As I walked out one morning fair I found myself drawn thoughtlessly Back to the place we used to live And you still do, now without me
Around back, away from the road Behind the bins, beneath your window I found the hulk, the rusting bulk Of a shattered old piano
Someone had torn out some of the keys With cruel care, not thoughtlessly In such a way that one could only play Minor melodies
So I sat down in my sadness Beneath your window And I played sad songs on the minor keys Of a broken piano A sinner amongst saved men On the banks of the muddy Thames
As I have wandered through this city Like a child lost in the London fog From Highgate Hill, down to the river Then washed downstream past the Isle of Dogs
I've had time enough to think upon The question of what kind of songs That you would choose to listen to Now that I am gone
And as I drift beneath that bridge Just down the road from where you live I've often thought I might have caught Your voice upon the wind
But as I stroked those broken keys You did not join in harmony
So I sat down in my sadness Beneath your window And I played sad songs on the minor keys Of a broken piano A sinner amongst saved men On the banks of the muddy Thames
On the banks of the muddy Thames On the banks of the muddy Thames