Elvis Costello

[fox69]

"How Deep Is The Red"

"How Deep Is The Red"



Is this is not a pretty tale?
Is this not a riddle?
A bow shoots arrows through the air
A bow drags notes from a fiddle
But who is the beau of a young girl's heart?
That a king may send to battle

Is this not a pretty tale?
Is this not a riddle?
If red is the breast of soldier's tunic
Hung with a silver medal
And red is the thorn that protects the rose,
A deeper red than the petal
How deep is the red our redeemer bled,
The debt of our sins to settle?

How deep is the red?
How deep is the red?
How deep is the red our redeemer bled?
How deep is the red?

 

[fox69]

"How Much I Lied"

"How Much I Lied"



Darling, there is one thing I must tell you, you must know
It's so hard to say the words I feel
This fancy that I'm on's been going on too long
It's time to stop pretending things are real
'Cause I've been living deep in sin, I've been living blind
And I just don't know what's right or wrong
To take a chance on losing you is such a silly thing to do
A chance I might wake up and find you gone
Blue, so blue, my love is burning blue
Any private flame could be a lie
Blue, so blue, my love still burns for you
But I know I'll only make you cry

A thief can only steal from you
He cannot break your heart
He can never touch the precious things inside
Someone like you should surely be
Miles and miles away from me
Then you'd never care how much I lied
So try to understand the pain
It takes so long when I explain
Please don't you forget how much I lied
How much I lied

 

[fox69]

"How To Be Dumb"

"How To Be Dumb"


I was hell-bent on destroying my powers of concentration
While you were living like a saint
And all the time the very one you trusted was washing off
somebody else's paint
Now you've got yourself a brand new occupation
Every fleeting thought is a pearl
And beautiful people stampede to the doorway
of the funniest fucker in the world

They're here to help you
Satisfy your desire
There's a bright future for all you professional liars

[Chorus:]
Now you know how to be dumb
Are you ready to take your place in the modern museum of mistakes?
Don't you know how to be dumb?
Like a building thrown up overnight in one of those reverse earthquakes

They emptied out all the asylums, they emptied out all the gaols
The "New Bruise" was the name of a dance craze
By "Jesus Cross and the Cruel Nails"
Followed up by "Torturing Little Beaver"
With their contraption of barbed wire
Between the fear and the fever lies all the rejection they require
They'll be howling by midnight, they'll be drooling by dawn
Skulls shrunk down to the size of their brains
Heads shaven and shorn

[Chorus]

Trapped in the House of the Perpetual Sucker
Where bitterness always ends so pitifully
You always had to dress up your envy in some half-remembered
philosophy

Now you're masquerading as pale powdered genius
Whose ever bad intention has been purged
You could've walked out any time you wanted but face it you
didn't have the courage
I guess that makes you a full time hypocrite or some kind of
twisted dilettante
Funny though people don't usually get so ugly till they think
they know what they want
Scratch your own head stupid
Count up to three
Roll over on your back
Repeat after me

Don't you know how to be dumb?
Are you ready to take your place in the modern museum of mistakes?
Don't you know how to be dumb?
Like a building thrown up overnight in one of those reverse earthquakes

 

[fox69]

"Human Hands"

"Human Hands"


I've been talking to the wall and it's been answering me
Oh darling how I miss you
I'm just the mere shadow of my former selfishness
I crave the silhouette of your kiss
With only the blue light of the TV on
Lip reading threats and false alarms
There's a boy somewhere holding hands with himself
And a girl in a window on the Reeperbarn

[Chorus:]
Whenever I put my foot in my mouth and you begin to doubt
That it's you that I'm dreaming about
Do I have to draw you a diagram?
All I ever want is just to fall into your human hands

With the kings and queens of the dance hall craze
Checkmate in three moves in your heyday
But the girls don't listen to your line anymore
Now you're part of someone else

On the factory floor and you still say "Wheres the action?"
Now you manufacture happiness
And get sold on the cheap for someone's satisfaction

[Chorus]

All you toy soldiers and scaremongers
Are you living in this world sometimes I wonder
In between saying you've seen too much and saying you've seen it all before

Tighter and tighter I hold you tightly
You know I love you more than slightly
Although I've never said it like this before

[Chorus]

 

[fox69]

"Human Touch"

"Human Touch"


I know I've just gotta get out of this place
I can't stand any more of that mechanical grace
Though you say it's only industrial squeeze
It looks like luxury and feels like a disease

[Chorus:]
Oh give it to me, give it to me
I don't want to know much about much
Give it to me, give it to me
I need, I need, I need the human touch

Left with just a house to hold
Drinking your way to drydock
It's easy to break up a model citizen
Living in the state of shock

I just can't believe I am responsible for this
What the makeup hides can't be hidden with a kiss

When I'm talking in tongues I go where you lead
I don't make you plead, oh I need you
How I'd like to fix her in a picture of rage
How I'd like to catch her when she's acting her age
But when she's laying stretched out on the floor
It's no mystery to me anymore

[Chorus]

 

[fox69]

"Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over)"

"Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over)"



The man in the corner of this picture has a sinister purpose
In the teeming Temple of the Railroad Kings
He's planting a trashy paperback book for accidental purchase
Containing all the secrets of life and other useless things
But I can't bring myself to look
Wake up Zombie write yourself another book
You want to scream and shout my little flaxen lout
Hurry down Doomsday the bugs are taking over

She sleeps with the shirt of a late, great country singer
Stretched out on her poor jealous husband's pillow
In time you can turn these obsessions into careers
While the parents of those kidnapped children start the bidding
for their tears

But I can't bring myself to look
Wake up Zombie
Get yourself off the book
You want to scream and shout my little waxen lout
Hurry down Doomsday the bugs are taking over

Forget about Beethoven, Rembrandt and rock and roll
Forget about Mickey Mouse, Marlboro and Coca Cola
Forget about Cadillac, Mercedes and Toyota
Forget about Buddha, Allah, Jesus and Jehovah
Hurry down Doomsday the bugs are taking over

Any day now a giant insect mutation
Will swoop down and devour the white man's burden
Starting out with all of the sensitive ones
Better make like a fly if you don't want to die
Look out there goes Gordon

But I can't bring myself to think
Wake up Zombie
Kick up a big stink
You want to scream and shout my little Saxon lout
Hurry down Doomsday the bugs are taking over

 

[fox69]

"I Almost Had A Weakness"

"I Almost Had A Weakness"



Thank you for the flowers
I threw them on the fire
And I burned the photographs that you had enclosed
GOD they were ugly children
So you're the little bastard of that brother of mine
Trying to trick a poor old woman
'Til I almost had a weakness
Last week Cousin Florence
Bit your Uncle Joe
Hit him on the forehead with a knife and a fork
(She) said that he looked like the devil
Then she said... "pass the vinegar," I'm beginning to think
(That) I'm the only one who hasn't taken to the drinking of it
Though I almost had a weakness

It pains me to mention
These delicate concerns
While I have to tolerate you family jewels
I really mustn't grumble
('Cause) when I die the cats and dogs will jump up and down
And you little swines will get nothing
Though I almost had a weakness

 

[fox69]

"I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down"

"I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down"



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

 

[fox69]

"I Dreamed Of My Old Lover"

"I Dreamed Of My Old Lover"



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

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

Would our kids grow stubborn or grow strong
Would their limbs bronze insult to the sun
I wonder how it feels but then
I rarely dream of anyone

In the songs of shame and tales of dread
Where they seal the lovers lips with lead
And all the vines wind through their eyes
But no one knows this passion now
But 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
'Cos I dreamed of my old lover last night

 

[fox69]

"I Dreamed Of My Old Lover Last Night"

"I Dreamed Of My Old Lover Last Night"



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