From Sulfur To Sugar Cane

Lyrics

It's not very far from sulfur to sugar cane

Everywhere I travel pretty girls call my name

I give them a squeeze and they shoot me a wink

I buy their hard-headed husbands a long cool drink

You better come up smelling sweet 'cos you're a long time stinking

It's a little too late to complain

It's not very far from sulfur to sugar cane

Now if you catch my eye and it seems to run down your leg

It's like striking a match pretty hard upon a powder keg

They tell you from the borders to the waters of the gulf

If you take all the sugar you will end up in the sulfur

And you're burning

Hello baby I'm pleased to meet ya

I wouldn't do you wrong, honey

I wouldn't cheat ya, honey

When can I see you again?

Wrap you up in cellophane

It's not very far from sulfur to sugar cane

It's not very far from sulfur to sugar cane

Then your eyes fill up with brine

When you're drowning in wine

It's like the last days of Rome

With the despots and divine

And there's no place like home for a little doll from China

It's a little too late to complain

It's not very far from sulfur to sugar cane

You can go west to Texas

Go east to Mississippi

You can run out of money

You can run out of pity

Throw open your purse until you're crying for mercy

Go to Alabama

Escape Louisiana

I'm digging like a miner North and South Carolina

And then if you continue you will end up in Virginia

(lyrics sung 2007-09-29 in Kingston, Rhode Island:)

I said rape or water torture

All the way through Georgia

I tried to shake the hand

Of everyone in every land

And even if they shoot us

Down there in Massachusetts

I'm singing and I'm smiling

Right here in Rhode Island

(lyrics sung 2007-09-30 in Bridgeport, Connecticut:)

Even though they tried to shoot us

On the way from Massachusetts

I heard the women will kill you for sport

Right here in Bridgeport

(lyrics sung 2007-10-02 in Worcester, Massachusetts:)

The women in Bridgeport

Will kill you for sport

But in Worcester, Massachusetts

They love my sauce

(lyrics sung 2007-10-04 in Portland, Maine:)

The women in Bridgeport

Will kill you for sport

But in Portland, Maine

I hear they got no shame

(lyrics sung 2007-10-05 in Manchester, New Hampshire:)

I heard the women in New Hampshire

They love adventure

They look quite fancy

But they don't wear no pants

(lyrics sung 2007-10-06 in Albany, New York & 2007-10-09 in Rochester, New York:)

The women in Poughkeepsie

Take their clothes off when they're tipsy

But in [Albany/Rochester], New York

They love the filthy way of talk

(lyrics sung 2007-10-08 in Syracuse, New York:)

Here in Syracuse

I might get falsely accused

I'm not here to hurt you

I'm here to steal your virtue

(lyrics sung 2007-10-12 in Ypsilanti, Michigan:)

The women in Poughkeepsie

Take their clothes off when they're tipsy

But I hear in Ypsilanti

They don't wear any panties

(lyrics sung 2007-10-16 in Dayton, Ohio:)

The women in Poughkeepsie

Take their clothes off when they're tipsy

But the girls in Dayton, Ohio

Say that's something I'd like to try

(lyrics sung 2007-10-19 in Bloomington, Indiana:)

But if I could find a piano

Here in Bloomington, Indiana

I would play it with my toes

Until the girls took off their clothes

(lyrics sung 2007-10-20 in Bloomington, Illinois:)

There's a woman in El Paso

That I'd dearly love to lasso

But in Bloomington and Normal

The girls are far more formal

(lyrics sung 2007-10-22 in St. Louis, Missouri:)

The women in Poughkeepsie

Take their clothes off when they're tipsy

I hear there are one or two

Who do the same here in St. Louis

(lyrics sung 2007-10-24 in Iowa City, Iowa:)

The women in these places

Are too sober and too straitlaced

But the girls in Iowa City

Form a welcoming committee

(lyrics sung 2007-10-26 in Omaha, Nebraska:)

Where the women are either wild or chilly as Alaska

But none of them as hot as the girls here in Nebraska

(lyrics sung 2007-10-27, 2007-10-28 & 2007-10-29 in Chicago, Illinois:)

The women in these places say I'd never go that far

But that's not what I hear about the girls here in Chicago

Where they gargle with the finest champagne

They tear off their clothes and exclaim *

It's not very far, sugar

It's not very far, sugar

Pour a little sugar on me, sugar

It's not very far from sulfur to sugar cane

(* alternate line in early performances:)

They can't get the grape and the grain

Credits

• Written by: T Bone Burnett and Elvis Costello

Performances

This song was written for the 2006 film All The King's Men but did not appear in the finished film. Elvis premiered it in concert 2007-09-25 in Norfolk, Virginia.

Covers

• none

Bootlegs

• none