Green Shirt lyrics - Elvis Costello

There's a smart young woman on a light blue screen
Who comes into my house every night.
And she takes all the red, yellow, orange and green
And she turns them into black and white.
But you tease, and you flirt
And you shine all the buttons on your green shirt
You can please yourself but somebody's gonna get it

Better cut off all identifying labels
Before they put you on the torture table

'Cause somewhere in the "Quizling Clinic"
There's a shorthand typist taking seconds over minutes
She's listening in to the Venus line
She's picking out names
I hope none of them are mine

But you tease, and you flirt...

Never said I was a stool pigeon
I never said I was a diplomat
Everybody is under suspicion
But you don't wanna hear about that

'Cause you tease, and you flirt...

Better send a begging letter to the big investigation
Who put these fingerprints on my imagination?

You tease, and you flirt...

You can please yourself but somebody's gonna get it
You can please yourself but somebody's gonna get it

Big Boys lyrics - Elvis Costello

I am starting to function
In the usual way
Everything is so provocative
Very very, temporary
I shall walk (I shall walk)
Out of this place (out of this place)
I shall walk
Out on you
'Cause you go silly
If she's willing
Trying so hard to be like the big boys

So you take her to the pictures
Trying to become a fixture
Inch by inch trying to reach her
All the way through the second feature
Worrying about your physical fitness
Tell me how you got this sickness, Oh ohhhh..

I was caught in the suction
By a face like a truncheon
I was down upon one knee
Stroking her vanity

I was stuck on a hammerhead
I came alive and left for dead
As my face returned to red
Choking on my pride and pity

We can talk (we can talk)
Until your face is blue (till your face is blue)
We can talk but she'll get to you
After you've been loved and hated
By the ones you've watched and waited
Found that they were overrated

She'll be the one - when the party's over
She'll be the one - when the girls have gone home
She'll be the one - that you'll wish you'd held onto
She'll be the one - but it's too late for you to
She'll be the one - who knows all your history
She'll be the one -

So you can cross her off your list
And you try so hard
And you try so hard
And you try so hard
To be like the big boys, oh.

"My Aim Is True" (1977)

Welcome To The Working Week lyrics - Elvis Costello

Now that your picture's in the paper being rhythmically admired
and you can have anyone that you have ever desired,
all you gotta tell me now is why, why, why, why.
Welcome to the workin' week.
Oh I know it don't thrill you, I hope it don't kill you.
Welcome to the workin' week.
You gotta do it till you're through it so you better get to it.

All of your family had to kill to survive,
and they're still waitin' for their big day to arrive.
But if they knew how I felt they'd bury me alive.

Welcome to the workin' week.
Oh I know it don't thrill you, I hope it don't kill you.
Welcome to the workin' week.
You gotta do it till you're through it so you better get to it.

I hear you sayin', "Hey, the city's all right
when you only read about it in books.
Spend all your money gettin' so convinced
that you never even bother to look.
Sometimes I wonder if we're livin' in the same land,
Why d'you wanna be my friend when I feel like a juggler
running out of hands?

Welcome to the workin' week, oh, welcome to the working week.

Miracle Man lyrics - Elvis Costello

You never asked me what I wanted. You only asked me why.
I never thought that so much trouble was restin' on my reply,
I could say it was the nights when I was lonely
and you were the only one who'd come.
I could tell you that I like your sensitivity,
when you know it's the way that you walk.

[Chorus]:
Why do you have to say that there's always someone
who can do it better than I can?
But don't you think that I know that walking on the water
won't make me a miracle man?

Baby's gotta have the things she wants.
You know she's gotta have the things she loves.
She's got a ten-inch bamboo cigarette holder
and her black patent leather gloves.
And I'm doing everything just tryin' to please her,
even crawling around on all fours.
Oh, I thought by now that it was gonna be easy,
but she still seems to want for more.

[Chorus]

I hear they're givin' you a bad reputation
just because you've never been denied.
You try to say you've done it all before.
Baby, you know that you just get tired.
Yet everybody loves you so much, girl.
I just don't know how you stand the strain.
Oh, I, I'm the one who's here tonight,
and I don't wanna do it all in vain.

[Chorus]

No Dancing lyrics - Elvis Costello

Oh I know that she
Has made a fool of him
Like girls have done so many nights before
Time and time again
Life is so strange
I don't know why
But somebody, somebody has to cry
There's gonna be no dancing when they get home
There's gonna be no dancing
There's gonna be no dancing
There's gonna be no dancing when they get home

Now he's telling her
Every little thing he's done
Once he glanced at the jackets of some paperbacks
Now he's read every one
He's such a drag
He's not insane
It's just that everybody
Has to feel his pain
There's gonna be no dancing when they get home

He's getting down on his knees
He finds that the girl is not so easy to please
Oh oh, after all, his nights were just a paper striptease
She's caught it like some disease

If he says no dancing
There's gonna be no dancing
There's gonna be no dancing on my own

She can't even speak to him
He can't face her now
He says "Even though I wanna shake your hand
All I ever do is bow.
So now you see
How can it be.
Why can't you give me anythin' but sympathy?"

There's gonna be no dancing
There's gonna be no dancing
There's gonna be no dancing
There's gonna be no dancing
There's gonna be no dancing on my own

Blame It On Cain lyrics - Elvis Costello

Once upon a time, I had a little money.
Government burglars took it long
before I could mail it to you.
Still, you are the only one.
Now I can't let it slip away.
So if the man with the ticker tape,
he tries to take it,
well this is what I'm gonna say.

[Chorus:]
Blame it on Cain.
Don't blame it on me.
Oh, oh, it's nobody's fault,
but we need somebody to burn.

Well if I was a saint with
a silver cup
and the money got low
we could always heat it up
or trade it in.
But then the radio that heaven will be wired to your purse.
And then you can run down the wave band,
coast to coast, hand in hand.
Bad to worse, curse for curse,
don't be dissatisfied.
So you're not satisfied.

[Chorus]

I think I've lived a little too long
on the outskirts of town
I think I'm going insane
from talking to myself for so long.
Oh but I've never been accused.
When they step on your face,
you wear that good look grin.
I gotta break out one weekend
if I do somebody in.
But every single time
I feel a little stronger,
they tell me it's a crime.
Well how much longer?

[Chorus]

Alison lyrics - Elvis Costello

Oh it's so funny to be seeing you after so long, girl.
And with the way you look I understand
that you are not impressed.
But I heard you let that little friend of mine
take off your party dress.
I'm not going to get too sentimental
like those other sticky valentines,
'cause I don't know if you've been loving somebody.
I only know it isn't mine.
Alison, I know this world is killing you.
Oh, Alison, my aim is true.

Well I see you've got a husband now.
Did he leave your pretty fingers lying
in the wedding cake?
You used to hold him right in your hand.
I'll bet he took all he could take.
Sometimes I wish that I could stop you from talking
when I hear the silly things that you say.
I think somebody better put out the big light,
cause I can't stand to see you this way.

Alison, I know this world is killing you.
Oh, Alison, my aim is true.
My aim is true.

Sneaky Feelings lyrics - Elvis Costello

Now everybody's breakin' up somebody else's home,
before somebody else starts breaking up their own.
I get you in my dreams.
You should hear the things you say.
I's not that it's so much fun,
but it's safer that way.
Sneaky feeling, sneaky feelings,
you can't let those kind of feeling show.
I'd like to get right through the way I feel for you,
but I've still got a long way to go.
Why don't we call it a day, and we can both confess.
You can force me to use a little tenderness.
White lies, alibis, anything but say that it's true.
Now we could sit like lovers, staring in each other's eyes,
but the magic of the moment might become too much for you.
Sneaky feeling, sneaky feelings,
you can't let those kind of feeling show.
I'd like to get right through the way I feel for you,

(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes lyrics - Elvis Costello

Oh I used to be disgusted
and now I try to be amused.
But since their wings have got rusted,
you know, the angels wanna wear my red shoes.
But when they told me 'bout their side of the bargain,
that's when I knew that I could not refuse.
And I won't get any older, now the angels wanna wear my red shoes.
I was watching while you're dancing away.
Our love got fractured in the echo and sway.
How come everybody wants to be your friend?
You know that it still hurts me just to say it.

Oh, I know that she's disgusted (oh why's that)
Cause she's feeling so abused. (oh that's too bad)
She gets tired of the lust, (oh I'm so sad)
but it's so hard to refuse.
How can you say that I'm too old,
when the angels have stolen my red shoes.

Oh, I said "I'm so happy, I could die."
She said "Drop dead," then left with another guy.
That's what you get if you go chasing after vengeance.
Ever since you got me punctured this has been my sentence.
Oh I used to be disgusted
and now I try to be amused.
But since their wings have got rusted,
you know, the angels wanna wear my red shoes.
Red shoes, the angels wanna wear my red shoes.

Less Than Zero lyrics - Elvis Costello

Calling Mister Oswald with the swastika tattoo,
there is a vacancy waiting in the English voodoo,
carving "v" for vandal on the guilty boy's head.
When he's had enough of that maybe you'll take him to bed
to teach him he's alive before he wishes he was dead.

[Chorus:]
Turn up the TV. No one listening will suspect,
even your mother won't detect it,
no your father won't know.
they think that I've got no respect
but everything means less than zero.
Hey, ooh hey, hey, ooh hey.

Oswald and his sister are doing it again.
They've got the finest home movies that you have ever seen.
They've got a thousand variations: every service with a smile.
They're gonna take a little break, and they'll be back after a while.
well I hear that South America is coming into style.

[Chorus]

A pistol was still smoking, a man lay on the floor.
Mister Oswald said he had an understanding with the law.
He said he heard about a couple living in the USA.
He said they traded in their baby for a Chevrolet.
Let's talk about the future now we've put the past away.

[Chorus]

Mystery Dance lyrics - Elvis Costello

Romeo was restless, he was ready to kill.
He jumped out the window cause he couldn't sit still.
Juliet was waiting with a safety net.
He said "Don't bury me cause I'm not dead yet".

[Chorus:]
Why don't you tell me 'bout the mystery dance.
I wanna know about the mystery dance.
Why don't you show me,
'cause I've tried and I've tried,
and I'm still mystified.
I can't do it anymore and I'm not satisfied.
I can't do it anymore and I'm not satisfied.

Well I remember when the lights went out
and I was tryin' to make it look like it was never in doubt.
She thought that I knew, and I thought that she knew,
so both of us were willing, but we didn't know how to do it.

[Chorus]

Well I was down under the covers in the middle of the night,
tryin' to discover my left foot from my right.
You can see those pictures in any magazine.
But what's the use of looking when you don't know what they mean.

[Chorus]

Pay It Back lyrics - Elvis Costello

Stop thief; you're gonna come to grief
if you don't take a little more care.
You're gonna get more than the family plan
from this one shoestring affair.
I may be crazy but I can't contemplate
being trapped between the doctor and the magistrate.

[Chorus:]
One of these days I'm gonna pay it back, pay it back,
one of these days.
One of these days I'm gonna pay it back, pay it back,
one of these days.

And then they told me I could be somebody
if I didn't let too much get in my way.
And I tried so hard just to be myself,
but I keep on fading away.
Until the lights went out, I didn't know what to do.
If I could fool myself, then maybe I'd fool you too.

[Chorus]

I wouldn't say that I was raised on romance.
Let's not get stuck in the past.
I love you more than everything in the world.
I don't expect that will last.
They told me everything was guaranteed.
Somebody somewhere must've lied to me.

[Chorus].

I'm Not Angry lyrics - Elvis Costello

You're upstairs with the boyfriend while I'm left here to listen.
I hear you calling his name, I hear the stutter of ignition.
I could hear you whispering as I crept by your door.
So you found some other joker who could please you more.

[Chorus:]
I'm not angry, I'm not angry anymore.
I'm not angry, I'm not angry anymore.
Ooh, I know what you're doin'.
I know where you've been.
I know where, but I don't care,
'cause there's no such thing as an original sin.

I've got this camera click, click, clickin' in my head.
I got you talking with your hands, got you smiling with your legs.
Spent all my time in a vanity factory,
wonderin' when they're gonna come and take it all back.

[Chorus]

Waiting For The End Of The World lyrics - Elvis Costello

The man from the television crawled into the train.
I wonder who he's gonna stick it in this time.
Everyone was looking for a little entertainment,
so they'll probably pull his hands off
when they find out his name.
And then they shut down the power all along the line,
and we got stuck in the tunnel where no lights shine.
They got to touching all the girls were to scared to call out.
Nobody was saying anything at all.
We were waiting for the end of the world,
waiting for the end of the world,
waiting for the end of the world.
Dear Lord I sincerely hope you're coming
'cause you really started something.

Things got back to normal as the train began to roll again.
We got to the station about twenty minutes later.
The legendary hitchhiker says that he knows where it's at.
Now he'd like to go to Spain or somewhere like that,
with his two-tone Bible and his funny cigarettes,
his suntan lotion and his castanets.

He was waiting for the end of the world,
waiting for the end of the world,
waiting for the end of the world.
Dear Lord I sincerely hope you're coming
'cause you really started something.

And then the bride, the groom, the congregation and the priest
all got onto the train when we were three stations east, yeah.
Hiding from a scandal in the national press,
they had been trying to get married since they stole the wedding dress.
You may see them drowning as you stroll along the beach,
but don't throw out the lifeline till they're clean out of reach.

Watching The Detectives lyrics - Elvis Costello

Nice girls not one with a defect,
cellophane shrink-wrapped, so correct.
Red dogs under illegal legs.
She looks so good that he gets down and begs.

[Chorus:]
She is watching the detectives.
"ooh, he's so cute!"
She is watching the detectives
when they shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot.
They beat him up until the teardrops start,
but he can't be wounded 'cause he's got no heart.

Long shot of that jumping sign,
Visible shivers running down my spine.
Cut the baby taking off her clothes.
Close-up of the sign that says,"We never close"
You snatch a tune, you a match a cigarette,
She pulls the eyes out with a face like a magnet.
I don't know how much more of this I can take.
She's filing her nails while they're dragging the lake.

[Chorus]

You think you're alone until you realize you're in it.
Now fear is here to stay. Love is here for a visit.
They call it instant justice when it's past the legal limit.
Someone's scratching at the window. I wonder who is it?
The detectives come to check if you belong to the parents
who are ready to hear the worst about their daughter's disappearance.
Though it nearly took a miracle to get you to stay,
it only took my little fingers to blow you away.

Just like watching the detectives.
Don't get cute!"
It's just like watching the detectives.
I get so angry when the teardrops start,
but he can't be wounded 'cause he's got no heart.
Watching the detectives.
It's just like watching the detectives.

Radio Sweetheart lyrics - Elvis Costello

My head is spinning and my legs are weak
Goose step dancing, can't hear myself speak
Hope in the eyes of the ugly girls
That settle for the lies of the last chancers
When slow motion drunks pick wallflower dancers
You come here looking for the ride to glory
Go back home with a hard luck story
I can hardly wait around until the weekend comes to town

Play one more for my radio sweetheart
Hide your love, hide your love
Though we are so far apart
You've got to hide your love
'Cause that's the way the whole thing started
I wish we had never parted

When it's late and the night gets colder
Don't lay your head on any other shoulder
Some hire themselves out for a good time
But you and I, we have been sold
So I keep on saying...

Play one more for my radio sweetheart
Hide your love, hide your love
Though we are so far apart
You've got to hide your love
'Cause that's the way the whole thing started
I wish we had never parted

Play one more for my radio sweetheart

Stranger In The House lyrics - Elvis Costello

This never was one of the great romances
But I thought you'd always have those young girl's eyes
But now they look in tired and bitter glances
At the ghost of a man who walks 'round in my disguise
I get the feeling that I don't belong here
But there's no welcome in the window anyway
And I look down for a number on my keychain
'Cause it feels more like a hotel everyday

There's a stranger in the house; nobody's seen his face
But everybody says he's taken my place
There's a stranger in the house no one will ever see
But everybody says he looks like me

And now you say you've got no expectations
But I know you also miss those carefree days
And for all the angry words that passed between us
You still don't understand me when I say

There's a stranger in the house; nobody's seen his face
But everybody says he's taken my place
There's a stranger in the house no one will ever see
But everybody says he looks like me

Imagination (Is A Powerful Deceiver) lyrics - Elvis Costello

So you're trying to make connection, you heard whispers in the hall
She'll be out again this evening, when you come around to call
So, you dodge the lady-killer, who came creepin' 'cross the floor
Then you caught up in a whirlwind, you got blown right out the door
Oh, yes it was a whirlwind, sweet romance was on your side
If you wanna dance on my face, you must tell me why you lied

Imagination is a powerful deceiver
When you try to believe her just a little too much
Imagination is a powerful deceiver
I'll go out of my mind, if I'm losing your touch

I see a look of recognition, so well hidden in your eye
And your peepshow regulations, they just don't seem to apply,
Well, did I see you in the circus, in the ring without a hand
Now you think that you can curse us, steal the show and stop the band

Oh, you can follow your dreams, oh but please don't lead me on,
If you wanna bleed in my face, you were here and now you're gone

Imagination is a powerful deceiver
When you try to believe her just a little too much
Imagination is a powerful deceiver
I'll go out of my mind, if I'm losing your touch
I'll go out of my mind, if I'm losing your touch
I'll go out of my mind, if I'm losing your touch

Cheap Reward lyrics - Elvis Costello

Oh, well, I feel so loose tonight I might fall to pieces
So be prepared to sweep me out the door
And I might be horizontal by the time the music ceases
So I think I'll get acquainted with the floor
Oh, I was trying to get away from the things that I always do
Hello, floorboards once again - how are you?

Lip Service - well, that's all you'll ever get from me
Well, how could you believe I'll take you seriously?
With your cheap rewards, your blackmail, and your comical rage
Just remember you'll only be the boss so long as you pay my wage

All the sign posts on this road that point one way
Don't act like you're above me, just look at your shoes
I'll turn the light out now 'cause there's nothing more to say
And it's all been lost before so there's nothing to lose

Oh, but you could say that you love me very painlessly
I would've done the same for you, oh, but you said to me:

Lip service - well, that's all you'll ever get from me
Well, how could you believe I'd take you seriously?
With your cheap rewards, your blackmail, and your comical rage
Just remember you'll only be the boss so long as you pay my wage

Just remember you'll only be the boss so long as you pay my wage

Jump Up lyrics - Elvis Costello

Everybody's talking like they can't sit down
And looking like they can't stand up
It must be the lastest style
And they've seen a lot of things that you never see
Back on the mile up to the hanging tree
Some people can't keep their fingers clean
Just clicking their heels to the beat of the scene
Trying to keep careen until the first edition of last night's obituries
Jump up - hold on tight
Can't trust the promise or a guarantee
'Cause the man 'round the curve says that he's never heard
Of you or me

No tombstone would ever surprise me
When I'm locked in a room about half the size of a matchbox
Got holes in my socks
They match the ones that I got in my feet
I put my feet in the holes in the street and somebody paved me over
I was a statue standing on the corner
Tell me, how else can a boy get to see those pretty pleats?

Candidate talkin' on the radio from the "Cheaters Jamboree"
It must be their lastest fool
'Cause it's a two-horse race and he changed his bets
Like it was just another brand of cigarettes

Some people judge and they just guess the rest
They can't understand that don't mean that you're blessed
They ought to catch the Express Next Stop No Where
That way you can forget

Jump up - hold on tight
Can't trust the promise or a guarantee
'Cause the man 'round the curve says that he's never heard
Of you or me

Wave A White Flag lyrics - Elvis Costello

Take off your shoes, hang up your wings
Stack up the chairs, roll up the rug
Savor the things that sobriety brings
Drain in the last from a jug
But when I hit the bottle, there's no tellin' what I'll do
'Cause something deep inside me wants to turn you black and blue
I can't resist you, I can't wait
To twist your loving arms till you capitulate

Beat me in the kitchen, and I'll beat you in the hall
There's nothing I love better than a free for all
To take your pretty neck and see which way it bends
But when it is all over we will still be friends

Wave a white flag, put away the pistol
Too many people just can't get kissed
But if there's nothin' I can do to make amends, baby
Hope you don't murder me

Oh, was it all right, or was it okay
I'll make it all up to you someday
Oh, but you didn't have to laugh that way
Oh, no, you didn't have to laugh that way

Wave a white flag, put away the pistol
Too many people just can't get kissed
But if there's nothin' I can do to make amends, baby
Hope you don't murder me
Gee, baby, hope you don't murder me

Poison Moon lyrics - Elvis Costello

Cut loose in a nightmare, cast off in my dreams
If home is anywhere that I can hang my hat
Then it's coming apart at the seams
My luck is hanging upside down
I try to hold on tight
But money's rolling out of town
And love slips right out of sight
And these bones, they don't look so good to me
Jokers talk and they all disagree
One day soon, I will laugh right in the face of the poison moon

You look in the mirror
I'm sorry, but it can't be replaced
You're thrown straight out in that cruel parade
Buttoned down and laced
It starts like fascination, it ends up like a trance
You've gotta use your imagination on some of that magazine romance

And these bones - they don't look so good to me
Jokers talk and they all disagree
One day soon, I will laugh right in the face of the poison moon
One day soon, I will laugh right in the face of the poison moon

Elvis Costello other songs:

Abandoned Masquerade lyrics - Elvis Costello

The glitter on a paint and plaster face
Is covering desire and disgrace
We could be lovers
But no one suspects at all
Once you're inside that costume ball
And now I'm sitting here before the mirror
I have the skill still to disguise my tears
Then as the magic starts to fade
I find myself abandoning the masquerade

Even though you're suffering
You try to hide it
And pretend you're so nonchalant
You can cry a pool of tears
And sit beside it
Then perhaps you'll know what you want

I hope you never feel this much despair
Or know the meaning of that empty chair
As the illusions that we made all fade away
In this abandoned masquerade

April 5th lyrics - Elvis Costello (with Rosanne Cash & Kris Kristofferson)

You want love
But it's never deep enough
You want life
But it's never long enough
You want peace
Like it's something you can buy
You want time
But you're content to watch it fly

I'm not afraid
And I refuse to be
I can't fall
There's nothing to stop me

You believe in dreams
In a dream forsaken land
You believe the heart
Is the measure of a man
It's an old love story
And I swear to God it's true
You believe in me
And I believe in you

I'm not afraid
And I refuse to be
I can't fall
There's nothing to stop me

You want imagination
But you cannot pretend
You need air
But you won't even break a window
You want space
For some pretty stars to lend
You want free will
Or something like it that you can bend

I can't think
It's getting hard to do
You can't fail
There's nothing to stop you

It's an old love story
And I swear to God it's true
You believe in me
And I believe in you

Back On My Feet lyrics - Elvis Costello

How many days does the wet weather lack?
I wanna go where the clouds when they roll back
Reveal a man in an old mack
Living on a park bench
Sitting on his own

Cut to the rain as it rolls down the glass
But then she leaves through the lightning and thunder
You see a man going under
This is how it happens
This is what he said

"I don't need love
Temptation is sweet
Give me your hand
Till I'm back on my feet
You're always telling me
About my misery
I'll see things you'll never see
Don't pity me"

Focus in on the breath of a man
Takes a brown paper bag from his knapsack
Between his whispers and wisecracks
He's looking for the wishing
Screaming at the sky

"I don't need love
Temptation is sweet
Give me your hand
Till I'm back on my feet
You're always telling me
About my misery
I'll see things you'll never see
Don't pity me"

"I'll be fine again,
Be all right without you
I'll stand up again
Kick off the puzzlement, too"

Cut back again to a girl walking by
To the beat of her old shoes and rolled socks
Climb on an invisible soapbox
Laughing at the traffic
Shouting at the word

"I don't need love
Temptation is sweet
Give me your hand
Till I'm back on my feet
You're always telling me
About my misery
I'll see things you'll never see
Don't pity me"

"I'll be fine again,
Be all right without you
I'll stand up again
Kick off the puzzlement, too"

Seeing life through the eyes of a man
As he lives and he dies by a simple titan
Well there you go, though you trying hard to know
When he's there on his legs
Sees the kinks where the people all go
Things start to fade as he pulls down the shade
And the picture made is in glorious cinemascope

Basement Kiss lyrics - Elvis Costello

Lucy Grace can't show her face
Down in the North End Road, for in Belgravia
Rumors have been whispered and suggestions have been made

Did you sell your friends out when the heat got too intense?
You say you need the danger, but it's only a pretense
You say you need the money, but everybody knows
You can always fall back on your inheritance.

Did you bruise your arms on his false alarms?
Did you bruise your pride on his smile so wide?
Only fingertips from forbidden bliss
Did you bruise your lips on that basement kiss?

Who's that peeking 'round the door?
You can't come here no more, will you go home again?
She used to sit alone for hours,
Spends her evening watering dried flowers

When your Mother came to stay and finally went to bed
Lucy Grace was in the front room shooting through your head
She tried to take your breath away
But gave you something else instead

Did you bruise your arms on his false alarms?
Did you bruise your pride on his smile so wide?
Only fingertips from forbidden bliss
Did you bruise your lips on that basement kiss?

That Tuesday at the function
In her Audrey Hepburn hat
It doesn't suit her much, but she'll get over that
She'll be pale and feign indifference as they're handing out the prizes
Spilling Daddy's words of wisdom
And her ugly sister's tranquilizers

Why were you so tardy putting up your guard?
When you bruise so easy and you try so hard

Did you bruise your arms on his false alarms?
Did you bruise your pride on his smile so snide?
Only fingertips from forbidden bliss
Did you bruise your lips on that basement kiss?

Bright Blue Times lyrics - Elvis Costello

Alone in the crowd
Simply taking up space
You would never admit to tears
Till they're rolling down your face

[Chorus:]
One day, love, long from now
Maybe you'll leave that we
Live in bright blue times

Alone in the dark
There's a voice in your head
You would never admit your name
Could be someone else instead

[Chorus]

Brilliant Disguise lyrics - Elvis Costello

I hold you in my arms
There's a band playing
What are those words whispered, baby
Just as you turn away?

Well I saw you last night
Out on the edge of town
I wanna read your mind and know just what I got in this
New thing I found

So tell me what I see
When I look into your eyes
Is that you, baby
Or just a brilliant disguise?

I heard someone call your name
Underneath my willow
I saw something tucked in shame
Underneath your pillow

Well I tried so hard, baby
But I just can't see
What a woman like you
Is doing with me

So tell me who I see
When I look into your eyes
Is that you, baby
Or just a brilliant disguise?

Now look at me, baby
Struggling to do everything right
And then it all falls apart
When out go the lights

I'm just a lonely pilgrim
I walk this world in wealth
I wanna know it's you I don't trust
'Cause I damn sure don't trust myself

Now you play the lovin' woman
I play the faithful man
Just don't look too close
Into the palm of my hand

When we stood at the altar
The gypsy swore our future looked right
But in the wee, wee hours, maybe baby,
The gypsy lied

So when you look at me
You better look hard and look twice
Is that me, baby
Or just a brilliant disguise?

Tonight our bed is cold
I'm lost in the darkness of our love
God have mercy on a man
Who doubts what he's sure of

Burnt Sugar Is So Bitter lyrics - Elvis Costello

She says what has her daddy done
That you want him to be punished
When she woke up one day to find
That he was starting to vanish
But _if you hope_ (?) to hear voices
You know you should not be listening
Push the vigilant lips
Make a slice of her face
Said the scandalous whispering

She's not on her own with the rest of her riches
As the kids tear down the refrigerator pictures
She picks up the bills and pays the babysitter
'Cause everybody knows burnt sugar is so bitter

And once there was a time
Before you turned strange
She thought they'd be together
For more than a lifetime
Look at them 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 silouette she used to feel
And say "I know nothing about you."

Now what's left of the birthday cake
Smeared and beautifully frosted
An absent father picks up the phone
To find the number's unlisted

While the kids are distracted
She'll 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 not on her own with the rest of her riches
As the kids tear down their refrigerator pictures
They already know how a woman may advance
From a pretty picture hat to a supermarket trance
Where it is unkind, she might as well forget it
'Cause everybody knows burnt sugar is so bitter
Burnt sugar is so bitter
Burnt sugar
Burnt sugar
Burnt sugar

Come Away, Death lyrics - Elvis Costello

Come away, come away, death
And in sad Cyprus let me be laid
Fie away, fie away, breath
I am slain by a fair cruel maid
My shroud of white stuck all with you
O prepare it
My part of death no one so true
Did share it

Come away, come away, death

Not a flower, not a flower, sweet
On my black coffin let there be strewn
Not a friend, not a friend, greet
My poor corpse where my bones shall be thrown
A thousand thousand sighs to say
Lay me over
Sad true lover never find my grave
To weep there

Come away, come away, death

Couldn't You Keep That To Yourself lyrics - Elvis Costello

The tiny slip at midnight
A little sip at noon
You're tired and torn approaching dawn
My penitent buffoon
Wouldn't you think I'd know by now
I shouldn't have entertained it
Couldn't you keep that to yourself
You cried for my forgiveness
You say it sets you free
You summon dear the shameful tears
That spill all over me
Wouldn't you think I'd know by now
I shouldn't have entertained it
Couldn't you keep that to yourself

The penny rides at evening tide
The vain requests
The blush of the night
And the blooming bush
Where you failed every test
What should I believe of you?
What should I forget
Am I innocent yet

Is it the wife you would have beaten
Is it the child you couldn't bear?
I fear you have mistaken me
For somebody who cares
The sophisticated victim
That you skilfully request
You can hide behind your wishes
You can hide behind despair
And all the wretched syndroms
That carry away the blame
Couldn't you keep you keep that to yourself
And wouldn't you shouldn't you couldn't you
Keep that to yourself

Dirty Rotten Shame lyrics - Elvis Costello

I recall the good old days
But thankfully, they've gone
Now the ponies all are broken nags
That stumble as they groan
And throw the jockeys from their throne
When there are pitches left to dodge
And lions left to tame
But it's nothing but a dirty rotten shame
It's a dirty rotten shame
That when you're frivolous and strong
It isn't youth, its fearlessness
That has been wasted on the young
The cruel are in the cradle
And the bishop's in the bag
It's nothing but a dirty rotten shame

Now I find life a millionaire
That brags for rags and jewels
A snarling pup is wild enough
But as his anger proves
He's left to sharpen useless tools
That tear and graze and finer phrase
But few are worth the name
It's nothing but a dirty rotten shame

It's a dirty rotten shame
And that is not an idle boast
When all your courage and your strength
Will leave you as you need it most
When there are lamps to dampen
And cauliflowers to flip
It's nothing but a dirty rotten shame

Don't Be Careless Love lyrics - Elvis Costello

Burn the midnight lamp
Down until the dawn
I'll keep watch
Until I'm sure you're coming home
Shadows play
And flicker on the bedroom wall
They turn into a bad dream overnight
Something could be terribly wrong

Don't be careless love
Don't be careless love
Don't be, don't be careless

In my dream you're running nowhere
Every step you've taken turns to glue
Walking down a spiral staircase
Failing through, failing through
Don't be careless love
Be careless love

The lamp burns down and out
I'm getting pretty tired of this
I feel so bad
Something might be going amiss
I won't be there
So look out for yourself
You're getting in deep whatever you do
Don't let me go back to sleep

Don't be careless love
Don't be careless love
Don't be, don't be careless

Saw your face in the morning paper
Saw your body rolled up in a rug
Chopped up into two little pieces
By some thug

Don't be careless love
Be careless love

But in the morning light
When I wake up again
You're by my side
And that's the way it's always been
But in the dark
Your mind plays funny tricks on you
Your mind plays funny tricks on you
Your mind plays funny tricks on you

Don't be careless love

Fake Tin Star lyrics - Elvis Costello

Things these days are better by far,
A horse can out run a motor car,
If the wheels are rubber and the rails are steel
That beast can outrun any automobile

Here's the story of progress and all the bullets they spent
On a sheet hung up in a circus tent
There's a lantern shining - it's pointing the way
This kind man has probably had his day
But they keep him around with his last vain hope
For selling tickets while spinning a rope.

They brought him down off the vanishing trail
But nobody these days wants to hear his tale
So he spends his nights leaning up at the bar
The real gone cowboy with the fake tin star.

Up on the screen there's a boy half his age
They pay him 20 times his weekly wage
For dodging phony bullets and catching blunt blades
For blowing up horses and kissing young maids.

Children cheer
Women throw flowers
Men just glower
Up at the screen
But they don't know
Just what it means
Vengeance and dreams.

Girls just swoon at the mention of him
With his face all powdered and his immaculate brim
And his hair pommaded and his fingernails clean
While old men whisper "Just look at him preen"
And outside muttering through a cheap cigar
There's a real gone cowboy with a fake tin star.

Fire Suite 1 lyrics - Elvis Costello

I remember that dance
On the roof of my car
When St. Lucy's mad torch
Took away our best bar

Say we drank
And we prayed
Some just sat like a choir
Came the smoke
In the night
Came the heat
Came the fire

Ember glow lagered ash
I was pissed as a fart
Stricken some dumb plum numb
We was broken at heart

Say we drank
And we prayed
Some just sat like a choir
Came the smoke
In the night
Came the light
Came the fire

Fire Suite 3 lyrics - Elvis Costello

That all could gather
That we could marry
Still
Faces absent
That she could see this
As if time hovered
That he'd caress him
That jars and lads and Carol Ann were

Shouts from brilliant corners
Word 'n tears confused
Sparks long sky bound
Long sky bound

Had I been wiser
And not so bleedin'
Still geezer poet
Wine cross the lips flow
Love through eyes goes
That he'd embrace him
That jars and lads and Carol Ann were

That all could gather
That we could marry
Still
Faces absent
That she could see this
As if time hovered
That he'd caress him
That jars and lads and Carol Ann were
Set by the bar so tender

Fire Suite Reprise lyrics - Elvis Costello

Now you've heard our refrain
And this story must end
'Cause the stars can't stay up
They can only descend

Say we drank
And we prayed
Some just sit like a choir
Came the smoke
In the night
Came the heat
Came the fire

Timber tender
Tender will you remember
Grim sender I can't pretend
So I'll Surrender
Will you remember

I Can't Turn It Off lyrics - Elvis Costello

Basement babies strangling saxophones
They got twisted motives, they got eyes of stone
But it's a terminal condition that is tattered through and through
It's not that they don't need you
They're too mixed up to choose

Broken noses hung up on the wall
Back-slapping drinkers cheer the championship brawl
And they're so punch drunk they don't understand the word defeat
They can take you out and shoot you
They can't confiscate that beat

Steam engineer breaks down in the newsreel
He's seen the future of the diesel wheel
Listen to the hammers falling in the breaker's yard
When you're used to the glamour it comes at you twice as hard

Sometimes I think that I have had enough
Sometimes I scare myself I get enough
But you know that I can't turn it off

Young girl rehearses all her blackmail faces
She's looking for a love that lasts
She'd never break the heart of any aces
And she's learning pretty fast

I've seen those clowns running all over town
Trying to satisfy all of their carnival desires
You start out looking for your own melody
They end up in the closing time choirs

All you lucky people crying in your beer
When it comes down to silence not even tears
You're in real trouble between the two
When it comes down to me
When it comes down to you

But it must be something you're allowed to keep
In between the longest pantomimes
'Cos it's very easy to let love fall asleep
When you are worrying about hard times

Sometimes I think that I have had enough
Sometimes I scare myself I get enough
But you know that I can't turn it off
But you know that I can't turn it off

I Dreamed Of My Old Lover Last Night lyrics - Elvis Costello

I dreamed of my old lover last night
I wonder if I spoke out loud
And if by chance my lover overheard
He put my face back in the crowd

His eyes were clear and gentle then
He kissed the troubles from my brow
I long to fall to sleep again
And I wonder how he would look now

Would our kids grow sullen or grow strong?
Would their limbs bronze in solitude and sun?
I like the way it feels but then
I rarely dream of anyone
I the songs of shame and the tales of dread
Where they seal the lovers' lips with lead
And all the vines wind through their eyes

Oh but no one knows this passion now
Oh no one knows this passion now
So I keep this fancy to myself
I keep my lipstick twisted tight
I long to fall to sleep again
I dreamed of my old lover last night
I long to fall to sleep again
'Cause I dreamed of my old lover last night

I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself lyrics - Elvis Costello

I just don't know what to do with myself
I just don't know what to do with myself
I'm so used to doing everything with you
Planning everything for two
And now that we're through

I just don't know what to do with my time
I'm so lonesome for you, it's a crime
Going to a movie only makes me sad
Parties make me feel as bad
When I'm not with you, I just don't know what to do

Like a summer rose needs the sun and rain
I need your sweet love to beat all the pain

I just don't know what to do with myself
I just don't know what to do with myself
Baby, if your new love ever turns you down
Come back, I will be around
Just waiting for you, I don't know what else to do

Don't know what else to do
I don't know what else to do
I'm still so crazy for you
Oh, oh, oh

I Throw My Toys Around lyrics - Elvis Costello

I've got no time for fairy stories
I'm not a little girl
So you can leave me all alone
And turn off the lights as well
If you were frightened
Then listen:
But I don't think you'd like it
Such a nice kid

Nobody's lookin' now
I throw my toys around

Somebody's bein' very bad
I wonder who it can be
Somebody's goin' to get in trouble
I know it isn't me

I'm just a little angel
But you don't know what I've done
When your back's turned
Nobody's lookin' now
I throw my toys around

Pick up those building blocks
Chop off the baby's locks
Swing dolly by the hair
Put down that teddy bear
Slam dunk that happy clown
I throw my toys around

I've got no time for bedtime stories
I'm not a little child
Everything makes me furious
And everything makes me wild

If you were frightened
Then whistle:
And they'll come runnin' to you
As you boo-hoo

Nobody's looking now
I throw my toys around
I throw my toys around
[repeat and fade]

I'll Never Fall In Love Again lyrics - Elvis Costello

What do you get when you fall in love?
A guy with a pin to burst your bubble
That's what you get for all your trouble
I'll never fall in love again
I'll never fall in love again

What do you get when you kiss a girl
You get enough germs to catch pneumonia
After you do, she'll never phone you
I'll never fall in love again
I'll never fall in love again

Don't tell me what it's all about
'Cause I've been there and I'm glad I'm out
Out of those chains those chains that bind you
That is why I'm here to remind you

What do you get when you give your heart
You get it all broken up and battered
That's what you get, a heart that's shattered
I'll never fall in love again
I'll never fall in love again

Out of those chains those chains that bind you
That is why I'm here to remind you

What do you get when you fall in love?
You only get lies and pain and sorrow
So for at least until tomorrow
I'll never fall in love again
I'll never fall in love again

I'll never fall in love again
I'll never fall in love again

Less Than Zero (Dallas Version) lyrics - Elvis Costello

Jenny takes her clothes off in succession,
While her husband rides a bumper in the President's procession.
She's sees him on the screen as she looks up from giving head.
When he's had enough of that her lover throws her on the bed
to teach her she's alive and suddenly he's dead.

[Chorus:]
Turn up the TV. No one listening will suspect,
even your mother won't detect it,
no your father won't know.
they think that I've got no respect
but everything means less than zero.
Hey, ooh hey, hey, ooh hey.

Calling Mister Oswald, calling anyone at the scene,
If you were taking home movies there's a chance you might have seen him.
They've got a thousand variations, every witness in a file.
Jenny puts on some coffee and she comes back with a smile.
She says, "I hear that South America is coming into style."

[Chorus]

A pistol was still smoking, a man lay on the floor.
Mister Oswald thought he had an understanding with the law.
She's got rubies on her fingers, Jenny turns and looks away.
Her mind upon a basement out of the USA.
She says, "Let's talk about the future now we've put the past away."

Lesson In Cruelty lyrics - Elvis Costello

Here's a thought to dwell upon,
Daddy's girl is almost gone
Now there's just a vain princess
'Her Ruthlessness'
Tearing up the nursery
Stars more used to glittering
Pictured in the guttering
Faces caught about to laugh
Torn in half
Slipping through your fingers
See them scatter
Maybe it doesn't matter
But I still really want to pick pieces up
You can't fool me
With this lesson in cruelty
It's not as if I was asking time to stop
In violent blue
Like roses red
She laughed as she tore off his head
The hours she gazed on her former champion
Now it's just a frame of sellotape and torn wallpaper
As she rips his pretty face to bits

[Chorus]

It's too much too soon or so it seems
To put away these childish dreams
You'll find out soon enough that worship can be tough
Love is just a name to celebrate a vision
Or confetti littered with regrets.
See it scatter...
Dear heart to good to waste
But if some hot-head should claim it
Don't rush to his embrace
And it remains to say...
I'll love you just the same, whatever your decision
As you put the paper to the flame
(It's a lesson in cruelty)

Life Shrinks lyrics - Elvis Costello

Shall I wear a buttonhole to jog your memory?
So you'll recall the promise
That I swore you made to me when we were younger
You look sorry for yourself but what about?
I'm some idea you're not without a doubt
So you can put away that tongue
I don't know who I'm trying to kid
I'll find another name for you
I'll try to put the blame on you
For everything we did
Life shrinks and before you know it
You have forgotten all the cuts and bruises
Just be thankful we were only fighting for buttons
And you know by now who loses

You're only half awake because you never go to bed
And when he hears about it
You know then the both of you's is dead and that's a promise
You'll be sorry because I won't tell you again
You'll stick like that one day
And if you don't believe me go and ask St. Thomas
I don't know where it's going to stop
Spend your whole time trying to stay
From breaking down or running away
Or trying to keep up

Long Journey Home lyrics - Elvis Costello

If on every ocean the ship is a throne
And for each mast cut down another sapling is grown
Then I could believe that I'm bound to find
A better life than I left behind

But as you ascend the ladder
Look out below where you tread
For the colors bled as they overflowed
Red, white and blue
Green, white and gold

So I had to leave from my country of birth
As for each child grown tall
Another lies in the earth
And for every rail we laid in the loam
There's a thousand miles of the long journey home

But as you ascend the ladder
Look out below where you tread
For the colors bled as they overflowed
Red, white and blue
Green, white and gold

Lost In The Stars lyrics - Elvis Costello

Before Lord God made the sea and the land
He held all the stars in the palm of his hand
And they ran through his fingers like grains of sand
And one little star fall alone

Then the Lord God hunted through the wild night air
For the little dark star in the wind down there
And he stated and promised he'd take special care
So it wouldn't get lost again

Now, man don't mind if the stars grow dim
And the clouds blow over and darken him
So long as the Lord God's watching over him
Keeping track how it all goes on

But I've been walking through the night and the day
Till my eyes get weary and my hair turns grey
And sometimes it seems maybe God's gone away
Forgetting the promise that we heard him say

And we're lost out here in the stars
Little stars, big stars
Blowing through the night

And we're lost out here in the stars
Little stars, big stars
Blowing through the night

And we're lost out here in the stars

Lovers That Never Were lyrics - Elvis Costello

I have always needed somebody, girl
But I close the doors to keep out the world
But for you
I would be here all alone
Locked in a photograph

All of the clocks have run down
Lover beware
We'll be the lovers that never were

I hang patiently on every word you send
Will we ever be much more than just friends?
As for you
You sit there playing this game
You keep me waiting

When all of the clocks have run down
All over the world
We'll be the lovers that never were

For as long as the sun shines
In somebody's eyes
I believe in you, baby
So don't tell me lies
For as long as the trees
Throw down blossoms and leaves
I know there will be
A parade of unpainted dreams

And I know, dear
How much it's going to hurt
If you still refuse to get your hands dirty
So you
You must tell me something...I love you
Say goodbye or anything

All of the clocks have run down
Time's at an end
If we can't be lovers we'll never be friends

For as long as the sun shines
In somebody's eyes
I believe in you, baby
So don't tell me lies
For as long as the trees
Throw down blossoms and leaves
I know there will be
A parade of unpainted dreams

Mischievous Ghost lyrics - Elvis Costello

She came dancing right before my eyes
She said she'd came to warn me
Before it dawned on me
I went walking on the blank hillside
Where the sunset falls
Where the sunset dies
She gave me love, she told me lies
That most mischievous ghost
She was in disguise, she was in disguise, she was in disguise.

He started to whistle, they bought him a flute
He was talking in tongues, they swore he was mute
He scoffed and blasphemed, they said it was beautiful
Busted a button, they bought him a suitcase full

They coloured him cricket and laced him up tight
As he drew on their days resurrected his nights
He raved in the dark, he went out in a blaze
"There you go," they said, "he's good for nothing and lazy"

With scandal and shame they slandered his name
They told him to freeze, they damned him to roast
Disappointed that he passed away peacefully
Never [trying/dying] to be a mischievous ghost

They dug him up quick with a polish and lick
They powdered him up till he only looked sick
The hinge in his backbone would bend to applause
But his dancing was not quite as lively of course

These are the rewards immortality affords
Bullied and bribed and beaten to bliss
[Harrington slacks/Harrods in slacks] and tormental laments
Of going away and not being missed

With scandal and shame they slandered his name
They told him to freeze, they damned him to roast
Disappointed that he passed away peacefully
Never dying to be a mischievous ghost

With the green beer and the shamrock tattoos
Singing his songs of the battles we lose
And [when/will] you come home again so we can murder you
What would you do if they took his word
With forty-eight million to join in the toast
Move over my darling
Mischievous ghost
Mischievous ghost

Miss Mary lyrics - Elvis Costello

Angels announce with trumpets
Crown you with jewels and stars
Hercules lives
Next door to Venus and Mars
Beside your pretty blue shoulder
something may trouble Jerome
Now that you're up with your friends
I know you'll never come home
Singing so babe, I know this song
Miss Mary I'm nothing without you
Everything I've done is wrong
Miss Mary I try not to doubt you

I walk in their brilliant parade
Banish the primitive gloom
Now I know where I can find you
Hung up in some Frenchman's room
Pitiful Magdalena for all to see
Must have been beautiful
So just show a little mercy to me

Hey babe, I sing this song
Miss Mary I'm nothing without you
Everything I've done is wrong
Miss Mary I try not to doubt you

There at the foot of your staircase
I stood to take in the scene
All the ashes of roses
The veined steps of marble
Purple, gold and green
Oh I wish you were my queen

They only want to possess you
Lock you away in a vault
Such a heavenly vision
And dress you up in blue
I guess it's not their fault

I know this song
Miss Mary I'm nothing without you
Everything I've done is wrong
Miss Mary I try not to doubt you

So babe, I sing this song
Miss Mary I'm nothing without you
Everything I've done is wrong
Miss Mary I try not to doubt you

Mistress And Maid lyrics - Elvis Costello

She said, "Come in, my dear,
You're looking tired tonight
Your bath is drawn, let me loosen your tie
And fix you your usual drink"

He settles back
Takes a magazine
Kicks off his shoes
As he studies the form
Of every appealing soubrette

But where are the flowers that he used to bring?
Every endearing remark
Reminds her of passionate promises
That he only made in the dark
In her bed

She wants to shout at the back of his head
Look at me, look at me, look at me
I'm afraid
See what it's come to
I'm just your mistress and maid

The wine is warm
But the dinner is cold
The look in his eye tells her it won't be long
Till the girls on the page come to life

And they'll get the flowers that he used to bring
With every endearing remark
And all of the passionate promises
He'll never fulfil in the dark
In their bed

She wants to shout at the back of his head
Look at me, look at me, now that I'm not afraid.
See what it's come to
I'm not your mistress and maid

See what it's come to
I'm not your mistress and maid

My Brave Face lyrics - Elvis Costello

My brave, my brave, my brave face

I've been living in style
Unaccustomed as I am
To the luxury life
I've been hitting the town
And it didn't hit back
I've been doing the rounds
Unaccustomed as I am
To the time on my hands
Now I don't have to tell anybody
When I'm gonna get back
Ever since you went away I've had the sentimental inclination not to change a single thing
As I pull the sheet back on the bed I want to go bury my head in your pillow

Now that I'm alone again
I can't stop breaking down again
The simplest things set me off again
Take me to that place
Where I can find my brave face
Where I can find my brave face
My brave, my brave, my brave face

I've been living a lie
Unaccustomed as I am
To the work of a housewife
I been breaking up dirty dishes
And been throwing them away
Ever since you left I have been trying to compose a "Baby, would you please come home" note meant for you
As I clear away another untouched TV dinner from the table I made for two

Now that I'm alone again
I can't stop breaking down again
The simplest things set me off again
Take me to that place
Where I can find my brave face
Where I can find my brave face
My brave, my brave, my brave face

My Dark Life lyrics - Elvis Costello

She says nobody wants to believe
You're the same as everyone.
What makes me unique? My Dark Life.
There was a kink in the world
Sent that statue tumbling
An invitation east
So we can watch it all crumbling

She came off like light and so softly she spoke:
"You don't know, no you don't know about my dark life"
And you think you're a guest, you're a tourist at best
Peering into the corners of your dark life
Now that you tear your dreams from consumptive ballerinas
She'd stand on tiptoes for you in a grey and tattered tutu
She stays where she is because of voyeurs like these
With an accusative look that says My Dark Life.

Robber men await you then in each beguiling alley
To shake you and to pierce you and remind you of
My Dark Life.

Enter the pious elite, in their preening finery
And bang the tambourine
They're dining on rice paper scenery
See how the villain attracts envious glances from everyone
She's waitressing by day
It doesn't bring in much money now

And his strong concealed arms set off bells and alarms
In the strangest locations of My Dark Life
But the fantasy slipped as he tipped her in cigarettes
She tries to smile very graciously when she wants to kill him
Now the victory is sweet, you'll get down on your knees
It's the perfect position for kissing western leather

So they came from Ugly Texas and from Nameless Tennessee
From Peculiar Missouri and from places closer to me.
All the cream of heartless England, cheered the carnival is over
There are remnants of red army bandsmen
Played "America The Beautiful"

My Mood Swings lyrics - Elvis Costello

She was smitten from the first
By a curious fellow
She said I love the way you talk
And with a a flounce she announces
I love the way that you pronounce it: "Marshmallow"

So she liked to sing along
To her favourite song
From the year that she was born
She had mysterious affairs [?]
And promptly work out what her age is [?]

[Chorus:]
So speak to me
Just like you should
And then you can say those wicked things
And if you want
We'll make it good
Before my mood swings

Well he looked like one of those
Who would take off his clothes
Like he would peel a tangerine
Don't ****** know what truly blind is [?]
Once you have found out what your sign is

[Chorus]

O, Mistress Mine lyrics - Elvis Costello

O, mistress mine
Where are you roaming?
O, stay and hear
Your true love's coming
That can save both high and low

Trip no further pretty sweeting
Journeys end in lovers meeting
Every wise man's son doth know

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Trip no further pretty sweeting
Journeys end in lovers meeting
Every wise man's son doth know

What is love?
'Tis not hereafter
Present mirth
Hath present laughter
What's to come is still unsure

In delay there lies no plenty
Then come kiss me sweet and twenty
It's a stuff will not endure

Oh Well lyrics - Elvis Costello

The ink is running
The words are taught
I'm sitting helpless with my paper and charts
I had to follow my passion
Oh well

I don't get paid that much for all I deserve
To waste a sentence or shatter my nerves

I had to follow my passion
Oh well

Sometimes I long to run outside
I'd give it all up but it's my pride
Oh well
Oh well

I had a dream once or so I thought
I'd be a pilot or an astronaut
I had a dream like that until I found
Even an astronaut goes into the ground

Life is just passing us bye-bye

Oh well
Oh well
Oh well

Party Party lyrics - Elvis Costello

We're gonna drink enough tonight to drown the average army
By New Year's Day the next door neighbour will be goin' barmy
The milkman arrives at midday with his usual wisecrack
Who knows a girl with Wednesday legs so when's they gonna snap?

[Chorus:]
Why does everybody have to be so hale and hearty
Can't they see we're tryin' to have a party party party party

The last thing I remember I was talkin' to some fellas
Then she said she'd have a word for me with her good-looking mate
And handed me a pint-pot filled with Advocaat and Tizer
And I woke in the flowerbeds of fear (beer?) and fertilizer

[Chorus]

So shift yourself and shake your bod
You got bullet proof insurance from fire, flood and Act of God
You got to learn from your mistakes
When you got a face like last week's Cornflakes

The doors and the window frames are by Pablo Picasso
The party decorations owned by Michelangelo
The fine music that you hear is by Stravinsky
With overall design by Leonardo daVinci

[Chorus]

So shift yourself and shake your bod
You got bullet proof insurance from fire, flood and Act of God
You got to learn from your mistakes
When you got a face like last week's Cornflakes

Two boys are upstairs in your bed
Three girls are downstairs crying
The Alka Seltzer in the glass is roaring like a lion
You think you've aged ten years tonight and still never been kissed
So you overdose on aftershave and try to slash your wrist

[Chorus and fade]

Passionate Fight lyrics - Elvis Costello

Obscure the late afternoon with a drape
Don't let him follow her latest escape
Or the fanfare of taxis that needlessly played
As a forty watt bulb burns a hole in the shade
Then they got into a passionate fight
Now she's lost in the shadows thrown over at twilight

At the Empire Hotel they first came face to face
Pieces would fall off all over the place
And there in the debris they'd laugh and recline
Tell me my dear are you more or less mine

Then they got into a passionate fight
She says now this isn't love it's what you do in spite of it
And I can't go on with it night after night after night
Camphor and cigarettes perfume the scandal
Now he's counting the hinges and watching the door handle
As he hangs the clothes on the back of the door
Perfectly matching outfits that she wore

Women come quietly and some remain with their pity
But others know the pain of the passion of fight
Though the chance they will win is impossibly slight
He cowers before them so invitingly
And in the long run they'll be chastised and hated
Or walk out frustrated or humiliated
That is the pointless delight of a passionate fight

This isn't love what you do in spite of it
I can't go on night after night after night after night after night after night...

Punishing Kiss lyrics - Elvis Costello

I favour a good punishing kiss
It helps pass the lonely afternoons
Another stiff drink
Wipe off that lipstick
For when you reach a certain age
All the most villainous men
Can be found on Channel Ten
And I make them dance
In attendance
We will be back
In a minute or two
And he will punish that girl
Oh I forget the reason
Just look at me I'm lost in a social whirl

She was never so witty
Always struggling to be full of fun
On weekdays from midday to one
In a little black cocktail dress everyone hates
She'll be saving the world in-between fashion plates
I know what she gets up to in the back of that black limousine
And I find myself shouting at the screen
I think that it's time to turn over
They say it's harmless I know
A hundred and ten percent certain virtually real
If you need something to feel

Then favour a good punishing kiss
It helps chase the wasted afternoons
The flowers and the pearls
The long lost relations
That love sick tom boy comes in bloom
All the pointless heartache
That seems to belong in my blue bloom

Can't stand the suspense
The endless embraces
When each episode
Lends the silly pretence
Say I can turn away
When I will never miss
It starts with a joke
And ends with a punishing kiss

Put Your Big Toe In The Milk Of Human Kindness lyrics - Elvis Costello

Put your big toe in the milk of human kindness
Have you ever seen the like of this mankind?
If a boy or girl is cute, we simply shoot to starry heights
Any maybe, any might
But always so capricious, in the face of wonder we're suspicious
And though we came from frogs and fishes
Our taste is far from fine
Put your big toe in the milk of human kindness

Put your big toe in the milk of human kindness
Have you ever seen the like of this mankind?
You take the Himalayas, you'll take Manhattan's finest mountain top
He wouldn't change his whiskey sour for any bitter crop

But always so contrary, from Father Christmas to the Virgin Mary
And though the moments of belief
Fly by before you find if you'd just unhand your mind
Put your big toe in the milk of human kindness

But always so contrary, from Father Christmas to the Virgin Mary
And though the moments of belief
Fly by before you find if you'd just unhand your mind
Put your big toe in the milk of human kindness

Shadow And Jimmy lyrics - Elvis Costello

Shadow and Jimmy were always yesterday's news
Jimmy's a bowler, Shadow rents out his green bowling shoes
Late Friday night when the bars are all shuttered and dark
He shadows back Jimmy to the lot in the lost trailer park
For shadow and Jimmy all the weekends end up the same
If it's Saturday night, then it must be the hockey game
After cold beer and barbecued ribs the night is complete
With wrestling stories and elegant bones
That are tired of walking and on their way home

[Chorus:]
And they talk about the women
And they look at the girls
They'll never know the ways of the world
They've got a mouthful of much obliged
And a handful of gimme
And the love for each other
Of Shadow and Jimmy

For Shadow and Jimmy now the story is told
There's nothing to hold on to and no one to hold
Men without women are like fish without
water to swim in
With their eyes bugging out
They flop on the beach
And look up at the girls
Who are just out of reach

She (Tous Les Visages De L'Amour) lyrics - Elvis Costello

(originally by Charles Aznavour)

She
May be the face I can't forget
A trace of pleasure or regret
May be my treasure or the price I have to pay
She may be the song that summer sings
May be the chill that autumn brings
May be a hundred different things
Within the measure of a day.

She
May be the beauty or the beast
May be the famine or the feast
May turn each day into a heaven or a hell
She may be the mirror of my dreams
A smile reflected in a stream
She may not be what she may seem
Inside her shell

She who always seems so happy in a crowd
Whose eyes can be so private and so proud
No one's allowed to see them when they cry
She may be the love that cannot hope to last
May come to me from shadows of the past
That I'll remember till the day I die

She
May be the reason I survive
The why and wherefore I'm alive
The one I'll care for through the rough and ready years
Me I'll take her laughter and her tears
And make them all my souvenirs
For where she goes I've got to be
The meaning of my life is

She, she, she

Soul For Hire (45 Alibis Version) lyrics - Elvis Costello

Hang my head and shut my eyes
What kind of justice is this?
Fool I was that thought that
You fight fire with fire
Got to be more than just a soul for hire
Speaking for myself I couldn't
Take the fame, the fees, the boredom
For whorin' in the practice of the law
I make my case, stop and stutter
Soul comes unglued from the uppers
Blood is seeping in the hole
A mother's eye is weeping

I see every human kind
And still the truth is distant
I hear every evil men do and desire
Got to be more than just a soul for hire

When it's time to give protection to
The ones who need it most
The good and desperate
I get distracted from my job
(Streams of vagrant piles of paper
One of the verdicts
Jump out of a window for no escape ?)
Blood is seeping in the hole
A mother's eye is weeping

Hang my head and shut my eyes
And still the truth is distant
I see every evil men do and desire
Got to be more than just a soul for hire

When it's time to give protection to
The ones who need it most
The good and desperate
I get distracted from my job
Streams of vagrant piles of paper
A hand to hold for the dopers and kiddie rapers
Corrupt in every twisted grudge
and that is just the judge

Hang my head and shut my eyes
I can't see justice twisted
Hang my head and shut my eyes
What kind of justice is this?
Hang my head and shut my eyes
What kind of justice is this?

Sparkling Day lyrics - Elvis Costello

Oh, it was such a sparkling day
That I should be singing its praises
Just to catch my senses as they slip away
But my sentences and phrases
Are about as worthless as wonder can be

And there are words that I could say
Perhaps I lack the sense of occasion
Seems that I’ve been looking down so long you see
That it seemed like up to me
I should be ashamed I’m sure you will agree

[Pre Chorus:]
So don’t go calling out for Jude or Anthony
Maybe I was lost
I’m a hopeless case
So that every night I listen carefully
But there is no message from me
No message from me

[Chorus:]
Sparkling day [x2]
Things I never said
Some things you never heard
Sparkling day [x2]
Now I wait in vain to see
That there was no message from me

When love is constant and content
You always fear some lingering temptation
Silhouettes escaping underneath locked doors
I’m astonished and amazed
Perhaps my message was erased.

[Pre Chorus:]
So don’t go calling out for Jude or Anthony
Maybe I was lost
I’m a hopeless case
So that every night I listen carefully
But there is no message from me
No message from me

[Chorus:]
Sparkling day [x2]
Things I never said
Some things you never heard
Sparkling day [x2]
Now I wait in vain to see
That there was no message from me

St. Stephen's Day Murders lyrics - Elvis Costello

I knew of two sisters whose name it was Christmas
And one was named Dawn of course, the other one was named Eve
I wonder if they grew up hating the season
Of the good will that lasts till the Feast of St. Stephen

For that is the time to eat, drink and be merry
'Til the beer is all spilled and the whiskey is flowed
And the whole family tree you neglected to bury
Are feeding their faces until they explode

[Chorus:]
There'll be laughter and tears over Tia Marias
Mixed up with that drink made from girders
And it's all we've got left as you draw your last breath
And it's nice for the kids as you've finally got rid of them
In the St Stephen's Day Murders

Uncle is garglin' a heart-breaking air
While the babe in his arms pulls out all that remains of his hair
And we're not drunk enough yet to dare criticize
The great big kipper tie he's about to baptize

His gin-flavoured whispers and kisses of sherry
His best crimble shirt flung out over the shop
While the lights from the Christmas tree blow up the telly
His face closes in like an old cold pork chop

[Alternate Chorus:]
And the carcass of the beast left over from the feast
May still be found haunting the kitchen
And there's life in it yet we may live to regret
When the ones that we poisoned stop twitchin'

[Regular Chorus Repeat]

Suspect My Tears lyrics - Elvis Costello

Do you remember how to say please?
You've had your own way for such a long time
Your lash is sweet now, I dry your cheek
You think I'm powerless when you weep
You may have something, I don't deny
You look too beautiful when you cry
If I seem unconcerned
Perhaps it's time you learned
I'll cry until you suspect my tears
I'll cry until you suspect my tears
You're not the only one who can turn it on
Where and when you need to

Do you remember how bad it felt?
Big eyes would fill up
That lip would tremble
You want to hurt me
Make me feel guilty
You always promise to lose control
I stole the trick that you used to play
I'm tired of you having it your own way
With the power to persuade
Beginning to cascade

That Day Is Done lyrics - Elvis Costello

I feel such sorrow, I feel such shame
I know I won't arrive on time
Before whatever out there is gone
What can I do, that day is done

It's just a promise that I made
I said I'd walk in her parade
Hot scalding tears I thought would flow
Still in my heart they'll never show

[Chorus:]
That day is done
That day is done
You know where I've gone I won't be coming back
That day is done

Well I recall the time and place
When they announced her precious face
I thought at once my heart would burst
Still every time is like the first

There was applause when she stepped up
I wished that I could interrupt
I made no sign, I made no sound
I know I must stay underground

[Chorus]

That's why she walks, or so they say
She always knew just what I needed
Now if she would just look my way
One time before they proceed

She sprinkles flowers in the dirt
That's when a thrill becomes a hurt
I know I'll never see her face
She walks away from my resting place

[Chorus]

The Bridge I Burned lyrics - Elvis Costello

I'm walking down Times Square in the Electric Daylight
The sailors on shore leave stand out in their perfect white.
I'm up here with my spying glass at the window up above
For better or for worse - it's a perverse universe, my love.
Now I know, I should have never walked over the bridge I burned
Now I know, somehow I don't feel so alone.

"And remember to free faraway from the unbridled, and the impudent,
the malicious, and the unlucky.
For these being full of bad demons or rays are maleficent,
and like lepers and people striken with plague,
they harm not only by touch but even by proximity and by sight." (Dig it!)
[Quote from Marsilio Ficino, Italian philosopher (1433-1499)]

You mutter underneath your breath - IT ECHOES ROUND THE WORLD
Everybody comes from nowhere.
There is hope, it loops up in the air

Now I know, I should have never walked over the bridge I burned
Now I know, somehow I don't feel so alone.

You said I used to be handsome if you screwed up your eyes
Professors and vampires drank up all the tears I cried.
Now there's a bird at my window, he feeds upon the pane (pain)
and sometimes he sings to me - a mocking bird in the twilight of infamy.

Now I know, I should have never walked over the bridge I burned
Now I know, somehow I don't feel so alone.
Now I know, I should have never walked over the bridge I burned
Now I know, they've burned one sinner and the others are sadly following
(set to follow?)

Now I know.
Now I know.
Now I know.

The Fall Of The World's Own Optimist lyrics - Elvis Costello

There's no charity in you
And that surprises me
I guess I thought you were a golden idol
'Cause I called you majesty
On the balustrade
You watched me hunt for tips I was obliged to pick up
From the passing trade

[Chorus:]
Hey, kids - look at this
It's the fall of the world's own optimist
I could get back up if you insist
But you'll have to ask politely
'Cause the eggshells I've been treading
Couldn't spare me a beheading
And I'll know I had it coming
From a Caesar who was only slumming
Hey, kids - look at this
It's the fall of the world's own optimist

Well, I could have objections
Which you could override
But what's the point - we're only flogging the horse
When the horseman has up and died
Once I testified
And swore I'd never leave a stone unturned -
I bet you're really glad that I lied

[Chorus]

Hey, kids - look at this
It's the fall of the world's own optimist
I could get back up if you insist
But you'll have to ask politely
Yes, you'll have to ask politely
Yes, you'll have to ask

The King Of The Unknown Sea lyrics - Elvis Costello

Beneath the turquoise pools and emerald jewels
There lie the broken spines of seven ships
The skulls of careless fools and coins of gold
Pour from the banks that proffer puckered lips

I am the king of all of you
The timid land
The unknown sea
And all that lies between

So then come away you frail of breath
You feeling tired of life
And scared of death
You stain the air with your half hearted wit
A few steps more will make an end of it

I am the king of all of you
The timid land
The unknown sea
And all that lies between

She'll wander on a strand of dying light
She'll wonder who may answer whispered prayers
The coral and the pearl that hold you tight
May grace the throat of those the ocean spares

The Night Before Larry Was Stretched lyrics - Elvis Costello

Oh, the night before Larry was stretched
Well the boys they all paid him a visit
A bit in their sacks too they fetched
For they sweated their duds till they rivered
For Larry was always the lad
When a boy was condemned to the Squeezer
Would fence all the duds that he had
For to help his poor friend to a sneezer -
- And warm his own god 'fore he died

Well the boys they came crowding in fast
And they threw all their stools 'round about him
Six glims round his trap-case was placed
For he couldn't be well-waked without them

When one of them asked, "Could he die
Without having duly repented?"
Said Larry, "That's all in the eye
And first by the clergy invented -
- For to get a fat lid for themselves"

Oh and Algie cut up like a pie:
"I may not from me buddy be parted."
"You're in the wrong box, then, says I,
For bless me if they're so hard-hearted

"A chalk on the back of your neck
Is all that Jack Catch does to give you
Then mind not such trifle's effect
Oh why should the likes of them grieve you? -
- And now boys, come tip us the deck."

Well the cards being called for they played
Until Larry found one of them cheated
? A godflew was napperly made ?
For the boy he being easily heated

"Oh, hold me the hokey, you thief!
I'll scuffle your knob with me dardle!
You cheat me because I'm in grief
Ah, but soon I'll be molish and muddle -
- And leave you your claret to drink"

Then the clergy came in with his boon
And he spoke him so smooth and so civil
Larry tipped him A Kilmaven wink
And he pitched his big wig to the devil

Then sighing he threw back his head
For to get a sweet drop of the bottle
And dutiful sighing he said,
"Oh the hemp 'twill be soon 'round me throttle -
- And choke me poor windpipe to death.

"Oh then sure it's the best way to die
? Oh the dead are the better the living ?
For now in the gallows is hiding
A journey that's surely to heaven."

But what harasses Larry the most
And makes his soul poor melancholy
Is he thinks of the time when his ghost
It will come in a sheet to Sweet Molly -
- "Oh sure, it'll kill her alive"

So moving, these last words he spoke
We all vented our tears in a shower
For me own part I thought me heart broke
For to see him cut down like a flower

On his travels we watched him next day
The throttler I thought I could kill him
But Larry not one word did say
Nor change did he come to King William -
- And mutter, "His color be White."

When he came to the old Dublin Shed
He was tucked up so neat and so pretty
? The rumbler jumped far from his feet ?
And he died with his face to the city

He came to, but that was all pride
For soon you might see 'twas all over
Soon after the noose was untied
In darkness we waked him in clover -
- And sent him to take his ground sweat

Oh, the night before Larry was stretched
Well the boys they all paid him a visit
A bit in their sacks too they fetched
For they sweated their duds till they rivered

For Larry was always the lad
When a boy was condemned to the Squeezer
Would fence all the duds that he had
For to help his poor friend to a sneezer -
- And warm his own god 'fore he died
- And warm his own god 'fore he died

The Unfailing Welcome To The Voice lyrics - Elvis Costello

Above the tears
Before the scream
Invisible and secret scar
The true salvation is the human voice

Beloved voices of the past
The forever stiffled voice

Tender echoes
Lost cause
Miserable voice
Whispering voice

Incantations
Immaterial instrument

Attentive mothers
Darkness lighting lullabies

Stare of silence
Cruel disease
The __ gag of hate

Unfailing welcome to the voice
Be welcome

Attractive red fruit of the mouth
Dangerous message on my skin

I feel so fluid
Lighter than air
Shy caress

A fleeting bride's veil on the throat
Forbidden kisses to drink
__ siren

Virtuous sound
Vocal pleasure
Pleasure vocal

It's the real way to be drunk
To desert the common place
Sacred (bluesy prophet?)

I'm a slave to the voice
Unfailing welcome to the voice
In every tone a poignant oath

Voices to pray to fly to escape
[harmonized]
The sublimation of the hopes

The sublimation of the hopes
Spiritual vehicle of thought
The voice (is boundless?)

I love the voice

Tommy's Coming Home lyrics - Elvis Costello

She was counting out the window of the outbound train
All the poles of the telegraph
And the rock-a-bye rhythm in the song of the rails
Couldn't make the sweeper laugh

Down down down so deep
Down down drowning in his sleep
Tommy's coming home again

And a hawk hovered high above a skinny jackrabbit
Pursued by a hungry fox
And a broker awoke her from a fitful slumber
Then consulted his shares and his stocks

Down down down they go
Down down how he'll never know
Tommy's coming home again
And it's almost April Fools' Day

As he glanced on his paper looking through the veil (?)
He could see she was really upset
As she tucked back the ribbon in a velvet box
As he offered her a cigarette

Down down down she took a drag
Now he's covered in a flag
Tommy's coming home again
And it's almost April Fools' Day

Almost April Fools' Day
And the joke's on everyone
He had that premonition
Only dead men dwell upon

But how could he know that only twelve months later
She would wear her skirt up over her knee
And in the very same carriage she'd be flattened with roses
And forget the tears of bigotry (?)

Down down down they flow
Now now now it just don't matter anymore
Tommy made it home again
When it was almost April Fools' Day

Almost April Fools' Day
And the joke's on everyone
He had that premonition
Only dead men dwell upon

Tommy's coming home again
Tommy's coming home again
Tommy's coming home

Twenty-Five Fingers lyrics - Elvis Costello

Twenty five fingers baby
I love your nails I love your touch
I love to touch you baby
It never fails to kill me

Some say gimme five
But I'll give you ten
You could make it twenty
But you're holding out again

Think it over think it over baby
Well think it over think it over baby

I will always love you
That can't be denied
Love you up until the day
That heaven knows I've tried

For the time being I will tell you this
I'd love to love you love to love you
But there's something missing
Baby listen unconditionally
Put your hand in my hand and surrender to me

Think it over think it over baby
Well think it over think it over baby

Twenty five fingers feel so divine
Twenty five fingers wish you were mine
Wish you were mine

Well so our hands met and twenty fingers entwined
I couldn't help I couldn't help but see
She didn't quite believe me
She said listen cause there's one little thing
Where did you get that lovely wedding ring

Think it over think it over baby
Well think it over think it over baby

Some things are forbidden
Never meant to be
Well that might be all right for you
But not for you and me

Twenty five fingers feel so divine
Twenty five fingers wish you were mine
Wish you were mine

Unwanted Number lyrics - Elvis Costello

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

What Do I Do Now? lyrics - Elvis Costello

Quickly she came dressed up for fame
Riding her perfume downstairs
Make-up like glue, she danced round the room
To the sound of her corduroy flares

Let's go to town, taxis all round
We could stop for a couple of beers
He looks at it all stifles a yawn
She tries not to look like she cares

[Chorus:]
What do I do now? Are we going under?
What did I do wrong?
I thought we had it sorted out the other day
Maybe I'm just stupid
Can't we try again?
No one told me it was raining (raining, raining)

Can't face a club, they walk to a nearby pub
Watch a couple of bands
Draining the glass they walk home at last
Reaching for each others hands

Nothing is said he goes to bed
Dreaming of her on his own
She stays up all week, watching him sleep
Scared that she'll wake up alone

[Chorus]

Oh I'll miss you every day of your life
Oh you'll feel it too, you're not that strong
You know I'm on to you
Oh I'll miss you every day of your life
Maybe when you're dead
I'll get some rest from holding onto you (holding onto you)

What do I do now? Are we going under?
What did I do wrong?
Thought we had it sorted
Is there someone else? Am I too familiar?
Was it when I said I wanted to have children?

Tore up all your photos, didn't feel too clever
Spent the whole of Sunday sticking you together
Now I'd like to call but I feel too awkward
Some things need explaining
No one told me it was raining (raining, raining...)

When That I Was And A Little Tiny Boy lyrics - Elvis Costello

When that I was and a little tiny boy
With a Hey-ho
The wind and the rain
A foolish thing was but a toy
For the rain it raineth
Every day
But when I came to man's estate
With a Hey-ho
The wind and the rain
'Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gate
For the rain it raineth
Every day

But when I came alas to wife
With a Hey-ho
The wind and the rain
By swaggering I could never fright
For the rain it raineth
Every day

But when I came unto my bed
With a Hey-ho
The wind and the rain
With tosspots still a drunken head
For the rain it raineth
Every day

A great while ago the world began
With a Hey-ho
The wind and the rain
But that's all one our play is done
And we'll strive to please you
Every day