Chapter I: LOVE to lie in bed and hear

The jolly German band.
Why people do not care for it
I cannot understand.

They do not mind the orchestra.
And that makes far more noise;
They quite forget that music is
A thing that one enjoys.

When grown-up people come and call,
I have to play for them;
And once a deaf old lady said
My playing was a gem.

But it's not true for them to say
The Carnival de Venise[H]
With three wrong notes is better than
A band that plays with ease.

It comes each week at eight o'clock,
And when I hear it play,
I am a knight upon a horse
And riding far away.

The lines upon the blanket are
Six armies marching past,
Six armies marching on a plain,
Six armies marching fast.

Of course I am the general,
I'm riding at the head;
But suddenly the music stops
And then I'm back in bed.

Each time it plays brings different thoughts,
Exciting, sad and good.
I'm sailing in a sailing ship,
I'm walking in a wood.

I'm going to the pantomime,
I'm at the hippodrome.
But when the music stops, why then
I always am at home.

In winter when it's dark at eight,
The jolly German band
Drives all unpleasant thoughts away
Just like a fairy-wand.

In summer when it's light at eight,
The German band still plays;
It makes me think of pleasant things
And seaside holidays.

I've heard that it plays out of tune,
And upsets talking, and
I've heard it called a nuisance, but
I love the German band.

[H] This is beastly difficult, and almost so decent as _Rosalie the Prairie Flower_.

THE postman has given a loud rat-tat,
Perhaps it's a parcel for me:
Elizabeth does go slowly
To open the door and see.

Oh dear, it's only a telegram,
To wait on the stand in the hall
Till Father comes home in the evening
Or Mother comes back from a call.