In the moat of the castle Was where the duke of something's wife drowned And the eyes of her portrait Seemed to follow him around The bank foreclosed on his dungeon When the duke was late in paying And now he looks at her picture And he seems to hear it sing "What's it like to be alive?" And she's got no answer to that She's got no answer that she can hear Though she may wonder She doesn't get an answer Framed in the diorama Is the art of the taxidermist Realistically frozen As it's bouncing with a grin Life gleams off of the marbles In the sockets where its eyes were And every time they twinkle It's like a question from the tiger "What's it like to be alive?" And he gets no answer to that
He gets no answer, he won't know He'll always wonder He doesn't get an answer Close the window When you hear the howling wind It's just a query And you mustn't let it in On the southeast expressway Where they found the empty stroller Being blown by the traffic, through the trash And on the shoulder Was it the ghost of somebody Who decided not to begin? And under the sound of the car horns Can you hear a small voice asking "What's it like to be alive?" And there is no answer to that There is no answer, no one tells There is no answer There isn't any answer And they get no answer to that They get no answer they can hear Though they may wander There isn't any answer