Lesson In Cruelty

Lyrics

Here's a thought to dwell upon

Daddy's girl is almost gone

Now there's just a vain princess

'Her Ruthlessness'

Tearing up the nursery

Stars more used to glittering

Pictured in the guttering

Faces caught about to laugh

Torn in half

Slipping through your fingers

See them scatter

Maybe it doesn't matter

But I still really want to pick the pieces up

You can't fool me

With this lesson in cruelty

It's not as if I was asking time to stop

In violent blue

Like roses red

She smiled as she tore off his head

The hours she gazed on her former champion

Now there's just a frame of sellotape and torn wallpaper

As she tears his pretty face to bits

See them scatter

Maybe it doesn't matter

But I still really want to pick the pieces up

You can't fool me

With this lesson in cruelty

It's not as if I was asking time to stop

It's much too soon or so it seems

To put away these childish dreams

You'll find out soon enough that worship can be tough

Love is just a name to celebrate a vision

Or confetti littered with regrets

See them scatter

Maybe it doesn't matter

But I still really want to pick the pieces up

You can't fool me

With this lesson in cruelty

It's not as if I was asking time to stop

Dear heart too good to waste

But if some hot-head should claim it

Don't rush to his embrace

And it remains to say

I'll love you just the same whatever your decision

As you put the paper to the flame

Credits

• Words by: Elvis Costello
  Music by: Steve Nieve

Performances

This Costello & Nieve collaboration, intended for Nieve's song cycle Correspondence, has been performed by the duo on six occasions, the earliest being 1995-06-25 and the most recent 2001-12-18. It has yet to be officially released.

Covers

• none

Bootlegs

• This section is incomplete.