Elvis Costello - The Night Before Larry Was Stretched [tekst, tłumaczenie i interpretacja piosenki]

[Verse]
Oh, the night before Larry was stretched
Well the boys they all paid him a visit
A bit in their sacks too they fetched
For they sweated their duds till they revered
For Larry was always the lad
When a boy was condemned to the Squeezer
Would fence all the duds that he had
For to help his poor friend to a sneeze rs
And warm his own god 'fore he died
Well the boys they came crowding in fast
And they threw all their stools around about him
Six glimpse round his trap-case was placed
For he couldn't be well-waked without them
When one of them asked, Could he die
Without having duly repented
Said Larry, "That's all in the eye
And first by the clergy invented
For to get a fat lid for themselves
Oh and Algie cut up like a pie
I may not from me buddy be parted
You're in the wrong box, then, says I
For bless me if they're so hard-hearted
A chalk on the back of your neck
Is all that Jack Catch does to give you
Then mind not such trifle's effect
Oh why should the likes of them grieve you
And now boys, come tip us the deck
Well the cards being called for they played
Until Larry found one of them cheated
A god flew was napper made
For the boy he being easily heated
Oh, hold me the hockey, you thief
I'll scuffle your knob with me darkie
You cheat me because I'm in grief
Ah, but soon I'll be mulish and muddle
And leave you your claret to drink
Then the clergy came in with his boon
And he spoke him so smooth and so civil
Larry tipped him A Kilmaven wink
And he pitched his big wig to the devil
Then sighing he threw back his head
For to get a sweet drop of the bottle
And dutiful sighing he said
Oh the hemp 'twill be soon 'round me throttle
And choke me poor windpipe to death
Oh then sure it's the best way to die
Oh the dead are the better the living
For now in the gallows is hiding
A journey that's surely to heaven
But what harasses Larry the most
And makes his soul poor melancholy
Is he thinks of the time when his ghost
It will come in a sheet to Sweet Molly
Oh sure, it'll kill her alive
So moving, these last words he spoke
We all vented our tears in a shower
For me own part I thought me heart broke
For to see him cut down like a flower
On his travels we watched him next day
The throttle I thought I could kill him
But Larry not one word did say
Nor change did he come to King William
And mutter, His color be White
When he came to the old Dublin Shed
He was tucked up so neat and so pretty
The rambler jumped far from his feet
And he died with his face to the city
He came to, but that was all pride
For soon you might see 'twas all over
Soon after the noose was untied
In darkness we waked him in clover
And sent him to take his ground sweat
Oh, the night before Larry was stretched
Well the boys they all paid him a visit
A bit in their sacks too they fetched
For they sweated their duds till they revered
For Larry was always the lad
When a boy was condemned to the Squeezer
Would fence all the duds that he had
For to help his poor friend to a sneeze-rs

[Outro][x2]
And warm his own god 'fore he died