Stephin Merritt - When You Play the Violin (from “The Austere Academy”) lyrics

I have known little civility, sir Few have been kind, fewer truthful And though within my ability, sir I remain dutifully youthful I go gray, then bald, with chagrin When you play the violin How I pray for d**h to begin When you play the violin True, there's been trouble and trickery, sir Trembling and tribulations Twitches from switches of hickory, sir You, sir, and your usurpation But my patience wears very thin When you play the violin How I stay, I can't imagine When you play the violin I've endured struggling and thuggery, sir Physical ed. and psychosis Sculleries, skulls, and skullduggeries, sir Haplessness, hype and hypnosis But, oy vey! The horrible din When you play the violin You betray an ear made of tin When you play, when you slay the violin