Poor Borrowed Dress

My friends are fainter-hearted ones we’d ‘ere address them well At least the proud and perfect sons whose knees start to swell The swains and the swan girls in polka dots and pearls Hearts as hard as punishment and eyes as dim as candles It’s a question of the voice to which you will attend One that‘s there to flatter you, the other to defend You’d drink it down immediately and made her confess The shame of the wearer of that poor borrowed dress Now we choose from everything and life’s so long and lank Money can’t buy anything, there’s nothing in the bank Put away your crinolines, your silk and your lace Or hide among your mother’s skirts and never show your face But it’s a question of the voice that you decide to use One that’s there to comfort you, all o’ers to seduce You’ve got nothing left to lose and no one to impress You’ve never looked so fine as in that poor borrowed dress So it’s a question of the voice that you decide to use One that’s there to comfort you, the o’ers to seduce You’ve got nothing left to lose and no one to impress You never looked so fine as in that poor borrowed dress

Poor Borrowed Dress Words by Elvis Costello Music by Jim Lauderdale Performed by Elvis Costello & The Sugarcanes Produced by T Bone Burnett Recorded February-March 2010, Nashville, TN Released October 25, 2010 (international) November 2, 2010 (US) (Hear Music) Singles National Ransack, 2010 First known performance:  September 2, 2009, Grand Prairie, TX Last known performance:   November 2, 2010 Live From The Artists' Den      (12 known performances)

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