There it sat in front of us,
The new music for us to play,
A duet for two clarinets.
Our instruments went to our mouths,
And the notes were played,
My wife playing first clarinet
And myself second.
Not brilliant as it was our first attempt,
Suddenly it went wrong.
“You’re wrong!” she said,
“I am not! I replied.
So we started again,
A bit better this second time
Until it all went wrong again,
In the same place.
“What are you doing” she said,
With a raised voice,
“I am playing what’s written”
I replied strongly,
“You can’t be! I am playing what is written,
It must be you!”
“No it must be you!” I shouted.
We studied the music
And realised that we were both
Playing what was written,
The music was wrong,
An extra beat had been put in
To the bar of the second clarinet,
And this was the cause
Of all our trouble.
We were both right,
Peace was restored.