This is the place where I made my best mistakes
This is the place even angels don't understand
I've seen the disappointment in her face
And the collection of engagement rings on her right hand

She sits alone apart from the crowd
In a white dress she wears like a question mark
Friends speak of her fondly
Enemies just think out loud

You think you're man enough to please her
And you're fool enough to start
But you're not going to do a thing to our little angel
There's nothing you're thinking tonight that tomorrow won't change

Now the cabaret is frozen and the laughter comes in cans
And the lonely hearts club clientele don't know what to do with their hands
You think that you'll be sweet to her but everybody knows
That you're the marshmallow valentine that got stuck on her clothes

And you're not going to do a thing to our little angel
There's nothing you're thinking tonight that tomorrow won't change

So you mix your drinks and words
You make bad jokes you make bad time
The floors are there to walk over
The walls are there to climb

You swear you'll never go back again once you're inside
You're never the bridegroom, she's always the bride
And you're not going to do a thing to our little angel
There's nothing you're thinking tonight that tomorrow won't change

You'll come in a sweetheart and you'll go out a stranger
Well you try to love her but she's so contrary
Like a chainsaw running through a dictionary
So get your mind off the sweet behind of our little angel

You're not going to do a thing
You're not going to do a thing
You're not going to do a thing
To our little angel


Lyrics submitted by Mopnugget

Our Little Angel Lyrics as written by Elvis Costello

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Anthem Entertainment

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Our Little Angel song meanings
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  • +1
    General Comment

    SO THIS SONG appears on King of America, or "The Costello Show," Declan Patrick McManus' most overtly self-as-popstar reflection. Many of the songs--the title cut, a couple of others--describe the pitiful state of a recording artist who hasn't achieved the kind of big stardom he may have aspired to or was promised. He is disappointed and maybe a little bitter, but he can still sing about it. The way he jokes wearing a crown as America's King or the way he describes the sad sack in this song show a kind of ironic distance from his pain that allows us to laugh.

    The "you" in the song can be taken as a pop-sensation ("a sweetheart") who ends up being passed by ("go out a stranger") and has to accept his impotence at achieving superstardom. The bride is American Pop Music charting, something Elvis never really got. She is attractive and the "you" thinks that he's "man enough to please her/and fool enough to start". The consolation might be that very few who have courted this success have achieved her--and those who have, the real "Elvis, King of America" among them, may have been worse off for wedding her.

    and so he's got to listen to her pimpdaddy America assure him that, try as he might, American pop music success will never be his. No, for all the tours and albums, he's really not going to "do a thing to our little angel." Or at least that's how i've heard the song.

    baudelaireon January 29, 2005   Link

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