Elvis Costello Album

Don't want to talk about the government
Don't want to talk about some incident
Don't want to talk about some peppermint gum
Don't want to talk about the time to come

Button my lip
'Til I'm smart enough

Don't raise your hand
'Cos I'm not offering
It serves you right
Now you are suffering
Give me a chance
To see it though
It all depends on what you hold is true

Button my lip
With your kiss

Don't want to hear some little sniveling
You just don't get what I'm delivering
Maybe you want me
But you know you can't
I'd say, 'I want you?
But you know I don't

Button my lip
'Til I'm old enough
'Til I'm smart enough
'Til I'm?
Button my lip

Don't want to come at your beckoning
For any day they'll be a reckoning
Don't want to hear what is impossible
Baby, you've become invisible

Button my lip

I've seen those clowns vacant and insolent
I stand accused but I am innocent
I am the mighty and magnificent

This tattered document
A mystery you can solve
Some burnt out filament
Flies still buzzing around the bulb

Country Darkness

He thought of traveling
Heard an approaching train
Drown out his desperate pulse
A song with no refrain

Country Darkness

She daydreams of forbidden sins
There must be something more
The prison she lives in
The one with the open door

The veil is covering
A glistening and cruel blade
Suffer little children
Repent, unfaithful maid

Country Darkness

Once upon another time
If you had the need
I'd step right in the shoes that you've been walking
'Cos someone put the hurt in you
For every one to see
And you only have to speak to tell your fortune

There's a story in your voice
Both by damage and by choice
It tells of promises and pleasure
And a tale of wine and woe
The uneasy time to come
And the long way 'round we go to get there

Once you told me fairytales
Everybody knows
But I didn't care for their prediction
Now you say you're leaving me
And packing up your clothes
I finally see you were a work of fiction

There's a story in your walk
Then you crumble just like chalk
And I could say that I was sorry
But I wouldn't mean it much
There are pages I can't touch
And something that's been torn out of this chapter

Far away, not far enough
'Cos I can still recall
How it felt when I read that last sentence
Now I go inside some rooms with Gideon in them all
And hide myself from all hope of repentance

There's a story in your eyes
Cheap sunglasses might disguise
But when the bedroom light reveals
All that bravado and that fright
That you cover up in spite
Attempts to strip away this fabrication

There's a story in your voice
Both by damage and by choice
It tells of promises and pleasure
And a tale of wine and woe
The uneasy time to come
And the long way 'round we go to get there

(Elvis Costello/Jerry Ragavoy)

Nothing can ever be the same
All of the promises we made seem hollow
But there's still some streets in this town
Oh, they're marked, they're marked with your shadow

So if you see me, look surprised
Well, well, well, if you don't
Oh, just pass me by
And I may, I may even brush your sleeve
Oh, as you turn around, turn around and leave

Now it's hard to act like strangers
When we used to be so strong
Everything is changing
And most of it is wrong
What do we know of anything
Two fools of some renown
Either side, either side of the same town

Somewhere there's a light
Oh, I can sense it
Though I may fall back again
Oh, I know, yes, I know it's a fight
Oh, but I must, Lord, I must
Withstand the strain

Now it's hard to keep ignoring
Someone you recognise
And if I seem contented
Well, that's only my disguise
What do we know of anything
Two fools of some renown
Either side, either side of the same town
Oh, yeah, either side, either side of the same town

I've got this phosphorescent portrait of gentle Jesus meek and mild
I've got this harlot that I'm stuck with carrying another man's child
The solitary star announcing vacancy burnt out as we arrived
They'd throw us back across the border if they knew that we survived
And they were surprised to see us
So they greeted us with palms
They asked for ammunition, acts of contrition and small alms

I might recite a small prayer
If I ever said them
I lay down on an iron frame
Found myself in bedlam
I wish that I could take something for drowning out the noise
Wailing echoes down the corridors

I've got this imaginary radio, and I'm punching up the dial
I've got the A.C. trained on the T.V. so it won't blow up in my eye
And everything that I thought fanciful and mocked as too extreme
Must be family entertainment here in the strange land of my dreams
Now I'm practicing my likeness of St. Francis of Assisi
For if I hold my hand outstretched
A little bird comes to me

I might recite a small prayer
If I ever said them
I lay down on an iron frame
Found myself in bedlam
Escaping from the fingers that were stretching through the bars
Wailing echoes down the corridors

The player piano picks out "Life Goes On"
Ring tone rang out "Jerusalem"
And in this pit of sadness
Where the rank of wretched plunge
We've buried all the innocents
Now we must bury revenge

They've got this scared and decorated girl strapped to the steel trunk of a mustang
And then they drove her down a cypress grove where traitors hang and stars still spangle
They dangled flags and other rags along a coloured thread of twine
And then they dragged that bruised and purple heart along the road to Palestine

Someone went off muttering, he mentioned thirty pieces
Easter saw a slaughtering, each wrapped in bloodstained fleeces

Then my thoughts returned to vengeance, but I put up no resistance
Though I seemed a long way from my home
It really was no distance

And I might recite a small prayer
If I ever said them
I lay down on an iron frame
Found myself in bedlam
Bowing like an actor acknowledging applause
Playing the Crusader who was conquering the Moors
And he knew the consequences, but he won't accept the cause
Wailing echoes down the corridors

"Abel was able," so Vivian said
Her shoulders flung forward
Her lips in a purse
She talks like the beauty that she never was
Of the fabulous wild nights that she never has

In a certain light he looked like Elvis
In a certain way he feels like Jesus
Everyone dreams of him just as they can
But he's only the humble Delivery Man

Geraldine blushes and brushes away
The cigarette ashes that Vivian scatters
Stares out of the window at the things that she says
While gossip within her competes with the widow

Ever since he's gone, she feels like crying all the time
She knows for sure Vivian is lying
Now she has a daughter to raise as she can
She just wouldn't trust that Delivery Man

Ivy puts down the ghost story she's reading
Looks up at that face on the wall

Thinking about how her father lay bleeding
Shot in the back 'cos orders were misleading
And how a flag and a medal don't have any meaning

On the 5th of July as they tore down the fair
And he'd seen all the local girls who were worth kissing
With the smell of the gunpowder still in the air
They noticed that Abel and Ivy were missing

In a certain light he looked like Elvis
In a certain way he seemed like Jesus
He said "Why can't we be kind to me like you were meant to be?
When they let me out, I had a brand new identity.
Now everyone dreams of me just as they can.
I want to be your Delivery Man."

A long time ago, our point of view
Was broadcast by Mr. Bartholomew
And now the world is full of sorrow and pain
And it's time for us to speak up again

You're slack and sorry
Such an arrogant brood
The only purpose you serve is to bring us our food
We sit here staring at your pomp and pout
Outside the bars we use for keeping you out

You've taken everything that you wanted
Broke it up and plundered it and hunted
Ever since we said it
You went and took the credit
It's been headed this way since the world began
When a vicious creature took the jump from Monkey to Man

Monkey to Man

Every time man struggles and fails
He makes up some kind of fairytales
After all of the misery that he has caused
He denies he's descended from the dinosaurs

Points up to heaven with cathedral spires
All the time indulging in his base desires
Ever since we said it
He went and took the credit
It's been headed this way since the world began
When a vicious creature took the jump from Monkey to Man

Monkey to Man

(yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah)

Big and useless as he has become
With his crying statues and his flying bomb
Goes 'round acting like the chosen one
Excuse us if we treat him like our idiot cousin

Hangs up flowers and bells and rhymes
Hoping to hell someone's forgiven his crimes
Fills up the air with his pride and praise
He's a big disgrace to our beastly ways

In the fashionable nightclubs and finer precincts
Man uses words to dress up his vile instincts
Ever since we said it
He went and took the credit
It's been headed this way since the world began
When a vicious creature took the jump from Monkey to Man

Nothing clings like Ivy
Frightened by the dark
Though she cuts deep
It never leaves a mark

No one quite like Ivy
Ever gets it straight
What she believes
She won't negotiate

All the words of tenderness
That never quite got through
She said "You know how young girls are
From my contempt for you."

Outside in the hollow
She may dare herself
For there may be
A serpent in the grass

Nothing clings like Ivy
Trying to scare herself
And it may strike or
Wait for her to pass

All the words of tenderness
That she never possessed
"So what's the use of promises?
I had my fingers crossed."

All the words of tenderness
That never quite got through
She said, "I laughed behind your back
When I told them to you."

Nothing clings like Ivy
Frightened by the dark
Though she cuts deep
It never leaves a mark

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

Tell me now
Or are you only teasing?
I felt the cold hard facts of life
Five degrees from freezing
Does it amuse you to always hurt me so?
I try my best it's not enough
Should I give up and let you?

What more is there to take from me?
There's nothing else to give you, dear
There's nothing more that I can lose
Except this Heart Shaped Bruise

It will fade
From purple to violet
It will fade
Just as the day dissolves into twilight

Tell me now
Or am I only dreaming?
You said that you'd be mine for life
And now you say you're leaving
If I could hold you once more before you go
When I approach you just lash out
Should I give up and let you?

What more is there to take from me?
There's nothing else to give you, dear
There's nothing more that I can lose
Accept this Heart Shaped Bruise

It will fade from purple to violet
It will fade?

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

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."

(Elvis Costello and Henry Burnett)

Well I recall his parting words
Must I accept his fate?
Or take myself far from this place
I thought I heard a black bell toll
A little bird did sing
Man has no choice
When he wants everything

[Chorus:]
We'll rise above the scarlet tide
That trickles down through the mountain
And separates the widow from the bride

Man goes beyond his own decision
Gets caught up in the mechanism
Of swindlers who act like kings
And brokers who break everything
The dark of night was swiftly fading
Close to the dawn of the day
Why would I want him
Just to lose him again

[Chorus 2x]