rumors flying round 
          D                                  C#7 
While the Queen was in her secret bomb-proof palace underground 
        A                       E 
And the violence exploding when anger made a stand 
      D                           C#7 
For a peasant people burning in a torn and tortured land 
        F#                 E        B               C#m 
And the monarch walked her corgis behind the palace wall 
      F              E                B              C# 
Never once betraying what she felt or if she felt at all 
          F#                G#               C#7 
While her husband shout his mouth off like a walking blunderbuss 
         F#             D#m             G#m        C# 
She gave birth to royal children with a minimum of fuss 
    F#                    E              B              C#7 
Maintained her wax-worked dignity as she trot the royal dance 
   F#               E              B             C# 
Fulfilled her royal functions in a kind of royal trance 
   F#            E                B                 C# 
Balmoral, Ascot, Sandringham, the ship-launching routine 
       F#m              E             D             C#7 
Palace banquets, garden parties, ever-smiling and serene 
       F#m           A            B              D 
Unique symbol, model woman, never seeing, always seen 
      A                  E               B 
So we watched her as she played at being queen 

Chorus 
       F#m                          E 
With a glass cage around her and an absence in her eyes 
           D                               C# 
And though regiments around her they can’t take her by surprise 
         F#          A                E 
She’s as poised as a picture, she’s a sight for all to see 
       D           C#               F#m 
With a glass cage around her on her Silver Jubilee 
       D          C#m            B 
With a glass cage around her she feels free 

verse 3 
    F# 
She seems so commonplace a woman in her fuddy-duddy hats 
        D                              C#7 
But she doesn’t stand in bus queues or live in high-rise flats 
    F#m              A            B              F#dim 
She doesn’t ride the rush hour or cycle down the Strand 
        F#m            E            A          G# 
And she doesn’t play maracas in the Ivy Benson band 
        A                                E 
And she doesn’t shop for bargains, she’s never on the dole 
    D                                  C#7 
And if she does the football pool, she doesn’t tell a soul 
        A                               E 
And she doesn’t need to bother with the inland revenue 
             D                        C#7 
Though she’s royally rewarded for the things she doesn’t do 
     F#          E                 B               C#m 
With palaces and properties and to keep her in good cheer 
    F               E               B                C# 
Her working wage of one point seven million pounds a year 
    F#               G#             C#7 
Her royal plane, her royal train, a costly royal yacht 
    F#          D#m          G#m            C# 
And lucrative investments in only God knows what 
        F#           E             B       C#7 
Oh, the magic of the monarchy, the mystery sublime 
        F#             E            B              C#7 
Growing gracefully and effortlessly richer all the time 
          F#               E            B            C# 
She’s the rock of hope and glory in the quicksand of despair 
      F#m                  E                D               C#7 
For although the pound may tumble, although panic fills the air 
         F#m            E                D                C#7 
Although government may crumble, and the cupboards nearly bare 
           F#m             E               D             C#7 
Though the stairs begin to rattle, and the rats begin to stare 
      F#m             A         B             D 
She enfolds in mystic unity her subjects everywhere 
       A                    E                  B 
And we know we’re safe from harm while nanny’s there 

Chorus 
       F#m                          E 
With a glass cage around her and an absence in her eyes 
           D                               C# 
And though regiments around her they can’t take her by surprise 
         F#          A                E 
She’s as poised as a picture, she’s a sight for all to see 
       D           C#               F#m 
With a glass cage around her on her Silver Jubilee 
       D          C#m            B           D        F# 
With a glass cage around her she feels free