Elvis Costello - When I Was Cruel No. 2 - Текст песни

I exit through the spotlight glare 
I stepped out into thin air 
Into a perfume so rarefied 
"Here comes the bride" 

Not quite aside, they snide, "She's number four" 
"There's number three just by the door" 
Those in the know, don't even flatter her, 
they go one better 
"She was selling speedboats in a tradeshow when he met her" 

Look at her now 
She's starting to yawn 
She looks like she was born to it 
But it was so much easier 
When I was cruel 

She reaches out her arms to me 
Imploring: "Another melody?" 
So she can dance her husband out on the floor 
The captains of industry just lie there where they fall 

In eau-de-nil and pale carnation creation 
A satin sash and velvet elevation 
She straightens the tipsy head-dress of her spouse 
While hers recalls a honey house 

There'll be no sorrows left to drown 
Early in the morning in your evening gown 
But it was so much easier 
When I was cruel 

The entrance hall was arranged with hostesses and ushers 
Who turned out to be the younger wives nursing schoolgirl crushes 
Parting the waves of those few feint friends 
Fingers once offered are now too heavy to extend 

The ghostly first wife glides up on stage whispering to raucous talkers 
Spilling family secrets out to flunkeys and castrato walkers 
See that girl, 
Watch that scene 
Digging the "Dancing Queen" 

Two newspaper editors like playground sneaks 
Running a book on which of them is going to last the week 
One of them calls to me 
And he says, "I know you" 
"You gave me this tattoo back in '82" 
"You were a spoilt child then with a record to plug" 
"And I was a shaven headed seaside thug" 
"Things haven't really changed that much" 
"One of us is still getting paid too much" 

There are some things I can't report 
The memory of his last retort 
But it was so much easier 
When I was cruel 

Look at me now 
She's starting to yawn 
She looks like she was born to it 
Ah, but it was so much easier 
When I was cruel