Rootless Cosmopolitans

Rootless cosmopolitans the hubris makes you hoot
You watch us travel round the world
And even follow suit
But times have changed, and mother
Standing at the garden gate
Calls us home for dinner
With the nation state
We dreamed we could live anywhere
And some actually did
Taking flats in Paris, Brussels and Madrid
Learning other languages, with other points of view
It became, back in the 90s, something anyone could do
We took it all for granted, that expansion of the cage
Global, multicultural, the catchwords of the age
But, scapegoated by populists, our freedoms go to hell
Because if we can do it, so can immigrants as well
We dreamed we could live anywhere
And started moving in
To beautiful apartments in Lisbon and Berlin
With other cosmopolitans with other points of view
Showing local people that was something you could do
Rootless cosmopolitans, it’s so great to be free
You listened to the travellers' tales
And started to agree
But hubris requires nemesis, the guardians of the gate
Call us in to dine again with the nation state
Rootless cosmopolitans, pretension makes you hoot
At elitists and precarians under your jackboot
But scapegoated by populists the whole thing flew to hell
Because if we can do it, so can immigrants as well