I followed you over the border down to the Spree you were standing alone by the water waiting for me we wandered along by the river the towers were shrouded in haze we kissed by the wire and they all held their fire in the good old bad old days
can't you see just lovely it couldn't have been when the whole world was closed like a door I remember those nights down in old east Berlin with the microphones listening under the floor and every stamp in this passport of mine was a record of kisses you gave yes we suffered in style and it's all in the file in the good old bad old days
lai da dai... all the streetlights were waltzing together crimson and green and your dress was as gray as the weather oh what a dream we built up a city of whispers and classified war dossiers i gave you control of my papers and soul in the good old bad old days
yes wasn't it miserable wasn't it grand when the world had an iron divide and people could take a political stand just by singing a song for the opposite side now nobody cares who you are anymore and nobody cares what you say it's liberty's curse but was it really much worse in the good old bad old days
now Alyosha is gathering flowers every May and the statue of Marx by the tower is facing the other way by the wall is a souvenir table with hammers and sickles displayed on new watches that work and they're sold by a Turk in these good boring bad new days
now I'm working for euros and drinking alone where we used to spend marks at the bar and weeds have grown over the border of stone that cuts through the town like a surgical scar and now so many streets on this faded old map are like names written over a grave yes it makes me so sad cause it wasn't so bad in the good old bad old days
lai da dai... so don't look for a final solution here in Berlin for capitalist prostitution comes from within and don't worry about revolution we'll just keep the aesthetic clichés in this market of fleas selling klezmer CDs for the good old bad old days
so Genossen, tavarishchi let's make a toast to a time when the state knew your name yes we all say na zdrovye, l'chaim und Prost to that braver old world where we all are the same where nobody loses and everyone wins just as long as each comrade obeys but that's all in the past so let's raise up a glass to the good old bad old days yes that's all in the past so let's raise up a glass to the good old bad old days lai da dai...