Soul For Hire - Elvis Costello

Hang my head and shut my eyes

What kind of justice is this?

Fool I was, I thought that you fought fire with fire

Got to be more than just a soul for hire

Speaking for myself I wouldn’t take the fame

The fees, the glory

For whoring in the practice of the law

I make my case stop and stutter

Soul comes unglued from the uppers

Blood is seeping in the hole

A mother’s eye is weeping

I see every human kind

And still the truth is distant

I see every evil men do and desire

Got to be more than just a soul for hire

When it’s time to give protection

To the ones who need it most, who are desperate

I get distracted from my job

Streams of ink and piles of paper

What are the breaks?

Jump out the window?

Parole?

Escape?

Blood is seeping in the hole

A mother’s eye is weeping

Hang my head and shut my eyes

I can’t see justice twisted

I see every evil men do and desire

Got to be more than just a soul for hire

When it’s time to give protection

To the ones who need it most, who are desperate

I get distracted from my job

Streams of ink and piles of paper

To hand them over to dopers and kiddie-rapers

Corrupt in every twisted grudge

And that is just the judge

Hang my head and shut my eyes

What kind of justice is this?