New Lace Sleeves Elvis Costello

[Verse 1]
Bad lovers face to face in the morning
Shy apologies and polite regrets
Slow dances that left no one enough
Outraged glances and indiscreet yawning
Good manners and bad breath will get you nowhere
Even presidents have newspaper lovers
Ministers go crawling under covers
She's no angel
He's no saint
They're all covered up with whitewash and grease paint
And you say

[Chorus]
The teacher never told you anything but white lies
But you never see the lies that you believe
Oh you know you have been captured
You feel so civilized
And you look so pretty in your new lace sleeves

[Verse 2]
The salty lips of the socialite sisters
With their continental fingers that have
Never seen working blisters
Oh I know they've got their problems
I wish I was one of them
They say daddy's coming home soon
With his sergeant stripes and his Empire mug and spoon
No more fast buck
When are they going to learn their lesson
When are they going to stop all of these victory processions
And you say