Elvis Costello

[fox69]

"National Ransom"

"National Ransom"



Running pell-mell and harum-scarum
Running as hot as they do or dare
Stick out your tongue
And drink down all the venom
From Cut-Throat Cuthbert
And Millicent St. Cyr

From the real old Macau
To the new False Americas
In the liberated territories

Unusual suspects shake down, shake down, shake down various dubious characters

Mother's in the kitchen picking bones for breakfast
Boiling them down by the bushel and the score
Pull out your thumb and count what's left of your fist
There's a wolf at the window with ravening maw

Did you find how to lie?
Did you find out just how to cheat?
The elite bleat, their obsolete
But are your prospects?
Exact, perfect object
Now, if you'd only genuflect

They're running wild
Just like some childish tantrum
Meanwhile we're working every day
Paying off the National Ransom

Woe betide all this hocus-pocus
They're running us ragged at their first attempt
Around the time the killing stopped on Wall St.
You couldn't hold me, baby with anything but contempt

Letters peal slowly from our speech
The claxton attempts to preach
Stretching for stars still out of reach

Drowning
Flailing
Outside someone's wailing

They're running wild
Just like some childish tantrum
Meanwhile we're working every day
Paying off the National Ransom

 

[fox69]

"Nearer To You"

"Nearer To You"



I may do things you don't understand
But remember I'm only doing the best I can
Every little thing I do
I'm trying to get closer to you

Nearer, nearer...

I'm sorry if I seem a little bit stubborn sometimes
I hope I'm not being a nuisance to you
I know you say that you'd be home soon
I've got to be nearer, nearer to you

Every deed I do
I'm trying to get closer to you

Nearer, nearer...

I know you say that you'd be home soon
I've got to be nearer, nearer to you
I've got to be nearer, nearer to you
I've got to be nearer, nearer to you

 

[fox69]

"Needle Time"

"Needle Time"



I wish that I didn't hate you
Least not as much as I do
And squander all my contempt for
A little nothing like you
Liars like you are ten-a-penny
Women would slap you, if you knew any

Sometimes I feel just like committing a crime

I've got this suitcase of phony wisdom to dispense
These twenty-seven or so years
You'd think I (would have) made them some cents
Now they want me fingerprinted
Like I was smuggling drugs
While the government does deals with the most convenient thugs

Sometimes I feel just like committing a crime
It's Needle Time

I'm trying not to despise you with a passion that is hard to extinguish
Or maybe I really love you
Although it's hard to distinguish

I wish I could be
A little more like a saint is
Forgiving those who trespass against us

Sometimes I feel just like committing a crime

I started talking nonsense, just like I did to begin with
Around the time I tired of those sour English

Sometimes I feel just like committing a crime
It's Needle Time

 

[fox69]

"New Lace Sleeves"

"New Lace Sleeves"


Bad lovers face to face in the morning
Shy apologies and polite regrets
Slow dances that left no warning of
Outraged glances and indiscreet yawning
Good manners and bad breath get you nowhere
Even presidents have newspaper lovers
Ministers go crawling under covers
She's no angel
He's no saint
They're all covered up with white washed grease paint
And you say...

[Chorus:]
The teacher never told you anything but white lies
But you never see the lies
And you believe
Oh you know you have been captured
You feel so civilized
And you look so pretty in your new lace sleeves

The salty lips of the socialite sisters
With their continental fingers that have
never seen working blisters
Oh I know they've got their problems
I wish I was one of them
They say daddy's coming home soon
With his sergeant stripes and his Empire mug and spoon

No more fast buck
And when are they gonna learn their lesson
When are they gonna stop all of these victory processions
And you say...

[Chorus]

 

[fox69]

"Next Time 'Round"

"Next Time 'Round"


As I stepped out upon the landing my heart was already down the stairs
She's in the bedroom with that boy of hers
Though her face is creased and her eyes seem strange
There's a second-hand emotion on battered forty-five
My tears were never enough to keep that girl alive
Now she seems contrite will she make the change

[Chorus:]
The next time 'round
The next time 'round
You'll be someone else's baby
But I'll be underground
The Next Time 'Round

Then you took two steps forward and then one step on your back
Now it's a future for me and you that I lack
You'll be the one who'll stands out in the dark
Even when you're all dressed in black

[Chorus]

You've got something I want now
And I've got something I can't hide
I've got too much love for you now
Have you got too much pride
Sometimes I name and number all the things you gave to me

Your elastic love, this velvet-line purgatory
You used to take the breath out of me
Now I think you'll be the death of me

[Chorus]

You'll be in some sputnik baby
But I'll be underground

The Next Time 'Round

 

[fox69]

"Night Rally"

"Night Rally"



I would send out for assistance but there's someone on the signal wire
And the corporation logo is flashing on and off in the sky
They're putting all your names in the forbidden book
I know what they're doing but I don't want to look
You think they're so dumb, you think they're so funny
Wait until they've got you running to the
Night rally, night rally, night rally

Everybody's singing with their hand on their heart
About deeds done in the darkest hours
That's just the sort of catchy little melody
To get you singing in the showers

Oh, I know that I'm ungrateful
I've got it lying on a plate
And I'm not buying my share of souvenirs
You can stand to attention
You can pray to your uncle
Only get that chicken out of here
Everyone gets armbands and 3-D glasses
Some are in the back room
And they're taking those night classes

You think they're so dumb, you think they're so funny
Wait until they've got you running to the
Night rally, night rally, night rally

 

[fox69]

"No Action"

"No Action"



I don't wanna kiss you. I don't wanna touch.
I don't wanna see you 'cause I don't miss you that much.
I'm not a telephone junkie.
I told you that we were just good friends.
But when I hold you like I hold that bakelite in my hands,
there's no action,
there's no action,
there's no action.
Ev'ry time I phone you, I just wanna put you down.

He's got the keys to the car.
They are the keys to the kingdom.
He's got ev'rything you need.
It's a shame that he didn't bring them.
I'm not a telephone junkie.
If I'm inserting my coin I'm doing just fine.
And the things in my head start hurtin' my mind.
And I think about the way things used to be,
knowing you with him is driving me crazy.
Sometimes I phone you when I know you're not lonely,
but I always disconnect it in time.

 

[fox69]

"No Dancing"

"No Dancing"



Oh I know that she
Has made a fool of him
Like girls have done so many nights before
Time and time again
Life is so strange
I don't know why
But somebody, somebody has to cry
There's gonna be no dancing when they get home
There's gonna be no dancing
There's gonna be no dancing
There's gonna be no dancing when they get home

Now he's telling her
Every little thing he's done
Once he glanced at the jackets of some paperbacks
Now he's read every one
He's such a drag
He's not insane
It's just that everybody
Has to feel his pain
There's gonna be no dancing when they get home

He's getting down on his knees
He finds that the girl is not so easy to please
Oh oh, after all, his nights were just a paper striptease
She's caught it like some disease

If he says no dancing
There's gonna be no dancing
There's gonna be no dancing on my own

She can't even speak to him
He can't face her now
He says "Even though I wanna shake your hand
All I ever do is bow.
So now you see
How can it be.
Why can't you give me anythin' but sympathy?"

There's gonna be no dancing
There's gonna be no dancing
There's gonna be no dancing
There's gonna be no dancing
There's gonna be no dancing on my own

 

[fox69]

"No Hiding Place"

"No Hiding Place"



In the not very distant future
When everything will be free
There won't be any cute secrets
Let alone any novelty

You can say anything you want to
In your fetching cloak of anonymity
Are you feeling out of breath now?
In your desperate pursuit of infamy

Two lovers rocking up and down
In an elevator
15 minutes later
They'll make a killing in the market
They know how to work it
On that close circuit
My, my, it's a terrible disgrace
You'll find these days that there's
No Hiding Place

How proud you are
You got the knack
Of howling in a vacuum
Whatever I said about you
I didn't say it behind your back

I paid for my immortal sins
I know the enemy within you
As it seems these days
There is no hiding place

Next time someone wants to hurt you
Or set alight your effigy
Don't call on me to help you out
Don't come crying to me for sympathy
You stay there with your daubs and scratches
While I summon up the red machine
I'll be handing somebody matches
And carrying a can of kerosene

Walk up to me
And say what you said
Let's see how brave you are
When I'm about this far

You sit in judgment and bitch
Well, baby that's rich
You're nothing but a snitch

My, my, it's a terrible disgrace
My, my, it's a terrible disgrace
My, my, it's a terrible disgrace
You'll find these days that there's
No Hiding Place

 

[fox69]

"No Wonder"
(feat. Anne Sofie Von Otter)

"No Wonder"
(feat. Anne Sofie Von Otter)



I stole a glance at my reflection,
Though these days I tend to hurry by.
How pale the rose of my complexion,
How strange the knowing look that's in my eye.
But when the springtime was ablaze,
You took my hand, you held my gaze.

There is no wonder there,
I learned my lesson well,
No need to wonder where that girl has gone.

There is a secret no one knows,
I set my face, I changed my clothes

I dreamed I stood as you were passing,
Just as the horse-drawn carriage sped away.
Of petticoats in puddles dragging,
And my highbutton boots were splashed with clay.

But when the summer was in flame,
You broke your word, denied my name.

There is no wonder there, etc.

But as the winter drags along,
It blurs your sense of right and wrong.

There is no wonder there, etc.