A long, long time ago
My indulgence vendors
Helped me pimp Saint Peter's out in style
And I told them when those coffers ring
the soul from purgatory springs
And I think they believed it for a while
But that was all before October
For each coin they now fork over
I hear a hundred rumors
A monk named Martin Luther
And I can't remember if I cried
When I got to number ninety-five
I knew we'd have to kill this guy
The day the empire died
So bye bye Holy Roman Empire
I'm concerned that burnin Germans might add fuel to the fire
And their books sell out before the ink even dries
Tell me, why can't someone silence this friar?
Why can't someone silence this friar?
Did Peter leave you with his keys?
And did you throw out First Maccabees
'cause the Bible told you so?
Do you believe that faith alone
Can your immortal soul atone
And can you teach me how to write those tomes?
Well I miss the days when the peasant class
Would line up for the Latin mass
They couldn't tie their shoes,
Now they're reading Greek and Hebrew
You're just a wild boar in an ugly dress
With a potty mouth and a printing press
All your sins you will confess
The day your goose is fried
We started singing, bye bye Holy Roman Empire
I'm concerned that burnin Germans might add fuel to the fire
And their books sell out before the ink even dries
Tell me, why can't someone silence this friar?
Why can't someone silence this friar?
Four years later it's the empire's turn
We thought we'd make him eat crow at the Diet of Worms
Makes me miss the way things used to be
When a jester stood up to the king and me
We'd just roast him like a side of beef
Now it's "here I stand" and heresy
Oh and while the king was breathing threats
The wise man laid his sneaky net
An edict was returned
But the jester fled from Worms
With the king and me left in the dark
The people read the Book of Mark
The revolution onward marched
The day the empire died
We started singing, bye bye Holy Roman Empire
I'm concerned that burnin Germans might add fuel to the fire
And their books sell out before the ink even dries
Tell me, why can't someone silence this friar
Why can't someone silence this friar?
He met a nun who used to pray
He tempted her her vows to break
All the sheep said that's ok
So I went down to the sacred hall
To see the paintings on the wall
But the man said The Divine had gone away
This fires getting hard to snuff
We can't burn their books fast enough
That's life since they got printers
Just wait till they have Twitter
And the three who cramp my style most,
The Father, Son and the Holy Ghost,
Don't share my taste for Luther roast
I'm afraid the empire died.
And we were singing bye bye Holy Roman Empire
I'm concerned that burnin Germans might add fuel to the fire
And their books sell out before the ink even dries
Tell me why can't someone silence this friar?
Why can't someone silence this friar?
Oh bye bye Holy Roman Empire
I've confirmed that burnin Germans just adds fuel to the fire
And their books sell out before the ink even dries
No we're never gonna silence this friar
