the lyrics to be more easily analysable by the listener and less "glossed over". Like "Pretty Words", it sets a personal relationship in a social context. Initially chronicling the morning after a late-night hook-up, the song later juxtaposes a young woman's bad choices with society's expectations of her. Perone writes that it acts as a critique of personal inconsistency, contrasting "the clean, pretty look of a young woman's new outfit with the sometimes tawdry and messy reality of sexual desire and fulfillment". Termed by Costello himself as "dub-reggae", Perone ties the band's performance to the mid-1960s rather than the 1980s, stating it presents a mix of pop, jazz and lounge music. Similar to "Clubland" and "Watch Your Step", "From a Whisper to a Scream" takes place in a club and is an exploration of alcohol abuse by the intoxicated first-person narrator and the problems that come with it, with the "scream" representing violence or sexual frustration. Perone opines that the vocal harmonies of Costello and Tilbrook do not blend as well as the former's later duets, while Hinton compares the pairing to a "white Sam & Dave". "Different Finger" is a pastiche country song that addresses marital infidelity. Using observation rather than a narrator, wherein guilt is the dominant emotion, Gouldstone states that it is Costello's first song to be about "a specifically adulterous affair". A first-person narrator acts as an observer on the darker "White Knuckles", which concerns the beating and sexual exploitation of a woman by a man. However, the lyrics are overall sympathetic to the abuser, painting him as a victim and giving reason as to why the abuser turned to violence. The woman is receptive to the violence as she fails to see a life without it; she is reinforced to remain in the abusive relationship by her loved ones, who essentially tell her "I told you so". Like Get Happy!! "Beaten to the Punch", "White Knuckles" is a denouncement of a man who invokes violence on his partner. Perone writes that the song suggests an influence of the Stranglers both musically and lyrically. According to Costello, "Shot With His Own Gun" is a type of "torch song" that acts as atonement for his wrongdoings of the previous three years. Solely featuring voice over piano, the impressionist lyrics touch on a particularly stale relationship and presents a more sympathetic view to the woman rather than the