Verse 1:
A            E        A            E
What good is sitting alone in your room?
A             AMaj7 A7
Come hear the music play

Chorus:
D6        Ebdim7    Dbm      Gb7
Life is a cab - a - ret, old chum
Bm7         E7        A
Come to the Cab - a - ret

Verse 2:
A            E             A            E
Put down the knitting, the book and the broom
A               AMaj7 A7
It's time for a hol-i-day

Chorus:
D6        Ebdim7    Dbm      Gb7
Life is a cab - a - ret, old chum
Bm7         E7        A
Come to the Cab - a - ret

Bridge:
               Dm
Come taste the wine
              A
Come hear the band
            Gbm         Gbm7
Come blow a horn, start celebrating
E7
Right this way, your table's waiting

Verse 3:
A              E            A          E
What good's permitting some prophet of doom
A             AMaj7   A7
To wipe every smile away

Chorus:
D6        Ebdim7    Dbm      Gb7
Life is a cab - a - ret, old chum
Bm7         E7        A
Come to the Cab - a - ret

Middle section:
  A                 E                   A
I used to have this girlfriend known as Elsie
     A                  E               A
With whom I shared four sordid rooms in Chelsea
    E7                                Gbm
She wasn't what you'd call a blushing flower
     B                                E
As a matter of fact she rented by the hour
    A                E                 A
The day she died the neighbors came to snicker
       A                      E                  A
"Well, that's what comes from too much pills and liquor."
    E7                             Gbm
But when I saw her laid out like a Queen
            D                   E    A
She was the happiest corpse I'd ever seen
  Ab7                         Dbm
I think of Elsie to this very day
  B                                 E
I remember how she'd turn to me and say

Verse 4:
A            E        A            E
What good is sitting alone in your room?
A             AMaj7 A7
Come hear the music play

Chorus:
D6        Ebdim7    Dbm      Gb7
Life is a cab - a - ret, old chum
Bm7         E7        A
Come to the Cab - a - ret

Bridge:
           Dm         A
And as for me, as for me
          Gbm     Gbm7    B7
I made my mind up back in Chelsea
E7             Gb7
When I go, I'm going like Elsie

Verse 5:
B          Gb           B         Gb
Start by admitting from cradle to tomb
   B          Bm7    B7
It isn't that long a stay

Chorus:
E         Fdim7     Ebm      Ab7
Life is a cab - a - ret, old chum
     E      Fdim7     Ebm      Ab7
It's only a cab - a - ret, old chum
             Dbm7  Gb7 B
And I love a Cab - a - ret