what good is sitting alone in your room come hear the music play life is a cabaret old chum come to the cabaret put down the knitting the book and the broom it s time for a holiday life is a cabaret old chum come to the cabaret come taste the wine come hear the band come blow a horn start celebrating right this way your table s waiting what good s permitting some prophet of doom to wipe every smile away life is a cabaret old chum so come to the cabaret i used to have a girlfriend known as elsie with whom i shared four sordid rooms in chelsea she wasn t what you d call a blushing flower as a matter of fact she rented by the hour the day she died the neighbors came to snicker well that s what comes from too much pills and liquor but when i saw her laid out like a queen she was the happiest corpse i d ever seen i think of elsie to this very day i remember how she d turn to me and say what good is sitting all alone in your room come hear the music play life is a cabaret old chum come to the cabaret and as for me and as for me i made my mind up back in chelsea when i go i m going like elsie start by admitting from cradle to tomb it isn t that long a stay life is a cabaret old chum it s only a cabaret old chum and i love a cabaret 