Elvis Costello

"Playboy To A Man"

"Playboy To A Man"


You had your own way one too many times and now
you're going to find out what it's like
Just what it's like, now you're a mess
You wanted something you could never possess
You went your own way one too many nights
You treated her like some small oversight
What in the world makes her think that she can
Turn you from a playboy into a man

[Chorus:]
She's going to make you suffer tonight
To turn you from a playboy into a man
And when you're worthy of her then she might
Turn you from a playboy into a man

You thought you were the answer to her prayers
the perfect gift that every girl prefers
But that's the trouble 'cos every girl still thinks you're hers
So there you are with your gold chains jangling
Your lucky charms and jewelry dangling
But when she saw you she turned and ran
To turn you from a playboy into a man

[Chorus]

You couldn't see that the juvenile things you do
Would drag you down and now that the joke's on you
You're pretty cold you end as you start
When your facade isn't falling apart
So now you're standing in your underwear
Well now you know just how it feels for her
You're halfway there you know that she can turn you from a
playboy into a man

[Chorus]
 
"Please Stay"

"Please Stay"



If I got on my knees and I pleaded with you
Not to go but to stay in my arms
Would you walk out the door
Like you did once before
This time be different
Please stay don't go

If I call out your name like a prayer
Would you leave me alone with my tears
Knowing I need you so
Would you still turn and go
This time be different in some way
Don't go please stay

You took me away from the rest of the world
When you taught me to love you like this
Now I hang my head when I think how you lied
But I still can be saved by your kiss

I loved you before I even knew your name
I wanted to give you my heart
But when you came back after leaving me one time
Oh I knew, yes I knew that the heartaches would start

If I told you my life was a song
That was written for you, you alone
Would you hurt all my pride
Oh, till I cry this time be different
Please stay
Oh, this time be different in some way
Don't go please stay
 
"Poison Moon"

"Poison Moon"



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
 
"Poisoned Rose"

"Poisoned Rose"



The poisoned rose
That you gave to me
It left me half alive
And half in ecstasy
But if half of your love
Is all I can win
Give me just a fraction
But no more medicine

The poisoned rose
On a Valentine card
That you take straight to the heart
That you call my junkyard

But if all I can do
is save pieces of you
The piece of your mind
The piece of your heart

Didn't tear me apart
Like the poisoned rose
I received from you

I don't know
How we came to grow
Into this very sad affair
Everytime we do the decent thing
Somebody spikes the drink
And a single becomes a pair

The poisoned rose
That you wear at your best
That I keep pressed between the white sheets
Where you lie half undressed

I threw away my shirt and shoes
You looked and I dived in
It's just you and me now
'Cause I threw away the gin
I threw away your alibis
And all your worn-out clothes
I threw myself upon the floor
But I couldn't throw away
This poisoned rose
This poisoned rose
This poisoned rose
 
"Pony Street"

"Pony Street"


She lives on Pony Street
And they should scatter flowers at her feet
But when they come calling I think it's appalling
They're sober and they're polite
They're deeply respectful when I would expect them
To keep her out all night
That little martinet
Will get her own way yet
If you need instruction in mindless destruction
I'll show you a thing or two
You used to adore me but now my life flashes before me
For you to view

Oh mother, oh mother, sometimes you are so mortifying
From the hole in your leopard skin tights I can tell you've been spying
But your generation confesses before it transgresses
Those Super-8 movies of daddy in your disco dresses

If you're going out tonight
I won't wait up
Reading "Das Kapital"
Watching "Home Shopping Club"
While you're flogging a dead horse
All the way down Pony Street
Where you live after a fashion
All the way down Pony Street
The life and the soul of every indiscretion
That lives on, that lives on, that lives on
Pony Street

Daughter, oh daughter, you know I will love you forever
But spare me the white ankle socks with the lace and the leather
For you and your cartoon threat do no good to resist me
For I am the genuine thing but for you it's just history

If you're going out tonight
How can you be sure
Where you lay your pretty head
Mother may have been before
So you're flogging a dead horse
All the way down Pony Street
Where you live after a fashion
All the way down Pony Street
The life and the soul of every indiscretion
That lives on [5x]
She lives on Pony Street [2x]
She lives on, she lives on [2x]
 
"Poor Fractured Atlas"

"Poor Fractured Atlas"


He's out in the woods with his squirrel gun
To try to recapture his anger
He's screaming some words at the top of his lungs
Until he begins to feel younger
But back at his desk in the city we find
Our trembling punch-drunken fighter
Who can't find the strength now to punish the length
Of the ribbon in his little typewriter

[Chorus:]
Poor Fractured Atlas
Threw himself across the mattress
Waving his withering pencil
As if it were a pirate's cutlass
I'm almost certain he's trying to increase his burden
He said "That's how the child in me planned it;
A woman wouldn't understand it"

I believe there was something that I wanted to say
Before I conclude this epistle
But you would forgive me for holding my tongue
'Cause man made the blade and the pistol
Yes man made the waterfall over the dam
To temper his tantrum with magic
Now you can't be sure of that tent of azure
Since he punched a hole in the fabric

[Chorus]

A woman wouldn't understand it
A woman wouldn't understand it
 
"Poor Napoleon"

"Poor Napoleon"



I can't lie on this bed anymore it burns my skin
You can take the truthful things you've said to me
And put them on the head of a pin
Poor Napoleon

You always look so disappointed when I take my stockings off
Don't you know the facts of life, boy
Don't you know what these things cost
She was selling stolen kisses to travelling salesmen and minstrel singers
You put a penny in the slot
She called you her Magic Fingers

Poor Napoleon

I bet she isn't all that's advertised
I bet that isn't all she fakes
Just like that place where they take your spine
And turn it into soapflakes

so good night little school boy, you'd better learn some self control
did you mess up your hairstyle, pour scorn in your begging bowl

Bare wires from the socket to the bed where you embraced that girl
Did you ever think there's far too many people in the world?
One day they'll probably make a movie out of all of this
There won't even have to be a murder just a slow dissolving kiss
 
"Possession"

"Possession"



If there's anything that you want
If there's anything that you need
There's no need to be evasive
Money talks and it's persuasive
Possession
Now you're sending me your best wishes
Signed with love and vicious kisses
You lack lust, you're so lacklustre
Is that all the strength you can muster
Possession

Even when we are out of touch
Now I know that I've seen too much
Seen too much

So I see us lying back to back
My case is closed my case is packed
I'll get out before the violence
Or the tears or the silence
Possession
 
"Pouring Water On A Drowning Man"

"Pouring Water On A Drowning Man"



You push me when I'm falling
And then you put me down
I guess I missed my calling
I should have been a clown
How much more
How much more can I stand
You're pouring water
On a drowning man

You put me on the right track
And then you put me down
You stab me in the back
Everytime I turn around

Criticize my lovin'
When I'm doing the very best I can
You're pouring water
On a drowning man
You're pouring water
On a drowning man
You treat me like
The fool that I am
You bet that I like everything you do
Put salt in my wounds
It's sad but it's true

You warm me with your kisses
Then you leave me in the cold
How can I know your wishes
When I've never been told
Won't you please forgive me
Just try and understand
You're pouring water
On a drowning man

You're pouring water
On a drowning man
You treat me like
The fool that I am
You bet that I like everything you do
Put salt in my wounds
It's sad but it's true

You warm me with your kisses
Then you leave me in the cold
How can I know your wishes
When I've never been told
Won't you please forgive me
Just try and understand
You're pouring water
On a poor drowning man

I got tears in my eyes
Oh, I'm a drowning man
I got tears in my eyes
You're pouring water
On a drowing man
You're pouring water
On a poor drowning man
 
"Pretty Words"

"Pretty Words"


I ask you nicely
Get my face slapped under wraps
What's going on precisely
Is there something wrong perhaps?

Surprise, surprise (surprise, surprise)
It's more like a booby trap than a booby prize

Civil disobedience from a soldier with a dirty rifle
You're loosening all the screws that hold the hinges of my life

Fat cats and army brats
Hep cats and dog tags pawing over girly mags

[Chorus:]
Pretty words don't mean much anymore
I don't mean to be mean much anymore
All I see are snapshots, big shots, tender spots
(1) mug shots, machine slots
(2) machine slots, mug shots
Till you don't know what's what
You don't know what you got

Curious women running after curious men
Curiosity didn't kill the cat
It was a poisoned pen
But there's not much choice (it's Hobson's choice)
Between a cruel mouth and a jealous voice

Got back to London
Picked a paper from the mat
No words of consolation
Just cartoons and chitter chatter
Well well, fancy that
Millions murdered for a kiss me quick hat
No backbone, blood and guts
Better keep your big mouth shut

[Chorus]
 
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