Hollaender: Take it off Petronella! - Ute Lemper, Matrix Ensemble, Jeff Cohen

She is all the rage of the German stage

Playing Wiedekind or Goethe

We all love her so she plays SRO

So the critic’s barbs don’t hurt her

It’s really a phenomenon

When she comes on all cares are gone

She bares her soul and shoulder

We gasp and pant and start to chant

'Take it off, Petronella, take it off

Of your talents we’re adoring

But we find the theatre boring

If you don’t want us to yawn or snore or cough

Take it off, Petronella, take it off'

I act Maeterlink wearing only mink

And I play Iphegenia

Wearing not a swatch just a diamond watch

And a glittering tiara

I bring classics to the present tense

With elegance and reverence

And you’ll love my love’s labour

My Juliet’s the best you’ll get

As my costumes get less and lesser

They think I’m quite the dresser

And of course they admire my scholarship

When I strip, don’t you fellas?

when I strip

When the curtain’s down she goes on the town

On the arm of her rich lover

Then he sees her home, her hands start to roam

But he hovers just above her

You’ll please me more than you can know

By giving me a second show

Your bare flesh in the moonlight

Will help to make my juices flow

'Strip for me, Petronella, strip for me

Release your body from its torments

I want my own private performance

In the morning we’ll go on a shopping spree

But tonight, Petronella, strip for me

Strip for me, Petronella, strip for me'