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