Elvis Costello and The Attractions - Let Them All Talk (1983)

Elvis Costello and The Attractions
"Let Them All Talk"
Album: Punch the Clock (1983 F-Beat)

SINGLE:



LYRICS:

Hear what I say
See what I do
Believe me now I'm all over you
All over you
I know a place
A CERTAIN VERY TENDER SPOT
TO HAVE AND TO HOLD
TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT
Listening to the sad song that the radio plays
Have we come this fa-fa-fa to find a soul cliche
Let them talk
Let them talk
Let them all talk
Oh yeah we're killing time
Just to KEEP YOU CLOCKING ON
These are the best years of your life

Now they're here and gone
Do the world a service
And you could do yourself a favour
WHOSE TONGUE NOW IS TASTING LAST WEEK'S FLAVOUR
Our day will come
When you have squandered all your youth
To have and to hold
A stranger to the truth
Listening to the sad song that the radio plays
Have we come this fa-fa-fa to find a soul cliche
Let them talk


ALBUM:

Elvis Costello - So Like Candy (1991)

Elvis Costello
"So Like Candy"
Album: Mighty Like a Rose (1991 Warner Bros)

SINGLE:


LYRICS:

Here lies the powder and perfume
The pretty clothes are scattered 'round the room
And it's so like Candy
Here lies the lipstick and the face
The coloured tablets keep it all in place
And it's so like Candy
So like Candy

[Chorus:]
What did I do to make her go
Why must she be the one
That I have to love
So like Candy

Here lies a picture of a girl
Her arms are tight around that lucky guy
And it's so like Candy

And in her eyes a certain look
I thought I'd seen the last of long ago
And it's so like Candy
So like Candy

[Chorus]

I remember the day that picture was taken
We were so happy then
But that's so like Candy
She seemed so sweet to me I was mistaken
Oh no not that again
But that's so like Candy
She just can't face the day
So she turns and melts away

Here lie the records that she scratched
And on the sleeve I find a note attached
And it's so like Candy
"My Darling Dear it's such a waste"
She couldn't say "goodbye", but "I admire your taste"
And it's so like Candy
So like Candy

ALBUM:

Elvis Costello - Alison (1977) Live

Elvis Costello
"Alison"
Album: My Aim is True (1977 Stiff Records)

SINGLE:



LYRICS:

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 your 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 (repeat until it fades out)

ALBUM:

Elvis Costello & The Brodsky Quartet - Jacksons, Monk & Rowe (1993) TV Live

Elvis Costello & The Brodsky Quartet
"Jacksons, Monk & Rowe"
Album: The Juliet Letters (1993 Warner Bros)

EXCERPTS FROM THE JULIET LETTERS:



LYRICS:

Sisters 4 and Brothers 3
Hanging off the family tree
Practising for getting old
Do you want your fortune told
They're looking for you high and low
Now there's nowhere for you to go
So you'll just have to come out and face the music
Jacksons, Monk and Rowe

Long ago when we were kids and we cut your hair to bits
As we carried off like spoils the heads we'd smash right off
your dolls
But the wind is changing you know
Are you sure of your friends and your foe
Have you got what it takes to carry it off
Jacksons, Monk and Rowe

As the sun beats down and life begins to complicate
Will we both incinerate
If we touch that brass name-plate

Messrs. All, noble Sirs
Highly paid solicitors
Find enclosed my signed divorce
Sad proceedings you endorse
The burden of pity will show
In the people we used to know
Have you got enough strength to carry it off
Jacksons, Monk and Rowe

ALBUM:

Elvis Costello - (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding (1979)

Elvis Costello
"(What's So Funny 'Bout)Peace, Love & Understanding" (Nick Lowe)
Included only at the American release of the album Armed Forces.
Album: Armed Forces (1979 Columbia US)

ALBUM:




LYRICS:

As I walk through
This wicked world
Searchin’ for light in the darkness of insanity

I ask myself
Is all hope lost?
Is there only pain and hatred, and misery?

And each time I feel like this inside,
There’s one thing I wanna know:
What’s so funny ’bout peace love & understanding? ohhhh
What’s so funny ’bout peace love & understanding?

And as I walked on
Through troubled times
My spirit gets so downhearted sometimes
So where are the strong
And who are the trusted?
And where is the harmony?
Sweet harmony

’cause each time I feel it slippin’ away, just makes me wanna cry
What’s so funny ’bout peace love & understanding? ohhhh
What’s so funny ’bout peace love & understanding?


So where are the strong?
And who are the trusted?
And where is the harmony?
Sweet harmony

’cause each time I feel it slippin’ away, just makes me wanna cry
What’s so funny ’bout peace love & understanding? ohhhh
What’s so funny ’bout peace love & understanding? ohhhh
What’s so funny ’bout peace love & understanding?

Elvis Costello & The Attractions - I Wanna Be Loved (1984)

Elvis Costello & The Attractions
"I Wanna Be Loved"
Album: Goodbye Cruel World (1984 F-Beat / Columbia)

SINGLE:



LYRICS:

Why must I be so lonely?
When so many people pass me by
I've been waiting for oh so long now
And yet I'm unable to answer why
I can't be made to give up now
Can you find room for me
in your heart somehow?
I wanna be loved
I just wanna be loved
I guess I'm a victim of loneliness
But why should this be my destiny?
A foolish man for a lot of my life
Shouldn't there be someone
Someone for me?
I hope and I pray some happy day
That I'll be around to hear you say
I wanna be loved
I just wanna be loved

ALBUM:

The Imposter (Elvis Costello) - Pills and Soap (1983) TV Live 1983

The Imposter / Elvis Costello
"Pills and Soap"
Album: Punch the Clock (1983 F-Beat)

SINGLE:



LYRICS:

They talked to the sister, the father and the mother
With a microphone in one hand and a chequebook in the other
AND THE CAMERA NOSES IN TO THE TEARS ON HER FACE
The tears on her face
The tears on her face
You can put them back together with your paper and paste
But you can't put them back together
You can't put them back together
What would you say?
What would you do?
Children and animals two by two
Give me the needle
Give me the rope
We're going to melt them down for PILLS AND SOAP
Give me the needle
Give me the rope
We're going to melt them down for pills and soap

Four and twenty crowbars, jemmy your desire
Out of the frying pan into the fire
The king is in the counting house
Some folk have all the luck
And all we get are pictures of LORD AND LADY MUCK
They come from lovely people with a hard line in hypocrisy
THERE ARE ASHTRAYS OF EMOTION FOR THE FAG ENDS OF THE ARISTOCRACY

The sugar coated pill is getting bitterer still
YOU THINK YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU BUT YOU KNOW IT NEVER WILL
So pack up your troubles in a stolen handbag
DON'T DILLY DALLY BOYS RALLY ROUND THE FLAG
Give us your daily bread in individual slices
And something in the daily rag to cancel any crisis

ALBUM:

Elvis Costello - New Amsterdam (1980)

Elvis Costello
"New Amsterdam"
Album: Get Happy!! (1980 F-Beat Records)

SINGLE:





LYRICS:

You're sending me tulips mistaken for lilies
You give me your lip after punching me silly
You turned my head till it rolled down the brain drain
If I had any sense now I wouldn't want it back again

[Chorus:]
New Amsterdam it's become much too much
Till I have the possession of everything she touches
Till I step on the brakes to get out of her clutches
Till I speak double dutch to a real double duchess

Down on the mainspring, listen to the tick tock
Clock all the faces that move in on your block
Twice shy and dog tired because you've been bitten
Everything you say now sounds like it was ghost-written

[Chorus]

Back in London they'll take you to heart after a little while
Though I look right at home I still feel like an exile

Somehow I found myself down at the dockside
Thinking of the old days of Liverpool and Rotherhide
The transparent people who live on the other side
Living a life that is almost like suicide

[Chorus]

ALBUM:

Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach - Toledo (1998) Live

Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach
"Toledo"
Album: Painted from Memory (1998 Mercury)


SINGLE:





LYRICS:


All through the night you telephoned
I saw the light blinking red
Beside the cradle
But you don't know how far I've gone
Now I must live with the lie
That I made
But if I call, I know I won't have to say it
You'll hear my voice - something is bound to betray it

But do people living in Toledo
Know that their name hasn't travelled very well?
And does anybody in Ohio
Dream of that Spanish citadel?
But it's no use saying that I love you
And how that girl really didn't mean a thing to me
For if anyone should look into your eyes
It's not forgiveness that they're gonna see

You hear her voice - "How could you do that?"
You hear her voice - "How could you do that?"

So I walked outside in the bright
Sunshine and lovers pass by
Smiling and joking
But they don't know the fool I was
Why should they care what was lost
What was broken?

But if I call, I know I won't have to say it
You'll hear my voice - something is bound to betray it

But do people living in Toledo
Know that their name hasn't travelled very well?
And does anybody in Ohio
Dream of that Spanish citadel?
But it's no use saying that I love you
And how that girl really didn't mean a thing to me
For if anyone should look into your eyes
It's not forgiveness that they're gonna see

But do people living in Toledo
Know that their name hasn't travelled very well?
And does anybody in Ohio
Dream of that Spanish citadel?
But we still have Florence, Alabama
We don't have Paris, and we don't have Rome


ALBUM:

Elvis Costello & The Attractions - The Only Flame In Town (1984)

Elvis Costello & The Attractions
"The Only Flame in Town"
Album: Goodbye Cruel World (1984 F-Beat)

SINGLE



LYRICS:


I know a girl got my mind in a mess
I never heard her say goodnight and God bless
She's not the only flame in town
And when we're alone we never quarrel
I'm miles away now here's the moral
She's not the only flame in town

She's not the only flame in town
She's got to stop thinking that I'm
carrying this torch around

He struck a match and it lit up her face
We should have struck a match girl
To burn down the whole place
Now you're not the only flame in town

But you blew hot and cold
Turned my heart to a cinder
And with each passing day
You'd be less tender and more tinder
Now you're not the only flame in town

She's not the only flame in town
She's got to stop thinking that I'm
carrying this torch around

Thought I saw your face in the fire
But it's so hard to remember
Even an inferno can cool down to an ember
Now you're not the only flame
You're not the only flameYou're not the only flame in town


ALBUM:

Elvis Costello-Man out of time (1982)

Elvis Costello 

"Man Out of Time"

Album: Imperial Bedroom (1982 F-Beat)

SINGLE

LYRICS:

So this is where he came to hide

When he ran from you
In a private detective's overcoat
And dirty dead man's shoes

The pretty things of Knightsbridge
Lying for a minister of state
Are a far cry from the nod and wink
Here at traitor's gate

'Cause the high heel he used to be has been ground down
And he listens for the footsteps that would follow him around

[Chorus:]
To murder my love is crime
But will you still love
A man out of time

There's a tuppeny hapenny millionaire
Looking for a fourpenny one
With a tight grip on the short hairs
Of the public imagination

But for his private wife and kids somehow
Real life becomes a rumour
Days of dutch courage
Just three French letters and a German sense of humour

He's got a mind like a sewer and a heart like a fridge
He stands to be insulted and he pays for the privilege

[Chorus]

The biggest wheels of industry
Retire sharp and short
And the after dinner overtures
Are nothing but an after thought
Somebody's creeping in the kitchen
There's a reputation to be made
Whose nerves are always on a knife's edge
Who's up late polishing the blade

Love is always scarpering or cowering or fawning
You drink yourself insensitive and hate yourself in the morning

[Chorus]

ALBUM:

Elvis Costello - Everyday I write the book (1983)

Elvis Costello

"Everyday I Write the Book

Album: Punch the Clock (1983 F-BEAT)

SINGLE:

LYRICS:

Don't tell me you don't know what love is
When you're old enough to know better
WHEN YOU FIND STRANGE HANDS IN YOUR SWEATER
When your dreamboat turns out to be a footnote
I'm a man with a mission in two or three editions
And I'm giving you a longing look
Everyday, everyday, everyday I write the book

Chapter One we didn't really get along
Chapter Two I think I fell in love with you
You said you'd stand by me in the middle of Chapter Three
But you were up to your old tricks in Chapters Four, Five and Six

The way you walk
The way you talk, and try to kiss me, and laugh
In four or five paragraphs
All your compliments and your cutting remarks
Are captured here in my quotation marks

Don't tell me you don't know the difference
Between a lover and a fighter
With my pen and my electric typewriter
Even in a perfect world where everyone was equal
I'd still own the film rights and be working on the sequel

ALBUM:

Elvis Costello - Veronica (1989)

Elvis Costello
"Veronica"
Album: Spike (1989 Warner)


SINGLE:





LYRICS:


Is it all in that pretty little head of yours?
What goes on in that place in the dark?
Well I used to know a girl and I would have
sworn that her name was Veronica
Well she used to have a carefree mind of her
own and a delicate look in her eye
These days I'm afraid she's not even sure if her
name is Veronica

[Chorus:]
Do you suppose, that waiting hands on eyes,
Veronica has gone to hide?
And all the time she laughs at those who shout
her name and steal her clothes
Veronica
Veronica

Did the days drag by? Did the favours wane?
Did he roam down the town all the time?
Will you wake from your dream, with a wolf at
the door, reaching out for Veronica
Well it was all of sixty-five years ago
When the world was the street where she lived
And a young man sailed on a ship in the sea
With a picture of Veronica

On the "Empress of India"
And as she closed her eyes upon the world and
picked upon the bones of last week's news
She spoke his name outloud again

[Chorus]

Veronica sits in her favourite chair and she sits
very quiet and still
And they call her a name that they never get
right and if they don't then nobody else will
But she used to have a carefree mind of her
own, with devilish look in her eye
Saying "You can call me anything you like, but
my name is Veronica"

[Chorus]


ALBUM:

Elvis Costello - I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down (1980)

Elvis Costello
"I Can`t Stand Up For Falling Down"
Album: Get Happy!! (1980 F-BEAT)


SINGLE:





LYRICS:


I'm the living result
I'm a man who's been hurt a little too much
and I've tasted the bitterness of my own tears
sadness is all my lonely heart can feel

I can't stand up for falling down
I can't stand up for falling down

simple though love is
still it confused me
why I'm not loved the way I should be
now I've lived with heartaches
and I've roomed with fear
I've dealt with despair
and I've wrestled with tears

I can't stand up for falling down
I can't stand up for falling down

the vow that we made
you broke it in two
but that don't stop me from loving you

I can't stand up for falling down
I can't stand up for falling down


ALBUM:

Elvis Costello - Oliver's Army (1979)

Elvis Costello
"Oliver's Army"
Album: Armed Forces (1979 Radar)


SINGLE:





LYRICS:


Don't start me talking
I could talk all night
My mind goes sleepwalking
While I'm putting the world to right
Called careers information
Have you got yourself an occupation?

[Chorus:]
Oliver's army is here to stay
Oliver's army are on their way
And I would rather be anywhere else
But here today

There was a checkpoint Charlie
He didn't crack a smile
But it's no laughing party
When you've been on the murder mile

Only takes one itchy trigger
One more widow, one less white nigger

[Chorus]

Hong Kong is up for grabs
London is full of Arabs
We could be in Palestine
Overrun by a Chinese line
With the boys from the Mersey and the Thames and the Tyne

But there's no danger
It's a professional career
Though it could be arranged
With just a word in Mr. Churchill's ear

If you're out of luck or out of work
We could send you to Johannesburg

[Chorus]


ALBUM: