Nol Coward — Regency Rakes

(Verse) You may think Looking at the four of us Food and drink Constitute the core of us That may be But still you'll see Our names on posterity's page You will read Histories galore of us Strutting England's stage We represent To a certain extent The ineffable scent Of our age (Chorus 1) We're Regency rakes And each of us takes A personal pride In the thickness of hide Which prevents us from seeing How vulgar we're being Without making us wince We're ruthless and rude And boast of a crude And lordly disdain Both for mind and for brain Though obtuse and slow-witted We're not to be pitied For we follow the Prince Every orgy With our Georgie Lasts till dawn without a lull We can venture Without censure To be noisy, drunk, and dull We revel in sport Madeira and port And when we pass out With sclerosis and gout All our children will rue our mistakes Roystering Regency rakes Roystering Regency rakes (Chorus 2) We're Regency rakes And each of us makes A personal issue Of adipose tissue But still notwithstanding Our stomachs expanding We all year for romance We frequently start Affairs of the heart Sublimely unheeding That long overfeeding Has made so disgusting Our loving or lusting That girls eye us askance Though we wonder As we blunder Into this or that bordel Whom we know there Why we go there But we're far to drunk to tell Though over-jocose Unfunny and gross We don't lose a fraction Of self-satisfaction Complacency never forsakes Roystering Regency rakes Roystering Regency rakes