Lesson In Cruelty Lyrics - Elvis Costello

(words: costello, music: nieve) 

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 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 laughed as she tore off his head 

The hours she gazed on her former champion 

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

As she rips his pretty face to bits 

-chorus 

It's too 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 it scatter... 

Dear heart to 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 

(it's a lesson in cruelty) 

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