Elvis Costello

[fox69]

"Different Finger"

"Different Finger"



Please put your rings on a diff'rent finger if you meet me tonight
'Cause I can't stand those suspicious glances
'Cause I know the things they're saying are right
They're saying why don't you straighten up
And see what you've got to lose
Put it all down to fate but you still got the chance to choose

I don't want to hear your whole life story
Or about my strange resemblance to some old flame
All I want is one night of glory
I don't even know your second name

Please put your rings on a diff'rent finger 'cause we've got so much at stake
I can't stand those suspicious glances
'Cause they seem to cover ev'ry move I make

But if I can be alone with you completely tonight
Put your rings on a diff'rent finger
Before I turn out the light

 

[fox69]

"Dirty Rotten Shame"

"Dirty Rotten Shame"



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

 

[fox69]

"Dissolve"

"Dissolve"



Sugar cube drop into a yellow cup
What makes the world just waking up
Revolve?
Dissolve
Who know where on earth it's going to stop?
I can't hear you 'cos we're breaking up
Dissolve

And the stones in the track make work for the mechanic
The birds all fly from the branches in a panic
And a back-fire echoes down the hillside
As the last headline report dies
Dissolve

Ice is melting a the distant Pole
The gin and tonic glasses overflow
Dissolve
The precious little else that I could say
Your stupid tear of laughter washed away
Dissolve

While the poisonous light pours from the picture palace
And it flickers on, tries so hard to be scandalous
A child keeps beating on a toy drum
And the tablets dropped on your tongue
Dissolve

"So salute me in moving frame"
"I might not be there when you look again"
The mourning border card behind the clock
The hour that he passed, unwound and stopped
Dissolve

 

[fox69]

"Distorted Angel"

"Distorted Angel"



Strange things seem to occur, somewhere behind the nursery door
Though I was just a bit of a kid, it was the bit that she was looking for
Now I don't know where to begin confessing
The way she's making me feel it can't be a sin
I was taught to believe you were looking down on everyone
And your benevolent face is beautiful to gaze upon
Now I just don't know who to tell to go to hell
Who put the old devil in the distorted angel?

Distorted Angel
Pure illuminated sweetness
Frightening small children is just about your only weakness
I thought that you would tell me what I'm living for
But I can't see you anymore

I don't know what we did but I'm sorry if it made you cry
And if there's any justice at all I'd be punished for it I'd surmise
It will mark the spot very well where I fell
Under the shadow of the distorted angel
Beneath the shadow of the distorted angel
Below the shadow of the distorted angel
Angel
Beneath the shadow of the distorted angel
Below the shadow of the distorted angel
Angel

 

[fox69]

"Don't Be Careless Love"

"Don't Be Careless Love"



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

 

[fox69]

"Down Among The Wine And Spirits"

"Down Among The Wine And Spirits"



Down among the wines and spirits
Where a man gets what he merits...
Once it was written in letters 'bout nine feet tall
Now he sees how far he's fallen
Since he set his mind on her completely

But then I guess that you couldn't have seen him lately
Walking around with a pain that just never ceases
He starts to speak and then he goes to pieces...
Down among the wines and spirits
Where a man gets what he merits...
Lives with the echoing words of their final quarrel
The vacant chamber
The empty barrel

But as he picks himself up from a sawdust floor
Clicks his fingers to that swinging door
Suddenly he's calling out, "More, more, more..."
"I'm twice the foolish man I was before..."
Down among the wines and spirits
Bubbles escaping from him at the rim a glass of grape
She sails through his memory just like a ship of shapely
And then as it started sink he drowns his sorrows
That fill his nights and empty tomorrows

But as he picks himself up from a sawdust floor
Clicks his fingers to that swinging door
Suddenly he's calling out, "More, more, more..."
Speaks of invisible things he hardly credits
Down among
Down among the wines and spirits

 

[fox69]

"Dr. Luther's Assistant"

"Dr. Luther's Assistant"



Everything seems so tranquil
Home movies with no subtitles
Don't you wish you knew what they were sayin'
When the film keeps playin', playin' ?
Oh, he's Doctor Luther's assistant
He'll close in when he seems so distant
Doctor Luther's assistant
He'll get on top of you when you lower your resistance

Some say he is just a lackey
Changing words while the ink is still tacky
He's absolutely indispensable
He keeps the other boys in suspense

Oh, he's Doctor Luther's assistant
He'll close in when he seems so distant
Doctor Luther's assistant
He'll get on top of you when you lower your resistance

Luther is locked in a broken-down cinema
Watches his wife with his video camera
Sees his best boy makin' her grin
Out of the kitchen, she's gone with the wind

Oh, Doctor Luther's assistant
He'll close in, when he seems so distant
Doctor Luther's assistant
He'll get on top of you when you lower your resistance

 

[fox69]

"Dr. Watson, I Presume"

"Dr. Watson, I Presume"



I sat in a motel room with the doctor
Just before we were supposed to sing
He said regarding this guardian wing
This black and clipped misshapen thing
Hobbling on from claw to ring
Hung upside down and cawing
Pecking at carrion of the fallen
Battalion
Thawing
On frozen mooring

Blackbird in a crust no more
They fell down 4 and 20
Bloodstained the land of want and plenty
Now raven standing at his shoulder
Stared with eyes of molten solder

Dripping on a lacquer box
Introducing keys to locks
Seven talents there where hidden
Mysterious and some forbidden

Take the honey from the comb
Ravel thread around the loom
Dig the dirt up from the tomb
Dr. Watson, I presume

One will follow
Two unknown sorrow
Three for laughter
Four ever after
Five-foot flood when the waters hit
Six feet deep, the eternal pit

Seven prayers and seven pleas
To eight imagined deities
Cat o' nine tails
Cat of nine lives
Brides turned into old wives tales
Your complexion colours then it pales
And into the sunset it sails

Soon these secrets will be scattered
Heaven knows what lies inside
It took a moment to discover
A lifetime to decide

Take the honey from the comb
Ravel thread around the loom
Dig the dirt up from the tomb
Dr. Watson, I presume

 

[fox69]

"Drum & Bone"

"Drum & Bone"



Maybe we're nothing but skin and bone
Blare and rubber
Eyes that blubber
Teeth that bite
Hands that slight

And I'm trying to do the best I can
But I'm a limited, primitive kind of man

Maybe we're nothing but skin and bone
Nerves that shatter
Tongues that flatter
Lips that mutter
Lashes that flutter

Mounds of dust and lips of ripe
Twice as vicious
As the words I type
Under a ribbon
Of every stripe

There's a grip that tightens
A dark that frightens
A wise that crackles
A fear that shackles

And I'm trying to do the best I can
But I'm a limited, primitive kind of man

And then that kinder creation
Becomes a fine fixation
All of a sudden
With the parts we've hidden
Because they are forbidden

Beneath a hide of pain
You'll find a soul of stain
While fists still beat
At heart's deceit

And I'm trying to do the best I can
But I'm a limited, primitive kind of man

Maybe with nothing but a drum and drone
I want to beat it 'til I get unknown

Pig some skin
Stretch it tight
Make myself up overnight

Maybe this is nothing but drum and drone
Wanna beat it 'til I get unknown

Dig my pin
Kick up some stink
Find myself a brand new kink

Prick that berry
And squeeze this ink
Scratch out all of the words I think
Before your very eyes can blink

And I'm trying to do the best I can
But I'm a limited, primitive kind of man

 

[fox69]

"Dust 2..."

"Dust 2..."



If dust could only talk
What would we hear it say?
Before it's brushed aside
Just as it's swept away

It's just the evidence
It's of no consequence
It's only flesh and bone
Why don't you leave it alone?

If dust could only speak
Caught in a falling beam
If dust could only cry
If dust could only scream
For it's the single witness that might testify
Could I spit out the truth?
Or would you rather just swallow a lie?

But dust is always caught behind a coat of pain
Beneath the marble fingernails of kings and saints
And in the theatre curtain where they hang a drape
Or in the ticket pocket where your hands escape

Before they start to wander
Or they start to shrink
You rub your eye a little and appear to blink
And then she caught you staring
She knows what you're thinking
What got into you is not a ghost as such
It was just dust

Here comes the juggernaut
Here come The Poisoners
They choke the life and land
And rob the joy from us
Why do they taste of sugar?
Oh, when they're made of money
Here come the Lamb of God
And the butcher's boy, Sonny

Well, I believe we just
Become a speck of dust...