Elvis Costello Hidden Shame Lyrics

Hidden Shame Lyrics

I`m sorry to say that you don`t know me 
I`m sad in ways you never understood 
Each time I try to tell the ugly truth 
You always let it pass you by 
You said I `d never tell you a lie 
Just because I could 
Did you really think I was a bad man? 
You always said that that should be my middle name 
But you don`t know the half of it 
You don`t know how that name fits 
You don`t know my hidden shame 

Hidden shame, shame, shame 
That I can`t get free 
From the blame and the torture 
And the misery 
Must it be my secret for eternity? 
Till you know my hidden shame you really don`t know me 

Well, there`s a different kind of prison 
And it don`t even have to look much like a cell 
It`s already on your mind 
Boy, we can see it in your eyes 
So, here`s the bars and walls as well 

Well, you know I`m never coming home, babe 
You said you`d stand by me until I cleared my name 
Sure it`s easy to be strong 
When you know the charge is wrong 
But the days and weeks get long 
When you`ve got a hidden shame 

CHORUS 

I had a friend when I was just a boy 
We were like brothers, we would run and hide 
And we went walking on a high hillside 
And I really don`t how it happened 
He turned to me and had this strange look in his eye 
And not a single word was spoken 
I must have pushed him, but I don`t remember why 
And all at once, he lay there broken 
And I walked down without him and I didn`t even sigh 

CHORUS 

They say you always hurt the one you love 
And I`m not saying if I did or if I didn`t 
But like my shame, that kind of love is always hidden 
They locked me up here for the ideas in my head 
They never got me for the thing I really did 

CHORUS