What songs did they play on that ill-fated day
when the fabled Titanic went down?
Did a cellist suggest that a waltz would be best
while the helmsman looked on with a frown?
It was afterwards said that the passengers’ dread
had been greatly allayed by the ragtime they played
but still nobody knows the selections they chose
in that moment of fear, when the sinking drew near
and at last it was clear they would drown.
What songs did they play on that ill-fated day
when the fabled Titanic went down?
What songs did they play on that ill-fated day
when the fabled Titanic went down?

Wallace Hartley, whose voice and whose musical choice
were renowned, was the head of the band.
It was he took the lead, the survivors agreed,
in that time of such need, far from land.
Did he rashly pretend that it wasn’t the end?
Were they fools to persist till the lifeboats were missed
to remain on the deck in the midst of the wreck
till they died with the crew when the ship split in two?
Or did honour and custom demand
that they play to the last, till all refuge was passed
and go down with their music in hand.
What songs did they play on that ill-fated day
when the fabled Titanic went down?

Margie Collyer averred that the last song she heard
from the lifeboat she’d managed to board
thus escaping her fate at the young age of eight
was a hymn in the praise of the Lord.
Harold Bride, though, sowed doubt when he put it about
it was “Autumn” he’d caught as he rushed for his spot
for two tunes by that name were to vie for the claim.
Was it worship or schmaltz, was it hymns or a waltz?
No one knows, for the cold waters poured
through the breach in the bow, till that once-noble prow
disappeared and was never restored.
What songs did they play on that ill-fated day
when the fabled Titanic went down?

Wallace Hartley was drowned, but his body was found
with his music still strapped to his chest.
There were thousands who came to remember his name
when they carried him home to his rest.
The immense mournful throng was a half a mile long
and the churchyard it rang with the hymn that they sang.
If you’re there, you can search near the Methodist Church
and discover his tomb where the details of doom
are engraved with a song he knew best.
The debate, though, is moot, for the dead remain mute
and their deeds are their only bequest.
What songs did they play on that ill-fated day
when the fabled Titanic went down?

What can music achieve? What do players believe
when they share a good tune with the crowd?
In a world marked by pain, does some purpose remain
for the rainbow arched over the cloud?
As our Juggernaut screams, fed on dismembered dreams
bearing true for the ice, is the tune worth the price?
Is it time to close shop, let our instruments drop,
or else should we play on, though the lifeboats be gone,
should we warble, unbridled, unbowed
with a smile on our lips and a swing in our hips
still bestowing our beauty aloud?
What songs did they play on that ill-fated day
when the fabled Titanic went down?