Elvis Costello & The Imposters - American Gangster Time lyrics
rate meOne, two, three, four<br />
<br />
Somewhere downtown a pretty girl kneels<br />
Offers her soft lips and a handful of pills<br />
Peels off her dress and then the rest of her skills<br />
Buys what she wants and the rest she just steals<br />
<br />
He speaks between deep swallows of rum<br />
While her head is beating like a big bass drum<br />
And she wishes he were mute and not just dumb<br />
When the trick asked her quick, "Did you come?"<br />
<br />
It's a drag, saluting that starry rag<br />
I'd rather go blind for speaking my mind<br />
Or use it just like a gag<br />
So raise it in anger, just let it hang<br />
American gangster time<br />
<br />
He sits back and starts to invent<br />
All about some Saigon correspondent<br />
'Til the carbine fell silent and spent<br />
I never knew it could be so eloquent<br />
<br />
Next week there'll be some fashionable new sin<br />
For each harlot and each Puritan<br />
Pull off their wings, stick 'em on a pin<br />
And just watch the money roll in<br />
<br />
It's a drag, saluting that starry rag<br />
I'd rather go blind for speaking my mind<br />
Or use it just like a gag<br />
So raise it in anger, just let it hang<br />
American gangster time<br />
<br />
What you got hidden up your sleeve?<br />
The tracks of the train that were bidding you to leave<br />
When they say that you should flatter to deceive<br />
Don't count on any reprieve<br />
<br />
The hands of the helpless are raised<br />
Your dead little secrets are praised<br />
The people stand dumbstruck and dazed<br />
By the inches that you have erased<br />
<br />
It's a drag, saluting that starry rag<br />
I'd rather go blind for speaking my mind<br />
Or use it just like a gag<br />
So raise it in anger, just let it hang<br />
American gangster time<br />
Committing the perfect crime<br />
In American gangster time<br />
<br />
Here we go<br />
Bye, bye<br />
American gangster time
