Is this about Francis
Is this about the world we knew
Is this about Francis
Is this about the parvenu?
Is this about Francis
Is this about the secrets kept
Is this about Francis
Is this about why Jesus wept?

Down and out outside the Messerchmitt museum
He came upon a truth he knew he must share with the world
Walked along the autobahn then had a bowl of sauerkraut
And washed it down with a jug of cold Warsteiner

And that’s how we know what happened to Francis –
Choked to his death sitting quietly in the bierkeller
Seems the vultures were circling before he’d made the call,
The only identification of him a lost luggage ticket for St. Pancras

Inside the locker was an old Nokia mobile phone
The SIM was still working and there was one number in memory
There was a woman at the end of the phone
And she said “is this about Francis?”

Is this about Francis
Is this about the world we knew
Is this about Francis
Is this about the parvenu?
Is this about Francis
Is this about the secrets kept
Is this about Francis
Is this about why Jesus wept?

Seems he was a drifter who kept bobbing above the line
An odd job here, a few deutschmarks, and he’d move on to the next town
Told stories to English tourists of how he once was a terrorist
Had run messages for the Baader-Meinhoff

He was born in Dudley, but his father was in the regiment
Stationed in Germany after the war, he liked meta-amphetamines
His childhood love of electronics meant he was a useful man to know
Industrial cryptographer and made synthesizers from spare parts

Told Ralf Hutter to ditch the flutes and guitars –
But what did an English drifter know about future sounds –
He listened to Xenakis and smuggled West German visas –
Had a child he never knew about, her mother moved to Scotland.

Is this about Francis
Is this about the world we knew
Is this about Francis
Is this about the parvenu?
Is this about Francis
Is this about the secrets kept
Is this about Francis
Is this about why Jesus wept?