The Mikado: Act I, Chorus "If you wan to to know who we are" / Song "A Wandering Minstrel I" Songtext
von Arthur Sullivan

If you want to know who we are,
We are gentlemen of Japan:
On many a vase and jar –
On many a screen and fan,
We figure in lively paint:
Our attitude′s queer and quaint –
You're wrong if you think it ain′t, oh! If you think we are worked by strings,
Like a Japanese marionette,
You don't understand these things:
It is simply Court etiquette.
Perhaps you suppose this throng
Can't keep it up all day long?
If that′s your idea, you′re wrong, oh!