Elvis Costello — Miss Macbeth

[Intro] All the children testified that Miss Macbeth had a fish bone slide In her cobweb tresses Her eyes were black as first foot coal Clutched as white as chalk-dust Her fingers sweated India-ink and poison-pen letters There is a hungry hanging tree just below your bedroom window You can hear her take a broom to beat out a tattoo on the ceiling Her bloodless face ran red inside but was she really evil? Was she only pantomime? [Verse 1] Now the chalk on the wall says that somebody saves That somebody's face has just been washed off the pavement Into a puzzle where petrol will be poisoned by rain Miss Macbeth saw her reflection As confetti bled it's colors down the drain [Chorus 1] And everyday she lives out another love song It's a tearful lament of somebody done wrong Well how can you miss what you've never possessed Miss Macbeth [Verse 2] Well we all should have known when the children paraded They portrayed her in their fairytales sprinkling deadly nightshade And as they tormented her, she rose to the bait Even a scapegoat must have someone to hate [Chorus 2] And everyday she lives out another love song "You're up there enjoying yourself, and I know it's wrong" Well how can you miss what you've never possessed Miss Macbeth, Miss Macbeth [Bridge] Sometimes people are just what they appear to be With no redemption at all We try to walk upright when we can't even crawl [Verse 3] Miss Macbeth has a golliwog she chucks under the chin And she whispers to it tenderly then sticks it on a pin And It might be coincidence, but a boy down the lane That she said "went white as he could do" Then doubled over in pain [Chorus 1] And everyday she lives out another love song It's a tearful lament of somebody done wrong Well how can you miss what you've never possessed Miss Macbeth, Miss Macbeth Miss Macbeth, Miss Macbeth