Sullivan: The Mikado / Act 1: 7. Behold The Lord High Executioner

Behold the Lord High Executioner!
A personage of noble rank and title
A dignified and potent officer
Whose functions are particularly vital!

Defer, defer
To the Lord High Executioner!
Defer, defer
To the noble lord
To the noble lord
To the Lord High Executioner!

Taken from the country jail
By a set of curious chances
Liberated then on bail
On me own recognizances

Wafted by a favoring gale
As one sometimes is in trances
To a height that few can scale
Save by long and weary dances

Surely never had a male
Under such like circumstances
So adventurous a tale
Which may rank with most romances

Taken from the county jail (taken from a county jail)
By a set of curious chances (liberated then on bail)
Surely never had a male (surely never had a male)
So adventurous a tale

Defer, defer
To the Lord High Executioner!
Defer, defer
To the noble lord
To the noble Lord
High Executioner!
Bow down, bow down
To the Lord High Executioner!
Defer, defer
To the noble, noble Lord
High Executioner!