[Strophe]
D             A7      D             A7 
"What good is sitting alone In your room? 
D             Dm7   D7 
Come hear the music play.
[Refrain]
G         Abdim7    F#m      B7 
Life is a Cab - a - ret, old chum, 
Em7         A7        D 
Come to the Cab - a - ret.
[Strophe]
D            A7            D            A7 
Put down the knitting, The book and the broom. 
D               Dm7   D7 
It's time for a hol-i-day.
[Refrain]
G         Abdim7    F#m      B7 
Life is a Cab - a - ret, old chum 
Em7         A7        D 
Come to the Cab - a - ret.
[Pont]
               Gm 
Come taste the wine, 
              D 
Come hear the band. 
            Bm          Bm7 
Come blow a horn, Start celebrating; 
A7 
Right this way, Your table's waiting.
[Strophe]
D              A7           D          A7 
What good's permitting Some prophet of doom 
D             Dm7   D7 
To wipe every smile away.
[Refrain]
G         Abdim7    F#m      B7 
Life is a Cab - a - ret, old chum 
Em7         A7        D 
Come to the Cab - a - ret.
[Pont]
  D              A+                  D 
I used to have a girlfriend known as Elsie, 
     D                  A+              D 
With whom I shared four sordid rooms in Chelsea 
    A7                                Bm 
She wasn't what you'd call a blushing flower. 
     E                                A 
As a matter of fact she rented by the hour. 
    D                A+                D 
The day she died the neighbors came to snicker: 
       D                      A+                 D 
"Well, that's what comes from too much pills and liquor." 
    A7                             Bm 
But when I saw her laid out like a Queen, 
            G        A               D 
She was the happiest corpse I'd ever seen. 
  C#7            F#7          E 
I think of Elsie to this very day. 
  E                  A              D 
I remember how she'd turn to me and say:
[Strophe]
D             A7      D             A7 
"What good is sitting alone In your room? 
D             Dm7   D7 
Come hear the music play.
[Refrain]
G         Abdim7    F#m      B7 
Life is a Cab - a - ret, old chum 
G      Abdim7    F#m      B7 
Only a Cab - a - ret, old chum 
             Em7   A7  D 
And I love a Cab - a - ret.
[Strophe]
           Gm         D 
And as for me, as for me, 
          Bm      Bm7 
I made my mind up back in Chelsea, 
A7 
When I go, I'm going like Elsie. 
D          A7           D         A7 
Start by admitting from Cradle to Tomb 
D          Dm7    D7 
Isn't that long a stay
[Refrain]
G         Abdim7    F#m      B7 
Life is a Cab - a - ret, old chum 
G      Abdim7    F#m      B7 
Only a Cab - a - ret, old chum 
             Em7   A7  D 
And I love a Cab - a - ret.