Sample Video

Petroleum Song (1928)

Sample Song Translation (listen to original)

The Ballad of Caesar’s Death (1933)

Ancient Rome was once a land of freedom
Where the blood ran hot through Roman veins
So when Caesar made himself supremo
All of Rome erupted into flames

 Caesar would not listen to the warning:
“On the Ides of March you must beware”
But he clung more hungrily to power
And he ruled on high without a care

 He was blind with bloodlust and ambition
In the Capitol his word was law
When he heard the senators reproach him
Caesar sneered and promptly went to war 

He derided more than he presided
And the Romans’ blood began to boil
When a Caesar tires of being decent
Then his friends will tire of being loyal 

A cabal of doubters came together
At the dead of night a plan was laid
On the Ides of March they seized the moment:
Trusty Brutus stuck him with a blade 

Caesar slumped and sprawled across the marble
And the tyrant took his final bow
“Et tu Brute!” Caesar cried in Latin
But his Latin couldn’t save him now 

So beware the popular delusion
That the strong are worthier of life:
Caesar governed with a sword of iron
But was slaughtered by a butcher’s knife

Kurt Weill / Georg Kaiser (1933)
tr. George Robarts (2026)

“Judges described Robarts’s first-place performance with enthusiastic phrases such as ‘phenomenal actor,’ ‘every moment spontaneous,’ and ‘impeccable delivery of lyrics.’ Especially taken with his performance of Kurt Weill’s Muschel von Margate (Petroleum Song), they awarded it a rare near-perfect score.”

Kurt Weill Foundation, New York, May 2025

2025: First Prize in the Lotte Lenya Competition for singing actors across opera and musical theatre
Awarded by the Kurt Weill Foundation

2024: First Prize in the John Dryden Translation Prize, for a new translation of a comic opera libretto
Awarded by the British Comparative Literature Association

georgerobarts.com/about

Sample Song Translation (listen to original)

Soldiers’ Song (1928)

Tom was a private and Dick was a lance
And Harry was a tommy gunner
See how the army gives everyone a chance
Just as long as you don’t do a runner 

A soldier willing
To go out killing
From Tidworth to Tehran
Will make a lasting case
That we’re the master race
And if we can’t convince them
We’ll slaughter them and mince them
We’ll mash their brains and spread them on our biscuits
Like spam

Tom said the blankets gave him an itch
And Dick found the whisky too smoky
Harry told him not to be a whiny little bitch
Or he’d land them all in the pokey 

A soldier willing etc. 

Tom’s in a box now and Dick’s dead and gone
And Harry went to meet his maker
Come join the army, it’s where you belong
And we’ll pay for the undertaker 

A soldier willing etc.

Kurt Weill / Bertolt Brecht (1928)
tr. George Robarts (2026)

You are a king, and your stocks are your slaves,
You make a mint while others walk the plank.
Don’t think of them – think of the cost it saves,
And you’ll be laughing all the way to the bank.

Lottery Agent’s Tango (Weill/Kaiser 1933, tr. GR)

Sample Set List

It’s all a swindle (Spoliansky)
Supply and Demand (Eisler)
Lottery Agent’s Tango (Weill)
The Invigorating Impact of Cash (Eisler)
The Smart Set (Spoliansky)
Tug Your Belt In Tight (Weill)
Petroleum Song (Weill)
Cattle to the Slaughter (Eisler)
Cannon Song (Weill)
The Wise Woman and the Soldier (Eisler)
The Ballad of Caesar’s Death (Weill)