When I Was Cruel No. 2 (Album) - Elvis Costello

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 trade show 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 her 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 stage whispering to raucous talkers

Spilling family secrets out to flunks and Castro walkers

See that girl

Watch that scene

Digging the dancing queen

Two newspaper editors like playground sneaks

Running the 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 spoil 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 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