The Examiners

[Verse 1]
Where the house is cold and empty and the garden's overgrown
Where the letters lie unopened by a disconnected phone
Where your footsteps echo strangely
On each moonlit cobblestone
Where a shadow streams behind you
But the shadow's not your own
You may think the world's your oyster but it's bone, bone, bone

[Chorus]
They are there, they arе there
They arе there, the examiners are there

[Verse 2]
They assume it as an impost or they take it as a toll
The contractors grant them all that they incontinently stole
They will shrivel your ambition with their quality control
They will desiccate your passion, then eviscerate your soul
Wring your life out like a sponge and stuff your body down a hole

[Chorus]
They are there, they are there
They are there, the examiners are there

[Verse 3]
They can parse a Latin sentence; they're as learned as Plotinus
They're as sharp as Ockham's razor, as subtle as Aquinas
They define us and refine us with their beta-query-minus
They're the wall-constructing Emperors of undiscovered Chinas
They confine us, then malign us, in the end they undermine us

[Chorus]
They are there (They are there), they are there (They are there)
They are there (They are there), the examiners are there

[Verse 4]
In the desert of your dreaming they are humped behind the dunes
On the undiscovered planet with its seven circling moons
They are ticking all the boxes, making sure you eat your prunes
They are sending secret messages by helium balloons
They are humming Bach cantatas, they are playing looney tunes

[Chorus]
They are there (They are there), they are there (They are there)
They are there (They are there), the examiners are there

[Verse 5]
They are there, they are there like a whisper on the air
They are slippery and soapy with our hope and our despair
So it's idle if we bridle and pretend we never care
If the questions are superfluous and the marking isn't fair
For we know they're going to get us
We just don't know when or where

[Chorus]
They are there (They are there), they are there (They are there)
They are there (They are there), they are there (They are there)
They are there (They are there), the examiners are there
They are there