Burnt Sugar Is So Bitter – Elvis Costello and The Imposters
By
She says, “What is it that I’ve done That you want me to be punished?” When she woke up one day to find That he had started to vanish
But if you overhear voices Perhaps you should not be listenin’ at all Twitch the vigilant lace Make a slow, sour face Set the scandalized 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 bill, pays off the babysitter ‘Cause everybody knows burnt sugar is so bitter
Once there was a time Before he turned strange She thought they would be together For more than a lifetime Look at him now My, how things have changed He could tear the sweet heart out of any girl On just a whim And turn it from a candy to a caramel And 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 beautifully frosted An absent father picks up the phone To find the number’s unlisted But while the kids are distracted They don’t notice she’s nervous at all But how long will it take Not to make a mistake When a gentleman comes to call?
She’s out on her own with the rest of her riches As the kids tear down the refrigerator pictures They already know how a woman may advance From a pretty picture hat to a supermarket trance But if he’s unkind, he might as well forget her ‘Cause everybody knows burnt sugar is so bitter Burnt sugar is so bitter Burnt sugar