Songtext Unwanted number Elvis Costello

Unwanted number

You should hear the things that they say about me
They're saying "She's no better than she needed to be"
They don't know that he was kind and strong and tender
And now I'll never be another Unwanted Number
Unwanted Number
How can I tell them?
How can I express?
How it felt to step out of this life and into his embrace

How can I tell them?
How can I explain?
All the love that I never had I found in him

There may be a stain on the family name
And if my father was here I think I know who he'd blame
Mama says that he just doesn't care to remember
And all he thinks of me is another Unwanted Number
Unwanted Number

(How can I tell her?
How can I express?
How it felt when he came to my room
And helped me to undress
What can she tell me?
How can I believe
That she really didn't hear me cry
When he wouldn't leave?)

There's a local game where they whisper my shame
They say "He gave her his child
He wouldn't give her his name"

They will torture me from January till September
And soon there's going to be another Unwanted Number
Unwanted Number
Unwanted number

And I will give my love to another Unwanted Number
Unwanted Number
Unwanted Number