American Gangster Time Lyrics - Singles - Elvis Costello & The Imposters

One, two, three, four 

Somewhere downtown a pretty girl kneels 

Offers her soft lips and a handful of pills 

Peels off her dress and then the rest of her skills 

Buys what she wants and the rest she just steals 

He speaks between deep swallows of rum 

While her head is beating like a big bass drum 

And she wishes he were mute and not just dumb 

When the trick asked her quick, "Did you come?" 

It's a drag, saluting that starry rag 

I'd rather go blind for speaking my mind 

Or use it just like a gag 

So raise it in anger, just let it hang 

American gangster time 

He sits back and starts to invent 

All about some Saigon correspondent 

'Til the carbine fell silent and spent 

I never knew it could be so eloquent 

Next week there'll be some fashionable new sin 

For each harlot and each Puritan 

Pull off their wings, stick 'em on a pin 

And just watch the money roll in 

It's a drag, saluting that starry rag 

I'd rather go blind for speaking my mind 

Or use it just like a gag 

So raise it in anger, just let it hang 

American gangster time 

What you got hidden up your sleeve? 

The tracks of the train that were bidding you to leave 

When they say that you should flatter to deceive 

Don't count on any reprieve 

The hands of the helpless are raised 

Your dead little secrets are praised 

The people stand dumbstruck and dazed 

By the inches that you have erased 

It's a drag, saluting that starry rag 

I'd rather go blind for speaking my mind 

Or use it just like a gag 

So raise it in anger, just let it hang 

American gangster time 

Committing the perfect crime 

In American gangster time 

Here we go 

Bye, bye 

American gangster time