Elvis Costello

[fox69]

"The Invisible Man"

"The Invisible Man"



I WAS COMMITTED TO LIFE AND THEN COMMUTED TO THE OUTSKIRTS
With all the love in the world
Living for thirty minutes at a time with a break in the middle for adverts
But it's a wonderful world within these cinema walls
WHERE A SHOWER OF AFFECTION BECOMES NIAGARA FALLS
And you wish she could step down from the screen to your seat in the stalls
BUT IF STARS ARE ONLY PAINTED ON THE CEILING ABOVE
Then who can you turn to and who do you love
I want to get out while I still can
I want to be like Harry Houdini
Now I'm the invisible man

My head is spinning round faster and faster
Here I stand on the edge of disaster
I'm shattered like a piece of crystal porcelain or alabaster
Crowds surround loudspeakers hanging from the lampposts
Listening to the murder mystery
Meanwhile someone's hiding in the classroom
Forging books of history
NEVER MIND THERE'S A GOOD FILM SHOWING TONIGHT
WHERE THEY HANG EVERYONE EVERYBODY WHO CAN READ AND WRITE
OH THAT COULD NEVER HAPPEN HERE BUT THEN AGAIN IT MIGHT

 

[fox69]

"The Judgement"

"The Judgement"



The accused will rise to be torn in two
Guilty of nothing but loving you
This is the judgement

And I'm willing to plead
How you don't want me
Hoping this torment will cease
Will I be released?

There'll be lies, there'll be tears
A jury of your peers
With a pitiful lack of experience
Hand down the judgement

And if I done wrong
And loved you too long
Stand up and just testify
How can I deny?

Objection overruled
I wait for my reprieve
With the trust of the deceived
The wisdom of the fool

It's his sorrowful face
Too heavy for his head
Cos he bowed it as something come over him
It was the judgement

He falls to his knees
Have mercy on me
He clings to the hem of her gown
She says, "Just take him down."

 

[fox69]

"The King Of The Unknown Sea"

"The King Of The Unknown Sea"



Beneath the turquoise pools and emerald jewels
There lie the broken spines of seven ships
The skulls of careless fools and coins of gold
Pour from the banks that proffer puckered lips

I am the king of all of you
The timid land
The unknown sea
And all that lies between

So then come away you frail of breath
You feeling tired of life
And scared of death
You stain the air with your half hearted wit
A few steps more will make an end of it

I am the king of all of you
The timid land
The unknown sea
And all that lies between

She'll wander on a strand of dying light
She'll wonder who may answer whispered prayers
The coral and the pearl that hold you tight
May grace the throat of those the ocean spares

 

[fox69]

"The Letter Home"

"The Letter Home"



c/0 St. Ignatus House, Willoughby Drive, Parrametta,
New South Wales
This fifth day of July, in the year of Our Lord nineteen
hundred and thirty five
Why must I apologize every time that I sit down to write
Through my own fault I may find
You're no longer living at this address
Please excuse the lack of news
The feeling of strange privilege
for the hour of trial, in these times of distress
Mean more than years imprisoned by etiquette.

I can remember when we were children
Though I could never imagine this day
Your brother told me we'd live forever
"I'll go one better," I heard myself say
And it seems so strange, now that he's gone to recall all these
games
While the years have divided us
Friendships have strained and broken

Oh, by the way, how's that girl that you wed
I hated you then, but I'm over the worst of it
I can't come home, I might as well say, life is short
I shall not write again

 

[fox69]

"The Long Division"

"The Long Division"



Did somebody try to catch your eye
And almost change your sad expression?
Did somebody's hand linger too long?
Must I now make my confession?
But you'll never know
What suspicion is
Until you lie awake

And every night you ask yourself
"What am I to do?"
Can it be so hard to calculate?
When three goes into two
There's nothing left over

How's it gonna feel? This time it's real
It's not a temporary fracture
This is what you get, the stage is set
For you and your attempted rapture

Is he gonna smile
That indulgent smile
When you come running home?

And every night you ask yourself,
"What am I to do?"
Can it be so hard to calculate?
When three goes into two
There's nothing left over

What am I gonna say? You turn away
And you leave me here despairing
What am I going to do? I look at you
You seem to be so long past caring

Did somebody say,
"Can we still be friends?"
Only to find out now that it's a joke

So ask yourself,
"What am I to do?"
Can it be so hard to calculate?
When three goes into two
There's nothing left over

Did somebody say,
"Can we still be friends?"
Did somebody say,
"Can we still be friends?"

Did somebody say,
"Can we still be friends?"
Did somebody say,
"Can we still be friends?"

Did somebody say,
"Can we still be friends?"
Did somebody say,
"Can we still be friends?"

 

[fox69]

"The Long Honeymoon"

"The Long Honeymoon"


All the bedroom lights go out
As the neighbourhood gets quiet
Everything in heaven and earth is almost right
But there's a wife whos wondering where her husband could be tonight
And when the phone rang only once she took a dreadful fright

Little things just seem to undermine her confidence in him
He was late this time last week
Who can she turn to when the chance of coincidence is slim
'Cause the baby isn't old enough to speak

[Chorus:]
There's been a long honeymoon
She thought too late and spoke too soon
There's no money back guarantee on future happiness
There's been a long honeymoon
If he's out on a date then her life's in ruins
She never thought her love could ever be as strong as this

All the movies and the papers
Feature the murders of lonely women
If he isn't in by ten she'll call up her best friend
Why doesn't he come home
Why does her friends phone keep on ringing
Maybe she should just pretend

[Chorus]

 

[fox69]

"The Loved Ones"

"The Loved Ones"


Don't get smart or sarcastic
He snaps back just like elastic
Spare us the theatrics and the verbal gymnastics
We break wise guys just like matchsticks

[Chorus:]
What would the loved ones say
Your pride and joy is all blown up
What would the loved ones say
The bride and boy are barely grown up
You're not my particular poison
I've got nothing against you myself
You could have been a danger to the boys and girls
Now you're a danger to yourself

Oh what would the loved ones say
What would the loved ones say
Oh what would the loved ones say
What would the loved ones say

The ugly little scenes run round your bed
The ugly little dreams you get the needle and no thread
They stitched you up this time
They say you'll do
They bitch about your pretty face turning ugly on you

The butcher the baker and the bassline maker
Say you can leave her I can take her
You live your whole life like a minute or two later
One day its going to end sooner than greater

What would the loved ones say
He'll be remembered young and pretty
What would the loved ones say
Now he's a hit in every city
Now there's a name well never forget
There's one born every minute
Dont pin a medal on me yet
They might be waiting for you

[Chorus]

PS I love you

 

[fox69]

"The Name Of This Thing Is Not Love"

"The Name Of This Thing Is Not Love"



There's a part of this feeling that I just cannot kill
But the name of this thing is not love
And I can't take a potion, and I won't take a pill
So it tortures me still
But the name of this thing is not love

Then you start entertaining such a terrible thought
Life is so very short
And the name of this thing is not love

There's a bruise on her arm
And some blood on the floor
But the name of this thing is not love
And they're taunting some girl
That they claim to adore
She can't take anymore
But the name of this thing is not love

Who in the world do you think that you are?
That you pushed me this far
But the name of this thing is not love

He thinks of her still
Although you'd never guess
He's trying so to forget her
The occasional moments that he'll always bless
Watching her dress
For worse or better

He watched her pick over her broken playthings
What played on his mind is not love
The cast aside tokens and discarded rings
Over one of his flings
But the name of this thing is not love

Then he threw something down in the wild rushing river
And won't ever recover
But the name of this thing is not love

Then you start out pretending that you're so very tough
Life is not short enough
But the name of this thing is not love

 

[fox69]

"The Night Before Larry Was Stretched"

"The Night Before Larry Was Stretched"



Oh, the night before Larry was stretched
Well the boys they all paid him a visit
A bit in their sacks too they fetched
For they sweated their duds till they rivered
For Larry was always the lad
When a boy was condemned to the Squeezer
Would fence all the duds that he had
For to help his poor friend to a sneezer -
- And warm his own god 'fore he died

Well the boys they came crowding in fast
And they threw all their stools 'round about him
Six glims round his trap-case was placed
For he couldn't be well-waked without them

When one of them asked, "Could he die
Without having duly repented?"
Said Larry, "That's all in the eye
And first by the clergy invented -
- For to get a fat lid for themselves"

Oh and Algie cut up like a pie:
"I may not from me buddy be parted."
"You're in the wrong box, then, says I,
For bless me if they're so hard-hearted

"A chalk on the back of your neck
Is all that Jack Catch does to give you
Then mind not such trifle's effect
Oh why should the likes of them grieve you? -
- And now boys, come tip us the deck."

Well the cards being called for they played
Until Larry found one of them cheated
? A godflew was napperly made ?
For the boy he being easily heated

"Oh, hold me the hokey, you thief!
I'll scuffle your knob with me dardle!
You cheat me because I'm in grief
Ah, but soon I'll be molish and muddle -
- And leave you your claret to drink"

Then the clergy came in with his boon
And he spoke him so smooth and so civil
Larry tipped him A Kilmaven wink
And he pitched his big wig to the devil

Then sighing he threw back his head
For to get a sweet drop of the bottle
And dutiful sighing he said,
"Oh the hemp 'twill be soon 'round me throttle -
- And choke me poor windpipe to death.

"Oh then sure it's the best way to die
? Oh the dead are the better the living ?
For now in the gallows is hiding
A journey that's surely to heaven."

But what harasses Larry the most
And makes his soul poor melancholy
Is he thinks of the time when his ghost
It will come in a sheet to Sweet Molly -
- "Oh sure, it'll kill her alive"

So moving, these last words he spoke
We all vented our tears in a shower
For me own part I thought me heart broke
For to see him cut down like a flower

On his travels we watched him next day
The throttler I thought I could kill him
But Larry not one word did say
Nor change did he come to King William -
- And mutter, "His color be White."

When he came to the old Dublin Shed
He was tucked up so neat and so pretty
? The rumbler jumped far from his feet ?
And he died with his face to the city

He came to, but that was all pride
For soon you might see 'twas all over
Soon after the noose was untied
In darkness we waked him in clover -
- And sent him to take his ground sweat

Oh, the night before Larry was stretched
Well the boys they all paid him a visit
A bit in their sacks too they fetched
For they sweated their duds till they rivered

For Larry was always the lad
When a boy was condemned to the Squeezer
Would fence all the duds that he had
For to help his poor friend to a sneezer -
- And warm his own god 'fore he died
- And warm his own god 'fore he died

 

[fox69]

"The Only Daddy That'll Walk The Line"

"The Only Daddy That'll Walk The Line"



Everybody knows you been steppin' on my toes
And I'm gettin pretty tired of it
Keep steppin' outta line and messin' with my mind
If you had any sense, you'd quit

But ever since you were just a little bitty girl
Since I was the only man in this whole world
Now you better do some thinking then you'll find
You got the only daddy that'll walk the line

I keep workin' everyday, all you wanna do is play
I'm sick of stayin' out all night
You've been coming unglued from your funny little moods
So, honey-baby, that ain't right

'Cause ever since you were just a little bitty girl
Since I was the only man in this whole world
Now you better do some thinking then you'll find
You got the only daddy that'll walk the line

Everybody knows you been steppin' on my toes
And still just puttin' me on
When I start-a-walkin', don't I hear you start-a-squawkin'
Beggin' me to come back home

'Cause ever since you were just a little bitty girl
Since I was the only man in this whole world
Now you better do some thinking then you'll find
You got the only daddy that'll walk the line