Elvis Costello

[fox69]

"Imperial Bedroom"

"Imperial Bedroom"



Everyone agreed that she looked delightful
Except for her sister, who was hateful and spiteful
Blushing bright red from her head to her feet
But rushing into her bridal suite
The imperial bedroom, the regal boudoir
This casual acquaintance led to an intimate bonsoir

Life turns out like a TV serial
A head full of daydreams, his hands full of material
She says it's not fair, he's messing up her hair
And still he looks so neat
Stepping into the bridal suite

The imperial bedroom, the regal boudoir
This casual acquaintance led to an intimate bonsoir

So the best man will do his best again
Now they're getting dressed again
Blushing bright red from her head to her feet
Sneaking out of the bridal suite

The imperial bedroom, the regal boudoir
This casual acquaintance led to an intimate bonsoir
We know who you're with and where you are
In the imperial bedroom, the regal boudoir
This casual acquaintance led to an intimate bonsoir
Two names under the register
In the imperial bedroom, the regal boudoir
This casual acquaintance led to an intimate bonsoir
Au revoir

 

[fox69]

"In The Darkest Place"

"In The Darkest Place"



In the darkest place
I know
That is where you'll find me
Even though you didn't have to remind me
I shut out the lights
Your eyes adjust
They'll never be the same
You know I love you so
Lets start again

Since you put me down
It seems
I've been very gloomy
You may laugh, but pretty girls look right through me
They don't sense the faintest glimmering
That is the torch I bear
There's light enough for me to find my way

But I only have to tell myself that by now
You could be with someone else
Is there light beneath your door and
Laughter from within?

Do your friends come around
Saying, "Try to find another lover"?
He won't love you like I do

In the darkest place
I'm lost
I have abandoned every hope
Maybe you'll understand I must
Shut out the light

Your eyes adjust
They'll never be the same
You know I love you so
Lets start again

Do your friends come around
Saying, "Try to find another lover"?
He won't love you like I do

In the darkest place
That is where you'll find me
In the darkest place
That is where you'll find me

 

[fox69]

"Indoor Fireworks"

"Indoor Fireworks"


We play these parlour games
We play at make believe
When we get to the part where I say that I'm going to leave
Everybody loves a happy ending but we don't even try
We go straight past pretending
To the part where everybody loves to cry

[Chorus:]
Indoor fireworks
Can still burn your fingers
Indoor fireworks
We swore we were safe as houses
They're not so spectacular
They don't burn up in the sky
But they can dazzle or delight
Or bring a tear
When the smoke gets in your eyes

You were the spice of life
The gin in my vermouth
And though the sparks would fly
I thought our love was fireproof
Sometimes we'd fight in public darling
With very little cause
But different kinds of sparks would fly
When we got on our own behind closed doors

[Chorus]

It's time to tell the truth
These things have to be faced
My fuse is burning out
And all that powder's gone to waste
Don't think for a moment dear that we'll ever be through
I'll build a bonfire of my dreams
And burn a broken effigy of me and you

[Chorus]

 

[fox69]

"International Echo"

"International Echo"



The streets were deserted and the house was dark
Down in the basement there was the faintest spark
Three boys hoping to make their mark
International echo

They said it was nothing but a worthless toy
Sign right here and you can be employed
Woke up startled in the state of joy
International echo

The roof is shaking and the house is ablaze
I've been wide-awake for days
I thought I heard a signal breaking through
And at this distance that is hard to do
Could be seven inches
Could be twelve
Drop the needle on it and let it revolve

I felt a pulse and a drum tattoo
I was just thinking about you

Send out a message and it's sure to rebound
What's that I hear?
What is that sound?
Seems to be coming from under the ground
International echo

It can't be repeated
It can't be resisted
It went out straight and it came back twisted
If you didn't see it then, then you probably missed it
International echo

Must be something in the atmosphere
Let me be your volunteer
I thought I heard a signal coming through
In a language that I never knew
Give me seven inches
Give me twelve
Drop the needle on it and let it revolve

I felt a pulse and a drum tattoo
Even though it was taboo
Solo!

They paid me money for playing pretend
And they said this must be the end
I was just following the popular trend
International echo

Beer from the bottle and wine from the grape
Stood up straight, got bent out of shape
Now I'm just looking for some way to escape
International echo

Everything I said just seems automatic
Radio plays nothing but static
I think that I'm about to flip my lid
My waitress said that she might be my kid
Give me seven inches
Give me twelve
Drop the needle on it and let it revolve

Did you hear me calling you?
'Cos hear I go
International echo
Echo
Solo!

The streets were deserted
The house was dark
Down in the basement there was the faintest spark
Three boys hoping to make their mark
International echo

 

[fox69]

"Invasion Hit Parade"

"Invasion Hit Parade"


Now that you set everybody free
What are you going to do about me?
Don't want to be treated like some poor grateful clown
I'd rather go back to the sweet underground
Where I can tell by the colour of my skin
And I know my neighbour 'cos he's the one, yes he's the one
Who always turns me in
A woman works the tunnel in the middle of the night
Picking up every lost object in sight
Handbags, toupees, lost legs and fingernails
The black market eats up all your failures
Her transistor offers no salvation or regrets
No pool, no pets, no cigarettes
Just non-stop Disco Tex and the Sex-o-lettes

[Chorus:]
There's no name, no name for the place or pain we'll cause you
again and again
If you do not co-operate with the Invasion Hit Parade

The liberation forces make movies of their own
Playing their Doors records and pretending to be stoned
Drowning out a broadcast that wasn't authorised
Incidentally the revolution will be televised
With one head for business and another for good looks
Until they started arriving with their rubber aprons and their
butcher's hooks

[Chorus]

They're hunting us down here with Liberty's light
A handshaking double talking procession of the mighty
Pursued by a T.V. crew and coming after them
A limousine of singing stars and their brotherhood anthem
The former dictator was impeccably behaved
They're mopping up all the stubborn ones who just refuse to be saved

[Chorus]

 

[fox69]

"It Tears Me Up"

"It Tears Me Up"


I see you walk with him
I see you talk to him
It tears me up, oh, it tears me up
And I can't stop crying
Oh, baby, I can't stop crying

I see you kiss his lips
And squeeze his fingertips
It tears me up, oh, baby, it tears me up
And there's nothing I can do about it
Oh, baby, baby, can't you see I'm still in love with you

It's a faithless world we're livin' in
When I turn around and there you are with my best friend
Sometimes when you pass me on the street
You look at me as if to say I'm sorry my sweet
And being sorry might be enough
Then you look back at him and [ ? ] a smile
And that makes me feel kinda rough
Oh, darlin, it tears me up

I see you smile at him
You never tire of him
It tears me up
Oh, baby, it tears me up
There's nothing I can do about it
Baby, can't you see I'm still in love with you
Still hungry for something I can't have
Oh, it tears me up so bad
Still hungry for something I can't have
Tears me up so bad
Can't you see I'm still in love with you
Still hungry for something I can't have
Baby, please, please, please
I'm still hungry for something I can't have
It tears me up so bad
Oh, oh, it tears me up so bad
Tears me up so bad

 

[fox69]

"It's Time"

"It's Time"


The party's over
Your time is up
You've had your last pointless teardrop
Washed down in that broken coffee cup
This magic moment concludes when that cigarette ends
Did you get what you wanted?
Well I suppose that depends
Well I suppose that depends

[Chorus:]
If you go, if you go
Where passion is squandered and money is spent
It's time, it's time
It's time, it's time
It's time, it's time, it's time
You must see it's time that you went
You must see it's time that you went

Our brief acquaintance was such a mistake
Now it seems more like a sentence
Or something you always had to fake
This magic moment concludes when they turn out the light
It's not the days when you leave me
But all I fear are the nights
But all I fear are the nights

[Chorus]

You told the same joke to me too many times
I wish that someone would hit it
Just before you reach
Just before you reach
Just before you reach the punchline

The party's over
Time we broke up
It always seemed like a bad dream
One where I finally woke up
This magic moment concluding our mutual fate
But if you do have to leave me
Who will I have left to hate?
Who will I have left to hate?

[Chorus]

 

[fox69]

"Jack Of All Parades"

"Jack Of All Parades"


When we first met I didn't know what to do
My old love lines were all worn out on you
And the world walked round my mouth
They lit me up and they snuffed me out

[Chorus:]
And I was everybody's boy
But soon that thrill just fades
To be the love of one true heart
Or the Jack of all parades

You won't know who to thank
You won't know who to blame
It's just a part of the Murdering Game
'Cos down in the fleshpots
Where they pay you in pounds
They're laughing like drains
And baying like bloodhounds
For the Jack of all parades
The Jack of all parades

Once I knew a girl
That looked so much like Judy Garland
That people would stop and give her money
And everybody was Frankie, Jimmy or Bobby
Not the Jack, the Jack of all Parades,
Oh the Jack, the Jack of all Parades,
Oh the Jack, of all Parades.

Now the way that I feel is no longer news
You know my love and how to refuse it
Cause you know where the door is
And how to use it
Oh you know you do

But from my chequered past
To this shattered terrace
Where you can't keep your mind off
the Crimes of Paris
And you can't keep your peace
And try to forget it
And I can't forgive you
For things you haven't done yet

Oh I was anybody's boy
But soon that thrill just fades
To be the love of one true heart
Or the Jack of all parades

When we first met I didn't know what to do
My old love lines were all worn out on you
And the world walked 'round my mouth
I didn't mean to say it
I just blurted it out
As you pretended not to notice
Or be taken aback
And I loved you there and then
It's as simple as that

Oh I was everybody's boy
But soon that thrill just fades
To be the love of one true heart
Or the Jack of all parades
To be the love of one true heart
Or the Jack of all parades
Oh the Jack of all parades

 

[fox69]

"Jacksons, Monk And Rowe"

"Jacksons, Monk And Rowe"



Sister 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

 

[fox69]

"Jimmie Standing In The Rain"

"Jimmie Standing In The Rain"



Third-Class ticket in his pocket
Punching out the shadows underneath the sockets
Tweed coat turned up against the fog

Slow coaches rolling o'er the moor
Between the very memory
And approaches of war

Stale bread curling on a luncheon counter
Loose change lonely, not the right amount

Forgotten Man of an indifferent nation
Waiting on a platform at a Lancashire station
Somebody's calling you again
The sky is falling
Jimmie's standing in the rain

Nobody wants to buy a counterfeited prairie lullaby in a colliery town
A hip flask and fumbled skein with some stagedoor Josephine is all he'll get now
Eyes going in and out of focus
Mild and bitter from tuberculosis

Forgotten Man
Indifferent nation
Waiting on a platform at a Lancashire station
Somebody's calling you again
The sky is falling
Jimmie's standing in the rain

Her soft breath was gentle on his neck
If he could choose the time to die
Then he would come and go like this
Underneath a painted sky

She woke up and called him "Charlie" by mistake
And then in shame began to cry
Tarnished silver band peals off a phrase
And then warms their hands around the brazier

Forgotten Man
Indifferent nation
Waiting on a platform at a Lancashire station
Somebody's calling you again
It's finally dawning
Jimmie's standing in the rain

Brilliantine glistening
Your soft plaintive whistling
And your wan wandering smile

Died down at The Hippodrome
Now you're walking off to jeers, the lonely sound of jingling spurs, the "toodle-oos" and "Oh, my dears" down at "The Argyle"

Vile vaudevillians applaud sobriety
There's no place for a half-cut cowboy in polite society

Forgotten Man
Indifferent nation
Waiting on a platform at a Lancashire station
Somebody's calling you again
It's finally dawning
Jimmie's standing in the rain