Elvis Costello

[fox69]

"Painted From Memory"

"Painted From Memory"



Such a picture of loveliness
Didn't you notice the resemblance?
Doesn't it look like she could speak?
Those eyes I tried to capture
They are lost to me now forever
They smile for someone else

Funny, how looks can be deceiving
But she's not easily
Painted from memory

You'd think that I would know by now
Those eyes I tried to capture
They are lost to me now forever
They smile for someone else

And so this had to be
Painted from memory

She is gone, and I must accept it
She is lost to me now
But I can't look away just yet though
She smiles for someone else

And so this had to be
Painted from memory

Funny, now I can see
How looks can be deceiving

And so this had to be
Painted from memory

Funny, now I can see
How looks can be deceiving

 

[fox69]

"Pardon Me Madam, My Name Is Eve"

"Pardon Me Madam, My Name Is Eve"



Pardon me, Madam, my name is Eve
I think it's time for you to leave
I don't believe that we have met
That's one thing you would not forget

In another time or life
When I was his only wife
When I was his only bride
Before I was torn out from his side

In the orchard apples are withering
In the shadows something is slithering
So go along there if you must
And try to do as I suggest
He's just a gathering of dust

And if he can't recall my name
Tell him to take his time, it's worth recovering
Look at me, and what I'm covered in
I'm covered in shame

I came back looking for my man
Wandered everywhere and then
Stood outside and gazed upon
A beautiful garden, a shimmering pond

See the sunlight on the leaves that dapple
Did you see my little teeth marks on the apple?
Don't close the door on the hand I'm offering
There is always someone on the outside doing all of the suffering

In the orchard, apples are withering
In the shadows, something is slithering
But in another time or life
When I was his only wife
When I was his only bride
Before I was torn out
Before I was torn out
Before I was torn out
From his side

Pardon me, Madam, my name is Eve
Pardon me, Madam, my name is Eve
I think it's time for one of us to leave

 

[fox69]

"Party Girl"

"Party Girl"


They say you're nothing but a party girl
Just like a million more all over the world
I know I shouldn't be raising my hopes so high
But I have seen the hungry look in their eyes
They'd settle for anything in disguise of love
Seen the party girls look me over
Seen 'em leaving when the party's over
They can't touch me now
You say you don't mind
We're so hard to find
I could give you anything but time
Give it just one more try
Give it a chance
Starts like fascination
Ends up like a trance

Oh you'll never be the guilty party girl
Maybe someday we can go hiding from this world
Maybe I'll never get over the change in style
But I don't want to lock you up and say you're mine
Don't want to lose you or say goodbye
I'm the guilty party and I want my slice
But I know you've got me and I'm in a grip-like vise.

They can't touch me now
You say you don't mind
We're so hard to find
I could give you anything
I would give you anything
I can give you anything but time

Give you anything but time [Repeats]

 

[fox69]

"Party Party"

"Party Party"


We're gonna drink enough tonight to drown the average army
By New Year's Day the next door neighbour will be goin' barmy
The milkman arrives at midday with his usual wisecrack
Who knows a girl with Wednesday legs so when's they gonna snap?

[Chorus:]
Why does everybody have to be so hale and hearty
Can't they see we're tryin' to have a party party party party

The last thing I remember I was talkin' to some fellas
Then she said she'd have a word for me with her good-looking mate
And handed me a pint-pot filled with Advocaat and Tizer
And I woke in the flowerbeds of fear (beer?) and fertilizer

[Chorus]

So shift yourself and shake your bod
You got bullet proof insurance from fire, flood and Act of God
You got to learn from your mistakes
When you got a face like last week's Cornflakes

The doors and the window frames are by Pablo Picasso
The party decorations owned by Michelangelo
The fine music that you hear is by Stravinsky
With overall design by Leonardo daVinci

[Chorus]

So shift yourself and shake your bod
You got bullet proof insurance from fire, flood and Act of God
You got to learn from your mistakes
When you got a face like last week's Cornflakes

Two boys are upstairs in your bed
Three girls are downstairs crying
The Alka Seltzer in the glass is roaring like a lion
You think you've aged ten years tonight and still never been kissed
So you overdose on aftershave and try to slash your wrist

[Chorus and fade]

 

[fox69]

"Passionate Fight"

"Passionate Fight"



Obscure the late afternoon with a drape
Don't let him follow her latest escape
Or the fanfare of taxis that needlessly played
As a forty watt bulb burns a hole in the shade
Then they got into a passionate fight
Now she's lost in the shadows thrown over at twilight

At the Empire Hotel they first came face to face
Pieces would fall off all over the place
And there in the debris they'd laugh and recline
Tell me my dear are you more or less mine

Then they got into a passionate fight
She says now this isn't love it's what you do in spite of it
And I can't go on with it night after night after night
Camphor and cigarettes perfume the scandal
Now he's counting the hinges and watching the door handle
As he hangs the clothes on the back of the door
Perfectly matching outfits that she wore

Women come quietly and some remain with their pity
But others know the pain of the passion of fight
Though the chance they will win is impossibly slight
He cowers before them so invitingly
And in the long run they'll be chastised and hated
Or walk out frustrated or humiliated
That is the pointless delight of a passionate fight

This isn't love what you do in spite of it
I can't go on night after night after night after night after night after night...

 

[fox69]

"Pay It Back"

"Pay It Back"


Stop thief; you're gonna come to grief
if you don't take a little more care.
You're gonna get more than the family plan
from this one shoestring affair.
I may be crazy but I can't contemplate
being trapped between the doctor and the magistrate.

[Chorus:]
One of these days I'm gonna pay it back, pay it back,
one of these days.
One of these days I'm gonna pay it back, pay it back,
one of these days.

And then they told me I could be somebody
if I didn't let too much get in my way.
And I tried so hard just to be myself,
but I keep on fading away.
Until the lights went out, I didn't know what to do.
If I could fool myself, then maybe I'd fool you too.

[Chorus]

I wouldn't say that I was raised on romance.
Let's not get stuck in the past.
I love you more than everything in the world.
I don't expect that will last.
They told me everything was guaranteed.
Somebody somewhere must've lied to me.

[Chorus].

 

[fox69]

"Payday"

"Payday"



Let's go out on the town tonight
My pockets are heavy with loot
And get drunk and blasted
(And loud in your dress of blue)
I've been living from hand to mouth
It must be three or four weeks
And I can tell you one thing Jack
You listen when your stomach speaks

I feel good just like I knew that I would
And all on account of that wine that I bought today
I'm smiling so sweet
At every little girl that I meet
Some fools will try to tell you it's a sin to feel this way

It feels so funny having all of this money
I think I feel like dancing the night away
I think I feel like dancing the night away

I got me this long legged girl
To help me to spend my dough
Her heart as big as your mama's stove
And her body like Brigitte Bardot

I'm all ready for some Rock and Roll
With the guitar turned up loud
And the fancy footwork
And the (drunk) down, druged up crowd

I feel good just like I knew that I would
All on account of that wine that I bought today
I'm smiling so sweet
At every little girl that I meet
Some fools will try to tell you it's a sin to feel this way

It feels so funny having all of this money
I think I feel like dancing the night away
I think I feel like dancing the night away

 

[fox69]

"Peace In Our Time"

"Peace In Our Time"


Out of the aeroplane stepped Chamberlain with a condemned man's stare
But we all cheered wildly, a photograph was taken,
as he waved a piece of paper in the air
Now the Disco Machine lives in Munich and we are all friends
And I slip on my Italian dancing shoes as the evening descends

[Chorus:]
And the bells take their toll once again in victory chime
And we can thank God that we've finally got
Peace in our time

There's a man going round taking names no
matter who you claim to be
As innocent as babies, a mad dog with rabies,
you're still a part of some conspiracy
Meanwhile there's a light over the ocean
burning brighter than the sun
And a man sits alone in a bar and says "Oh God,
what have we done?"

[Chorus]

They're lighting a bonfire upon every hilltop in the land
Just another tiny island invaded when he's got
the whole world in his hands
And the Heavyweight Champion fights in the
International Propaganda Star Wars
There's already one spaceman in the White
House what do you want another one for?

[Chorus]

 

[fox69]

"Pidgin English"

"Pidgin English"


There's a young girl with her old man who's too sick to mention
She'll be turning twenty seven as she draws her widow's pension
But he couldn't catch a common cold he couldn't get arrested
Too terrified to answer back
Too tired to have resisted

Many hands make light work
Shorthand makes life easy
When he's out on night work
Make sure no one sees me
It all ends up in a slanging match with body talk and bruises
A change is better than a rest
Silly beggars can't be choosers

[Chorus:]
One of a thousand pities you can't categorize
There are ten commandments of love
When will you realise
There are ten commandments of love
I believe, I trust, I promise, I wish love's just a throwaway kiss
In this Pidgin English

If you're so wise use your lips and your eyes
Take it to the bridge she sighs

You go cheep cheep cheep between bulleyes and bluster
Stiff as your poker face
Keener than mustard
From your own back yard to the land of exotica
From the truth society to neurotic erotica

Silence is golden
Money talks diamonds and ermine
There's a word in Spanish
Italian and German
In sign language, morse code, semaphore and gibberish
Have you forgotten how to say it
In your Pidgin English?

[Chorus]

PS I love you

 

[fox69]

"Pills And Soap"

"Pills And Soap"



They talked to the sister, the father and the mother
With a microphone in one hand and a chequebook in the other
AND THE CAMERA NOSES IN TO THE TEARS ON HER FACE
The tears on her face
The tears on her face
You can put them back together with your paper and paste
But you can't put them back together
You can't put them back together
What would you say?
What would you do?
Children and animals two by two
Give me the needle
Give me the rope
We're going to melt them down for PILLS AND SOAP
Give me the needle
Give me the rope
We're going to melt them down for pills and soap

Four and twenty crowbars, jemmy your desire
Out of the frying pan into the fire
The king is in the counting house
Some folk have all the luck
And all we get are pictures of LORD AND LADY MUCK
They come from lovely people with a hard line in hypocrisy
THERE ARE ASHTRAYS OF EMOTION FOR THE FAG ENDS OF THE ARISTOCRACY

The sugar coated pill is getting bitterer still
YOU THINK YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU BUT YOU KNOW IT NEVER WILL
So pack up your troubles in a stolen handbag
DON'T DILLY DALLY BOYS RALLY ROUND THE FLAG
Give us your daily bread in individual slices
And something in the daily rag to cancel any crisis