Byline lyrics - Elvis Costello

I read by line by line by line

Some words of yours, some words of mine

Some sentiments are best forgot

Some letters read then folded shut

The profile on a postage stamp

I traced it by my reading lamp

Remembered when I'd sit in wait

Then marked our parting from that date

I read by line by line by line

That old sarcastic Valentine

That you denied you'd sent to me

Then took it back

It's a thought that we shared, a careless phrase

A curse or a joke, some words of praise

But I didn't write

Did you wonder why?

It was the easiest way to say "Goodbye"

You'll see my photo beside the article

"That's just some guy I used to know

I was never his

He was always mine

But I wrote him off by line by line"

By line by line by line by line by line by line

By line by line