Lyrics:

Tal, Tal
Lasker
Steinitz, Steinitz
Alekhine
Botvinnik, Smyslov
Spassky, Euwe
Karpov, Fischer
Petrosian, Anderssen
Capablanca
Capablanca
Ah, Morphy
Morphy
Capablanca
1866, Wilhelm Steinitz
1894, Emanuel Lasker

How straightforward the game
When one has trust in one's player

1921, José Capablanca

And how great the relief
Working for one who believes in
Loyalty, heritage
True to his kind, come what may

1927, Alex Alekhine

Though it gives me no joy

1935, Euwe

Adding to your satisfaction

1948, Mikhail Botvinnik

You can safely assume
Your late, unlamented employee
Knows if he wins, then the only thing won
Is the chess

1957, Vasily Smyslov

It's the weak who accept

1960, Tal

Tawdry untruths about freedom

1963, Tigran Petrosian

Prostituting themselves
Chasing a spurious starlight
Trinkets in airports
Sufficient to lead them astray

1969, Boris Spassky

Does the player exist

1972, Bobby Fischer

In any human endeavor

1975, Anatoly Karpov

Who's been known to resist
Sirens of fame and possessions?
They will destroy you
Not rivals, not age, not success

They all think they see a man
Who doesn't know
Which move to make
Which way to go
Whose private life
Caused his decline
Wrecked his grand design
Some are vicious, some are fools
And others blind
To see in me one of their kind
Anyone can be
A husband, lover
Sooner them than me
When they discover
Their domestic bliss is
Shelter for their failing
Nothing could be worse
Than self-denial
Having to rehearse
The endless trial
Of a partner's rather sad
Demands prevailing

As you watch yourself caring
About a minor sporting triumph, sharing
Your win with esoterics
Paranoids, hysterics
Who don't pay attention to
What goes on around them
They leave the ones they love the way they found them
A normal person must
Dismiss you with disgust
And weep for those who trusted you

Nothing you have said
Is revelation
Take my blues as read
My consolation—
Finding out at last my one true obligation

Listen to them shout
They saw you do it
In their minds no doubt
That you've been through it
Suffered for your art
But in the end a winner
Who could not be stirred?
Such dedication
We have never heard
Such an ovation
Skill and guts a model
For the young beginner
They're completely enchanted
But they don't take your qualities for granted
It isn't very often
That the critics soften
Nonetheless you've won their hearts
How can we begin to
Appreciate the work that you've put into
Your calling through the years?
The blood and sweat and tears
The late, late nights, the early starts
There they go again!
Your deeds enflame them
Drive them wild, but then
Who wants to tame them?
If they want a part of you
Who'd really blame them?

And so you're letting me know—

For you're the only one who's never suffered anything at all

How you've hated my success—

Well, I won't crawl—
And you can slink back to your pawns and to your tarts

And every poisoned word shows that you never understood

Liar

Never

Liar!

Never!

Liar!

Never!

Liar!

Never!
Never!

Nothing you have said
Is revelation
Take my blues as read
My consolation

Finding out that I'm my only obligation

Is there no one in my life
Who will not claim
The right to steal
My work, my name
My success, my fame
And my freedom?