The wands of smoke are rising 
From the walls of the Bastille 
And through the streets of Paris 
Runs a sense of the unreal 

The Kings have all departed 
There servants are nowhere 
We burned out their mansions 
In the name of Robespierre 

And still we wait 
To see the day begin 
Our time is wasting in the wind 
Wondering why 
Wondering why, it echoes 
Through the lonely palace of Versailles 

Inside the midnight councils 
The lamps are burning low 
On you sit and talk all through the night 
But there's just no place to go 

And Bonaparte is coming 
With his army from the south 
Marat your days are numbered 
And we live hand to mouth 

While we wait 
To see the day begin 
Our time is wasting in the wind 
Wondering why 
Wondering why, it echoes 
Through the lonely palace of Versailles 

The ghost of revolution 
Still prowls the Paris streets 
Down all the restless centuries 
It wonders incomplete 

It speaks inside the cheap red wine 
Of cafe summer nights 
Its red and amber voices 
Call the cars at traffic lights 

Why do you wait 
To see the day begin 
Your time is wasting in the wind 
Wondering why 
Wondering why, it echoes 
Through the lonely palace of Versailles 

Wondering why, it echoes 
Through the lonely palace of Versailles