Burnt Sugar Is So Bitter

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She said, what is it that I've done that you want me to be punished
As she woke up one day to find that he had started to vanish
But if you overhear voices
Perhaps you should not be listening
Twitch the vigilant lace,
Make a sly, sour face,
Set the scandalous whispering

She's out on her own with the rest of her riches
As the kids paint him out of their refrigerator pictures
She picks up the bills
Pays off the babysitter
'Cause everybody knows
Burnt sugar is so bitter

Once there was a time
Before he turned strange
And she thought they would be together for more than a lifetime
Look at him now
My, how things have changed

He could tear the sweetheart out of any girl
On just a whim
And turn it from a candy to a caramel
Then make her hate the silly way she used to feel
And say, I know nothing about him

Now what's left of the birthday cake is very beautiful and frosted
An absent father picks up the phone to find the number's unlisted
And while the kids are distracted
They don't notice that she's nervous at all
But how long it will take
Not to make a mistake
When a gentleman comes to call

She's out on her own with rest of her riches
As the kids tear down their refrigerator pictures
They already know how a woman may advance
From a pretty picture hat to a supermarket trance
But if he's unkind then he might as well forget her
'Cause everybody knows
Burnt sugar is so bitter

Burnt Sugar Is So Bitter
Words byElvis Costello
Music byCarole King & Elvis Costello
Performed byElvis Costello & The Imposters
Produced bySebastian Krys & Elvis Costello
Vocal arrangementElvis Costello
Horn & woodwind arrangementElvis Costello
MusiciansElvis Costello - vocals, electric, acoustic and Spanish guitars
Steve Nieve - piano, Vox Continental organ, electronic keyboard
Davey Faragher - bass
Pete Thomas - drums, tambourine
Elvis Costello, Kitten Kuroi, Briana Lee & Davey Faragher - vocal group
Steve Bernstein - trumpets
Doug Wieselman - alto saxophone
Clark Gayton - trombone
Sheryl Henze - piccolo
ReleasedOctober 12, 2018
AlbumsLook Now, 2018
Length4:16

First known performance:
October 12, 1999, Louisville, KY
Last known performance:
December 4, 2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada
     (57 known performances)


Look NowLook Now album cover.jpg


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