My Egyptian Couch Lyrics

Now here's a book full of photographs That my ancestors made some generations ago They're wearing the latest clothes in a nautical way The Suez Canal close behind is frozen in time The deck crews stare out of a mime And they seem to be considering me Here on my Egyptian couch Oh the life on Edwardian steamships Is measured and slow, while down below There are fires that shudder and clangs and thunder And sweat-caked in smoke, cauldrons to stoke To send the ship on her way Tasting the salt in the spray And a century later I scan the equator From my Egyptian couch And the news that every day brings Contains the strangest of things But with confident smiles my forebears decline To gaze into the wings So they look from the photographs And they're curious now, wondering how we turned out Let's say like the Chinese adage We're living our lives in interesting times