Charm School - Elvis Costello, The Attractions

Men made out of monkeys

Men made into mice

Happy days are here again

And all the drinks half price

A girl with a trick and a man with a calling

Trying to make a living out of your down falling

Trying to make a living out of anything at all

Didn’t they teach you anything except how to be cruel

In that charm school

You and I as lovers

Were nothing but a farce

Trying to make a silk purse

Out of a sow’s ares

Saying 'Why don’t you watch me'

Hardly speaking sotto voce

I’ve got a notion

I’ve got an angle

Take your dreams and promises

And put them through the mangle

They say it’s hell to finance too

And I just want to romance you

In this perpetual nightclub

I’ll be yours eternal

Though the hours are long

And the noise infernal

Just one shameful act or sometimes two

We make believe we are making do

Didn’t they teach you anything except how to be cruel

In that charm school