Stella Hurt Lyrics - Singles - Elvis Costello & The Imposters

You should wear your red galoshes 

Walking o'er the city pride 

Streets are paved with heaven's pennies 

Gutters full of suicides 

Teddy steadily fell from grace 

Somewhere near Arcadia 

Once she overheard a voice 

That she didn't hear on the radio 

Velvet gloves and country clubs 

Were never going to hold her 

Ringing the necks of silly southern belles 

Who wanted to scold her 

Don't bring me down 

I'm trouble bound 

Blue song, red alert 

Who made Stella hurt? 

Teddy soon dropped out of sight 

Turned up in another town 

Changed her name for the spotlight 

Singing like a blue bird in a sequin gown 

She finally fell and married well 

But I knew it wouldn't last 

Reversing back into the limelight 

No one ever saw her even half plastered 

Don't bring me down 

I'm trouble bound 

Blue song, red alert 

Who made Stella hurt? 

Then she saw those soldier boys 

Throw their bonnets in the air 

Self-made men would pledge their fortunes 

And dream of her and dream of her 

Generals in the commissary 

Opened up a case of wine 

Checked the perfume of the cork 

Said, "Made in 1929" 

They used her up, to raise morale 

For money and Old Glory 

Her voice was shot beyond repair 

But this is not the last act of this story 

The night is black as cracked shellac 

Abandoned in an attic 

Stella is silent as the grave 

Until the needle drags her through the static 

Don't bring me down 

I'm trouble bound 

Blue song, red alert 

Who made Stella hurt?