Hetty O'Hara Confidential

Album: Hey Clockface (2020)
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  • Hetty said, if you ask me nicely
    I'll write you up well
    Don't tell me twice
    Quote you directly
    Or pay the price
    Peel off your skin like a thin veneer
    If something tells you something that I didn't hear from you

    Who's got the dope?
    Who's got the potential?
    Hetty O'Hara Confidential

    Those were different days
    Those were different drugs
    The gold-plate palace with the half-mast flags
    A chalk lined body that was full of slugs
    She was trading favors for footnote plugs
    Who's got the needle?
    Who is fit to burst?
    A morphine tattoo, an unquenchable thirst

    Who's got your girlfriend?
    And who had her first?
    Reading her column was essential
    Hetty O'Hara Confidential

    She could kill a man with a single stroke
    She is not the one you want to provoke
    If you can't take the heat
    Or you can't take a joke

    Who's got the dope?
    Who's got the potential?
    Hetty O'Hara Confidential

    If there was a gentleman caller
    To a comely wench
    And a snooping peeper
    In a coat of trench
    She'd place a line or two
    At the foot of the page
    A cue or a clue
    To the latest rage
    With your true dimensions
    And your actual age
    Trade a life of scandal
    For a career on the stage

    These little things seem inconsequential
    Except to Hetty O'Hara Confidential

    On the night he came home
    From the debutante ball
    Passed out drunk on the bathroom floor
    Call-girl called after taking a peek
    At the secret drawer of atomic secrets
    Repeating something that I whispered about
    They have to take it
    But they can't dish it out

    Who's cleaning up his act?
    And breaking the bank?
    But unfortunately didn't remember to thank me
    But now the rumor is doing the rounds
    That his only friends
    Are villains and scoundrels
    Her reputation curled like yellow smoke
    She named the wrong man in the story she broke

    She had an unfortunate character trait
    The irresistible impulse to assassinate
    But the damage you did was quite substantial
    To Hetty O'Hara Confidential

    They've got witch trials now
    With witches to spare
    And a jukebox jury full of judgement and fury
    With bright neon dresses and porn star hair
    She was thrown to the wolves
    And the dogs and the foxes
    Once they'd had their fill of shares and stocks
    Their gaze is unforgiving
    If your morals are lax
    Pointing manicured fingers and making a mockery
    With voices that sound like broken crockery
    Hetty said, "I'm powerless and I feel alone"
    Now everyone has a megaphone

    Who's got the dope?
    Who's got the potential?
    Hetty O'Hara Confidential Writer/s: Elvis Costello
    Publisher: BMG Rights Management, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

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