Elvis Costello

[fox69]

"Secondary Modern"

"Secondary Modern"



This must be the place
Second place in the human race
Down in the basement
Now I know what he meant
Secondary modern
But there won't be a problem till the girls go home
This is the hand that you never shook
You never gave me the chance that I took
Secondary modern
But there won't be a problem till the girls go home

Is it out of the question
Between you and me
Is it pleasure or business
Or a packet of three?

Nobody makes me sad like you
Now my whole world goes from blue to blue
Secondary modern
But there won't be a problem till the girls go home...

 

[fox69]

"Seconds Of Pleasure"

"Seconds Of Pleasure"



Seconds of Pleasure
You say you don't desire me,
she's only a hired hand,
now you are tired of me.
Expensive care is meaningless,
feeling nothing and caring less.
Cut off at the pass,
she knows where you were headed,
she wants double-time or a temporary wedding.
And the lucky girl leads a life of leisure,
though she? with forty-five years
for seconds of pleasure.
I thought I knew you too well,
now I find the man is a mystery,
and the promises you made
are really only ancient history.
Everyday goes by without a hitch,
you say the urge becomes an itch.
You say that I'm no go for you, that's rich,
or am I being bitchy?
And the lucky girl leads a life of leisure,
though she forty-five years
for seconds of pleasure.
And the hands on the clock move so precisley,
You say you only kissed her once or twice.
You didn't do it for love, you didn't even do it with stealth.
I can't help you now,
I can't help myself.
Commited to life and then commuted to the outskirts.
I was living for thirty minutes at a time
with a break in the middle for adverts.
You treat me like a piece of human furniture.
You say when? you sad soul,
if you can look all that you like,
but I won't let you touch and poke.
And the lucky girl leads a life of leisure,
though she ? forty-five years
for seconds of pleasure.

 

[fox69]

"Senior Service"

"Senior Service"


[Chorus:]
Senior service
Junior dissatisfaction
It's a breath you took too late
It's a death that's worse than fate

Senior service
Junior dissatisfaction
Though it may be second hand
It's by no means second rate

I want your neck
I want the seat that you sit at
I want your cheque
Because they told me I would get on
I wanna chop off your head and watch it roll into the basket
If you should drop dead tonight then they won't have to ask me twice

[Chorus]

They took me in the office and they told me very carefully
The way that I could benefit from death and disability

[Chorus]

I want your company car
I want your girlfriend and love
I want your place at the bar
Because there's always another man
To chop off your head and watch it roll into the basket
If you should drop dead tonight then they won't have to ask me twice

[Chorus]

 

[fox69]

"Seven Day Weekend"

"Seven Day Weekend"


One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
Monday's calling you too early when you're sound asleep
Bells are ringing by your bedside and out in the streets
You say Monday's long enough, but this is just the start
Tuesday's just the same as Monday without the surprising part

Wednesday's point of no return
When you've squandered all you've earned
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven day weekend. [x2]

This is all I'm thinking about as the days go by
Spend your life on holiday and even when I die
There could be but one inscription: "This was not his day"
If it isn't Thursday anymore, it must be Friday

I can't wait until I maybe
Get off work and see my baby
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven day weekend [x2]
I can't wait until I maybe
Get off work and see my baby
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven day weekend
[Repeat]

 

[fox69]

"Shabby Doll"

"Shabby Doll"


Giving you more of what for
Always worked for me before
Now I'm a shabby doll
What's going on behind the green elevator door
With just a shabby doll

[Chorus:]
There's a hit man facing
A compromising situation
With just a shabby doll
And a very neat line in character assassination
She's just a shabby doll

She's just a shabby doll
She's putting him off and putting you on
She's just the shabby doll
You're swearing upon you know in your heart
She's gone you know in your heart
She's just a shabby doll

There's a girl in this dress
There's always a girl in distress
She's just a shabby doll
She's so sure she's self-possessed
Then again she's half undressed
She's just a shabby doll

The boy that I used to be
Showed no sign of sympathy
For just a shabby doll
I have betrayed you and me
And paid for my own bribery
With just a shabby doll

[Chorus]

He's the tired toy that everyone enjoyed
He wants to be a fancy man but he's nothing but a nancy boy
He's all pride and no joy

And being what you might call a whore
Always worked for me before
Now I'm a shabby doll
Untie the gag the cat's out of the bag
But won't show his claws
He's just a shabby doll

She said you must be joking
Some things are left unspoken
You're just a shabby doll
He's lying limp and soaking
He was openly broken
By just a shabby doll

[Chorus]

 

[fox69]

"Shadow And Jimmy"

"Shadow And Jimmy"


Shadow and Jimmy were always yesterday's news
Jimmy's a bowler, Shadow rents out his green bowling shoes
Late Friday night when the bars are all shuttered and dark
He shadows back Jimmy to the lot in the lost trailer park
For shadow and Jimmy all the weekends end up the same
If it's Saturday night, then it must be the hockey game
After cold beer and barbecued ribs the night is complete
With wrestling stories and elegant bones
That are tired of walking and on their way home

[Chorus:]
And they talk about the women
And they look at the girls
They'll never know the ways of the world
They've got a mouthful of much obliged
And a handful of gimme
And the love for each other
Of Shadow and Jimmy

For Shadow and Jimmy now the story is told
There's nothing to hold on to and no one to hold
Men without women are like fish without
water to swim in
With their eyes bugging out
They flop on the beach
And look up at the girls
Who are just out of reach

 

[fox69]

"Shallow Grave"

"Shallow Grave"



When I fall in endless sleep
I hope that I'll be buried deep
Let me be the one that fortune favours
Even good children got shallow graves

Throw another clown to the lions
Throw another Joan on the blaze
Cast me away on the cruel calm ocean
and leave me for days and days and days and days and days
I won't lie in this poor shallow grave
I won't lie, I won't lie in this poor shallow grave
Dig me down deep where the dead men sleep
I won't lie in this poor shallow grave

Bless the poor 'cos like the rich
They all end up in a ditch
In this world of fools and knaves
Even good children got shallow graves
The tinker, the tailor, the fabulous five
Nobody gets out of this alive

Dig me down deep where the dead men sleep
I won't lie in this poor shallow grave
Dig me down deep where the dead men sleep
I won't lie in this poor shallow grave
Dig me down, dig me down, dig me down deep
I won't lie in this poor shallow grave

 

[fox69]

"Shamed Into Love"
(feat. Bill Frisell)

"Shamed Into Love"
(feat. Bill Frisell)



I fear, my dear
We've forgotten the things strangers do
If we could look back
To the terrible thrill that we knew
Am I imagining a world without you?
Must we be shamed into love?

What can I say?
Will you pardon my stupid embrace?
Sometimes I'm desperate
While you're wiping the smile from your face
Am I surrendering, or am I replaced?
Must we be shamed into love?

Shamed into love
You're once a fool for having it
Twice a fool for letting it go
Somewhere my love there's a feeling deep inside of me
That I can't let go
Oh you'll never know

But then my darling
I've forbidden myself to confess
I've looked around now
But I always return to your face
In a world where everything
I once cursed, I bless
It must be you who shamed me into love

Must we be shamed into love?

 

[fox69]

"Shatterproof"

"Shatterproof"



I see those newlyweds, their eyes wide and believing
They bill and coo at the mention of Chez Nous
Appearances can be deceiving
It's just a door and a window
Four walls and a roof
But a home of your own would be shatterproof
A door and a window
Four walls and a roof
But a home of your own would be shatterproof

We papered over all the cracks and painted a cat's lick and a promise
The landlord was a man of few words, and most of them were ominous

It's just a door and a window
Four walls and a roof
But a home of your own would be shatterproof
A door and a window
Four walls and a roof
But a home of your own would be shatterproof

It was nothing really to write home about
Then one day it all appears too much
Here comes my little hammer and its shatterproof touch

He said, "Be practical,
These are most unreasonable demands.
Forget about the broken spectacles and the damage to your hand."

It's just a door and a window
Four walls and a roof
And the doctors say I'm almost shatterproof

 

[fox69]

"She (Tous Les Visages De L'Amour)"
(originally by Charles Aznavour)

"She (Tous Les Visages De L'Amour)"
(originally by Charles Aznavour)



She
May be the face I can't forget
A trace of pleasure or regret
May be my treasure or the price I have to pay
She may be the song that summer sings
May be the chill that autumn brings
May be a hundred different things
Within the measure of a day.

She
May be the beauty or the beast
May be the famine or the feast
May turn each day into a heaven or a hell
She may be the mirror of my dreams
A smile reflected in a stream
She may not be what she may seem
Inside her shell

She who always seems so happy in a crowd
Whose eyes can be so private and so proud
No one's allowed to see them when they cry
She may be the love that cannot hope to last
May come to me from shadows of the past
That I'll remember till the day I die

She
May be the reason I survive
The why and wherefore I'm alive
The one I'll care for through the rough and ready years
Me I'll take her laughter and her tears
And make them all my souvenirs
For where she goes I've got to be
The meaning of my life is

She, she, she