I sing, I sing night and morning
I sing, I go from farm to castle
I sing for bread, I sing for water
I sleep at night on the forest grass
The flies don't bite me
I'm happy, I've got everything and I've got nothing
And I sing along my way
The elves, divinities of the night
The elves sleep in my bed
The moon slips in on tiptoe
Into the woods, to dance, to dance with us
I ring at the countess's today
Nobody, she's gone
She only left a dish of rice for me
A Chinese lackey tells me
I sing, but the hunger chasing me
I suddenly fall in the hollow of a path
I faint as I fall, half-dying
Gendarmes, passing along the road
Yeah, gendarmes, I hold out my hands
Mercy, I'm hungry, I'd like to eat
"To the station," other mustaches told me
Are you the singer, the vagabond?
Yes, you're done
String, you saved me from life
String, be therefore blessed
'Cause thanks to you I gave up the ghost
I hanged myself last night
And since then I sing, I sing night and morning
I haunt the farms and the castles
A ghost that sings, people think it's funny
And I sleep at night on the forest grass
The flies don't bite me
I'm happy, all good, I'm not hungry anymore
And I sing along my way