Template:From Sulfur To Sugar Cane
From ElvisCostello
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
