Thief in the Night - Ethel Waters

Slinky Johnson, if I just had you here

To tell you what’s on my mind

I ain’t seen you in the best of a year

But I understand your kind

You’ll come repenting for the way you carried on

Hoping I’ll be relentin' and let bygones be gone

Though I love you still, our love affair’s through

I ain’t takin' no chances with you

You’re just a thief in the night

Nothin' but a thief in the night

You came without a warnin'

And left before the mornin' broke through

I never knew I wouldn’t see you again

You’re an education in men

The one I had believed in

Turned out to be a thief in the night

And oh how I’ve worried and fretted

And got myself in a pet

Wishin' we’d never met

Mopin' and hopin' and swearin' I’d square a pound yet

Folks declare my eyes are always wet

Because a thief in the night

Stole my heart and vanished from sight

I knew I’d come to grievin'

Believin' in a thief in the night

Come in… so it’s you, Slinky Johnson!

Turned up again like an imitation penny.

Boy, you’re lookin' mighty sharp!

You musta hit the numbers!

I ain’t jettin', I know you couldn’t thumb your way across all that water and

get to Paris.

Just a minute, don’t start off callin' me 'Ruby'.

My name has changed: I’m now known as 'Madame Roberta,' the celebrated

cortesian.

Here, here!

Don’t try warmin' up to me!

Take it easy, Greasy, you’ve got a long way to slide!

Far as I’m concerned, you’re just a lost ball in the high weeds.

What?

Give you another chance?

And go back on the release?

Never no chance, you dirty, double-crossin' h-comrade new-earthworm!

You’re everything that begins with the letter 'S' and the letter 'B'!

So you can’t take it, huh?

Well, if you don’t like the way I’m beatin' up my gums, let the doorknob hit ya

in the middle o' the back!

And don’t go braggin' around Harlem you had an affair with me!

Affair with me, Hell!

If you call that little thing an 'affair'!

You’re just a thief in the night

Stole my heart and vanished from sight

I knew I’d come to grievin'

Believin' in a thief in the night!