Beethoven's gone, but his music lives on

And Mozart don't go shopping no more

You'll never meet Liszt or Brahms again

And Elgar doesn't answer the door

Schubert and Chopin used to chuckle and laugh

Whilst composing a long symphony

But one hundred and fifty years later

There's very little of them left to see

The decomposing composers

There's nothing much anyone can do

You can still hear Beethoven

But Beethoven cannot hear you

Handel and Haydn and Rachmaninoff

Enjoyed a nice drink with their meal

But nowadays no one will serve them

And the gravy is left to congeal

Verdi and Wagner delighted the crowds

With a highly original sound

The pianos they played are still working

But they're both six feet underground

The decomposing composers

There's less of them every year

You can say what you like to Debussy

But there's not much of him left to hear

Claude Achile Debussy, died 1918

Christoph Willibald Gluck, died 1787

Carl Maria von Weber, not at all well, 1825; died 1826

Giacomo Meyerbeer, still alive 1863; not still alive 1864

Modest Mussorgsky, 1880 going to parties; no fun anymore, 1881

Johann Nepomuk Hummel, chattin' away 19 and a dozen with his mates down at the pub every evening 1836; 1837, nothing