She says, "What is it that I've done? Did you want me to be punished?" When she woke up one day to find That he had started to vanish But if you overhear voices Perhaps you should not be listening at all Twitch the vigilant lips Make a slow, sour face Said the scandalous whispering She's out on her own with the rest of her riches As the kids tear down the refrigerator pictures She picks up the bills, pays off the babysitter Because everybody knows burnt sugar is so bitter Once there was a time Before you turned strange She thought they would be together For more than a lifetime Look at 'em now My, how things have changed He can tell his sweetheart Out of any girl on just a whiff And turn it from a candy to a caramel And make her hate the silhouette she used to feel And say: I know nothing about him Now what's left of the birthday cake Is very beautifully frosted An absent father picks up the phone To find the number's unlisted But while the kids are distracted They don't notice she's nervous at all But how long will it take Not to make a mistake When a gentleman comes to call? She's out on her own with the rest of her riches As the kids tear down the refrigerator pictures They already know how a woman may advance From a pretty picture hat to a supermarket trance And if it's unkind, you might as well forget it Because everybody knows burnt sugar is so bitter Burnt sugar is so bitter Burnt sugar