Elvis Costello

A The Terrible Confession O f A Life-Long
Petty Criminal

I'm sorry to say that you don't know me
In many ways you never understood
Each time I tried to tell the ugly truth
You always let it pass you by
You said I'd never tell you a lie
Just because I could

Did you really think I was a bad man?
You always said that Bad should be my middle name
But you don't know the half of it
You don't know how that name fits
You don't know my hidden shame

Hidden shame, shame, shame
That I can't get free
From the blame and the torture and the misery
Must it be my secret for eternity?
Till you know my hidden shame you really don't know me

Well, there's a different kind of prison
And it don't even have to look much like a cell
It's already on your mind
Boy, we can see it in your eyes
So, here's the bars and walls as well

Well, you know I'm never coming home, dear
You said you'd stand by me until I cleared my name
Sure it's easy to be strong
When you know the charge is wrong
But the days and weeks get long
When you've got a hidden shame

Chorus

I had a friend when I was just a boy
We were like brothers
We would run and hide
And we went walking on a high hillside
And I really don't how it happened
He turned to me and had this strange look in his eye
And not a single word was spoken
I must have pushed him, but I don't remember why
And all at once, he lay there broken
And I walked down without him and I buried it deep inside

Chorus

They say you always hurt the one you love
And I'm not saying if I did or if I didn't
But like my shame, that kind of love is always hidden
They locked me up here for the ideas in my head
They never got me for the thing I really did