Speak Darkly, My Angel - Anne Sofie von Otter, Brooklyn Rider, Elvis Costello

Speak darkly, my angel

Or do i have to plead?

The sweetness has gone out of it

And all that’s left is bitter barren greed

A needy lover with her almost vanished liar

Entangled as the gloom is strangled by the clinging briar

That ventures out to gather in the gloom

That perfect mouth is ruined now

For as you turn down the corners of your smile

And cloud your dim corrupted eyes

Just before the concertina wrecks your noble brow

The fatal flaw i can’t allow

Depart now, my angel

The goaler of my youth

Sends fifty thousand reasons why i never ever try to tell the truth

The season’s over

And it’s time for either one of us to go

Stand by the window

But don’t lean so temptingly into the drop that calls below

For if you tumble back

I look so good in black