"The Devil's Wife" lyrics
T Bone Burnett & Elvis Costello Lyrics
Devil woman, devil doll
Stick a pin in me and watch me crawl
You're the other side of me that won't put down the knife
Did you ever think that you might be the devil's wife?
His first affair was with Jezebel
But she was even too hot for hell
His second was with Scheherazade
But he thought she thought she was God
When he was riding with Delilah
He tried forever to defile her
When he finally got to Cleopatra
That was a disaster
He had to escape to Macon, Georgia
From the time he spent with Lucretia Borgia
Then he found a fate worse than death
In his tête à tête with Lady MacBeth
But all of those harridans combined
They will have to stand in line
Which is forming on the right
There's a flood in the desert while in the city blight
But you cannot have known trouble and strife
Till you've had a drink with the devil's wife
Devil woman, devil doll
Stick a pin in me and watch me crawl
You're the other side that won't put down the knife
Did you ever think
The devil's wife the devil's wife
She can't dance to save her life
The devil's wife the devil's wife
Her gaze is as a stiletto knife
With sorrow and grief her streets are rife
The devil's wife
She says, "It's over and out"
She says, "It's over and done"
Shoots him with his own gun
Kills him with his only son
It was raining hard on a cloudless day
When I first heard the demon pray
That he could somehow make her pay
He doesn't wait for her response
He tells her twice he tells her once
To memorize the Renaissance
He makes her read Nathaniel Hawthorne
He dresses her in raiment moth worn
Plays One Note Samba on a car horn
He hides behind the bedroom door
And frightens her with her paramour
When she severs his tongue
He grows two more
The devil's wife the devil's wife
She can't dance to save her life
The devil's wife the devil's wife
Her gaze is as a stiletto knife
With sorrow and grief her streets are rife
The devil's wife
She says, "It's over and out"
She says, "It's over and done"
Shoots him with his own gun
Kills him with his only son
As he is turning fact to fiction
She traps him in this contradiction
Until he's left without conviction
As he makes foolishness of wisdom
She manacles him inside a system
As he wails in pain and plays the victim
Then as he sits paralyzed
By the evil spell that she's devised
He feels criticized
And as he sits there moribund
She shoots him with his own gun
While sleeping with his only son
The devil's wife the devil's wife
She can't dance to save her life
The devil's wife the devil's wife
Her gaze is as a stiletto knife
With sorrow and grief her streets are rife
The devil's wife
She says, "It's over and out"
She says, "It's over and done"
Shoots him with his own gun
Kills him with his only son
Stick a pin in me and watch me crawl
You're the other side of me that won't put down the knife
Did you ever think that you might be the devil's wife?
His first affair was with Jezebel
But she was even too hot for hell
His second was with Scheherazade
But he thought she thought she was God
When he was riding with Delilah
He tried forever to defile her
When he finally got to Cleopatra
That was a disaster
He had to escape to Macon, Georgia
From the time he spent with Lucretia Borgia
Then he found a fate worse than death
In his tête à tête with Lady MacBeth
But all of those harridans combined
They will have to stand in line
Which is forming on the right
There's a flood in the desert while in the city blight
But you cannot have known trouble and strife
Till you've had a drink with the devil's wife
Devil woman, devil doll
Stick a pin in me and watch me crawl
You're the other side that won't put down the knife
Did you ever think
The devil's wife the devil's wife
She can't dance to save her life
The devil's wife the devil's wife
Her gaze is as a stiletto knife
With sorrow and grief her streets are rife
The devil's wife
She says, "It's over and out"
She says, "It's over and done"
Shoots him with his own gun
Kills him with his only son
It was raining hard on a cloudless day
When I first heard the demon pray
That he could somehow make her pay
He doesn't wait for her response
He tells her twice he tells her once
To memorize the Renaissance
He makes her read Nathaniel Hawthorne
He dresses her in raiment moth worn
Plays One Note Samba on a car horn
He hides behind the bedroom door
And frightens her with her paramour
When she severs his tongue
He grows two more
The devil's wife the devil's wife
She can't dance to save her life
The devil's wife the devil's wife
Her gaze is as a stiletto knife
With sorrow and grief her streets are rife
The devil's wife
She says, "It's over and out"
She says, "It's over and done"
Shoots him with his own gun
Kills him with his only son
As he is turning fact to fiction
She traps him in this contradiction
Until he's left without conviction
As he makes foolishness of wisdom
She manacles him inside a system
As he wails in pain and plays the victim
Then as he sits paralyzed
By the evil spell that she's devised
He feels criticized
And as he sits there moribund
She shoots him with his own gun
While sleeping with his only son
The devil's wife the devil's wife
She can't dance to save her life
The devil's wife the devil's wife
Her gaze is as a stiletto knife
With sorrow and grief her streets are rife
The devil's wife
She says, "It's over and out"
She says, "It's over and done"
Shoots him with his own gun
Kills him with his only son
