Elvis Costello - Hidden Shame Lyrics

I'm sorry to say that you don't know me
In many ways you never understood
Each time I try to tell the ugly truth
You always let it pass you by
You said I'd never tell you a lie
Just because I could

Did you really think I was a bad man?
You always said that that should be my middle name
Well, you don't know the half of it
You don't know how that name fits
You don't know my hidden shame

Hidden shame, shame, shame and I can't get free
From the blame and the torture and the misery
Must it be my secret for eternity?
Till you know my hidden shame
You really don't know me

Well, there's a different kind of prison
And it don't even have to look much like a cell
It's already on your mind, boy
We can see it in your eyes
So, here's the bars and the walls as well

Well, you know I'm never coming home, dear
You said you'd stand by me until I cleared my name
Sure it's easy to be strong
When you know the charge is wrong
But the days and weeks get long
When you got a hidden shame

Hidden shame, shame, shame and I can't get free
From the blame and the torture and the misery
Must it be my secret for eternity?
Till you know my hidden shame
You really don't know me

I had a friend when I was just a boy
We were like brothers, we would run and hide
We went out walking on a high hillside
And I really don't how it happened

He turned to me and he had this strange look in his eye
And not a single word was spoken
I must have pushed him but I don't remember why
And all at once, he lay there broken
And I walked down without him
And I buried it deep inside

Hidden shame, shame, shame and I can't get free
From the blame and the torture and the misery
Must it be my secret for eternity?
Till you know my hidden shame
You really don't know me, yeah

They say you always hurt the one you love
And I'm not saying if I did or if I didn't
'Cause just like my shame
That kind of love is always hidden
They locked me up here for the ideas in my head
They never got me for the thing I really did

Hidden shame, shame, shame and I can't get free
From the blame and the torture and the misery
Must it be my secret for eternity?
Till you know my hidden shame
You really don't know me
You really don't know me
You really don't know me