Little Palaces Lyrics - King Of America - Elvis Costello

In chocolate town all the trains are painted brown 

In the silver paper of the wrapper 

There's a dapper little man 

And he wears a wax mustache 

That he twists with nicotine fingers 

As he drops his cigarette ash 

And someone comes and sweeps it up 

And then he doffs his cap 

And there's a rat in someone's bedroom 

And they're shutting someone's trap 

And they'll soon be pulling down the little palaces 

And the doors swing back and forward 

From the past into the present 

And the bedside crucifixion 

Turns from wood to phosphorescent 

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And they're moving problem families 

From the South up to the North 

Mother's crying over some 

Soft soap opera divorce 

And you say you didn't do it 

But you know you did of course 

And they'll soon be pulling down the little palaces 

It's like shouting in a matchbox 

Filled with plasterboard and hope 

Like a picture of Prince William 

In the arms of John the Pope 

There's a world of good intentions 

And pity in their eyes 

The sedated homes of England 

Are theirs to vandalize 

So you knock the kids about a bit, because they've got your name 

And you knock the kids about a bit, until they feel the same 

And they feel like knocking down the little palaces 

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You're the twinkle in your daddy's eye, a name you spray and scribble 

You made the girls all turn their heads 

And in turn they made you miserable 

To be the heir apparent to the kingdom of the invisible 

So you knock the kids about a bit, because they've got your name 

And you knock the kids about a bit, until they feel the same 

And they feel like knocking down the little palaces