American Gangster Time

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 It 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?" [Chorus] 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 them on a pin And just watch the money roll in [Chorus] 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 [Chorus] Committing the perfect crime In American Gangster Time Here we go Bye bye American Gangster Time --- American Gangster Time - Elvis Costello and Elvis Costello & the Imposters