Elvis Costello - The Very Best of Elvis Costello [compilation] (1994) by Elvis Costello (보컬) on maniadb.com

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

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

don't start me talking
I could talk all night
my mind goes sleepwalking
while I'm putting the world to right
called careers information
have you got yourself an occupation

CHORUS:
oliver's army is here to stay
oliver's army are on their way
and I would rather be anywhere else
but here today

there was a checkpoint charlie
he didn't crack a smile
but it's no laughing party
when you've been on the murder mile
only takes one itchy trigger
one more widow, one less white nigger

chorus

hong kong is up for grabs
london is full of arabas
we could be in palestine
overrun by a chinese line
with the boys from the mersey and the thames and the tyne
but there's no danger
it's a professional career
though it could be arranged
with just a word in mr. Churchill's ear
if you're out of luck you're out of work
we could send you to johannesburg

oliver's army is here to stay
oliver's army are on their way
and I would rather be anywhere else
but here today
and I would rather be anywhere else
but here today
and I would rather be anywhere else
but here today

costello.elvis/watching_the_detectives
Watching the Detectives

Nice girls, not one with a defect
cellophane shrink-wrapped, so correct
Red dogs under illegal legs,
She looks so good that he gets down and begs
She is watching the detectives, ooh - "he's so cute"
She is watching the detectives when they shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot.
They beat him up until the tear-drops start.
But he can't be wounded 'cause he's got no heart

Long shot of that jumping sign
Visible shivers running down my spine
Cut the baby taking off her clothes
Close-up of the sign that says "We never close"
You snatch a tune, you match a cigarrette.
She pulls the eyes out with a face like a magnet

I don't know how much more of this I can take
She filing her finger nails while they're dragging the lake
She is . . .

You think you're alone until you realize you're in it.
Now your fear is here to stay. Love is here for a visit.
They call is instant justice when it's past the legal limit.
Someone's scratching at the window. I wonder who is it?
The detectives come to check if you belong to the parents
who are ready to hear the worst about their daughter's disappearance.
Though it nearly took a miracle to get you to stay
it only took my little fingers to blow you away

Just like watching the detectives. Don't get cute
It's just like watching the detectives. I get so angry when the tear-drops start
but he can't be wounded cause he's got no heart.
Watching the detectives. It's just like watching the detectives.
Watching the detectives. Watching the detectives.

Oh it's so funny to be seeing you after so long, girl
And with the way you look, I understand that you are not impressed.
But I heard you let that little friend of mine
Take off your party dress.

I'm not gonna get too sentimental
Like those other sticky valentines,
'cause I don't know if you are loving somebody.
I only know it isn't mine.

Alison, I know this world is killing you.
Oh, Alison,
My aim is true.

Well, I see you got a husband now.
Did he leave your pretty fingers lying in the wedding cake?
You used to hold him right in your hand.
I'll bet he took all he could take.

Sometimes I wish that I could stop you from talking
When I hear the silly things that you say.
I think somebody better put out the big light,
'cause I can't stand to see you that way.

Alison, I know this world is killing you.
Oh, Alison,
My aim is true.
My aim is true.
My aim is true.
ad lib.

oh i just don't know where to begin
though he says he'll wait forever, it's now or never
but she keeps him hanging on, the silly champion
she says she can't go home, without a chaperone

accidents will happen, we only hit and run
he used to be your victim, not you're not the only one
accidents will happen, we only hit and run
i don't want to hear it 'cause i know what i've done

there's so many fish in the sea
that only rise up in the sweat and smoke, like mercury
but they keep you hanging on, they say you're so young
your mind is made up but your mouth is undone

chorus

and it's the damage that we do, and never know
it's the words that we don't say, that scare me so

oh there's so many people to see
so many people you can check on, and add to your collection
but they keep you hanging on, until you're well hung
your mouth is made up but your mind is undone

i know, i know, etc.

I've been on tenterhooks
ending in dirty looks,
list'ning to the Muzak,
thinking 'bout this 'n' that.
She said that's that.
I don't wanna chitter-chat.
Turn it down a little bit
or turn it down flat.

Pump it up when you don't really need it.
Pump it up until you can feel it.

Down in the pleasure centre,
hell bent or heaven sent,
listen to the propaganda,
listen to the latest slander.
There's nothing underhand
that she wouldn't understand.

Pump it up until you can feel it.
Pump it up when you don't really need it.

She's been a bad girl.
She's like a chemical.
Though you try to stop it,
she's like a narcotic.
You wanna torture her.
You wanna talk to her.
All the things you bought for her,
putting up your temp'rature.

Pump it up until you can feel it.
Pump it up when you don't really need it.

Out in the fashion show,
down in the bargain bin,
you put your passion out
under the pressure pin.
Fall into submission,
hit-and-run transmission.
No use wishing now for any other sin.

Pump it up until you can feel it.
Pump it up when you don't really need it.

I'm the living result
I'm a man who's been hurt a little too much
and I've tasted the bitterness of my own tears
sadness is all my lonely heart can feel

I can't stand up for falling down
I can't stand up for falling down

simple though love is
still it confused me
why I'm not loved the way I should be
now I've lived with heartaches
and I've roomed with fear
I've dealt with despair
and I've wrestled with tears

I can't stand up for falling down
I can't stand up for falling down

the vow that we made
you broke it in two
but that don't stop me from loving you

I can't stand up for falling down
I can't stand up for falling down

I was tuning in the shine on the light night dial
doing anthing my radio advised
with every one of those late night stations
playing songs bringing tears to me eyes
I was seriously thinking about hiding the receiver
when the switch broke 'cause it's old
They're saying things that I can hardly believe.
They really think we're getting out of control.

Radio is a sound salvation
Radio is cleaning up the nation
They say you better listen to the voice of reason
But they don't give you any choice
'cause they think that it's treason.
So you had better do as you are told.
You better listen to the radio.

I wanna bite the hand that feeds me.
I wanna bite that hand so badly.
I want to make them wish they'd never seen me.

Some of my friends sit around every evening
and they worry about the times ahead
But everybody else is overwhelmed by indifference
and the promise of an early bed
You either shut up or get cut up
they don't wanna hear about it.
It's only inches on the reel-to-reel.
And the radio is in the hands of such a lot of fools
tryin' to anaesthetise the way that you feel

[Chorus]

Wonderful radio
Marvelous radio
Wonderful radio
Radio, radio...

With a handful of backhanders and a bevy of beauty
You're going off limits
Going off duty
Going off the rails
Going off with booty
They tell tales of fiction found on all the criminal types
Lead to a higher ranking man or a face with thin red stripes

Chorus:
The boys next door
The mums and dads
New weds and nearly-deads
Have you ever been had in Clubland?

There's a piece in someone's pocket to do the dirty work
You've come to shoot the pony
They've come to do the jerk
They leave him half way to paradise
They leave you half way to bliss
The ladies' invitation never seemed like this

Chorus

The long arm of the law slides up the outskirts of town
Meanwhile in Clubland they are ready to pull them down
Hey

The right to work is traded in for the right to refuse admission
Don't pass out now, there's no refund
(when) Did you find out what you were missing
The crowd is taking forty winks minus ten percent
You barely get required sleep to go lingering with contemptment
Thursday to Saturday
Money's gone already
Some things come in common these days
Your hands and work aren't steady

Chorus

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 that I've got to be
The meaning of my life is

She, she, she

We play these parlour games
We play at make believe
When we get to the part
I say that I'm going to leave

Everybody loves a happy ending
But we don't even try
We go straight past pretending
To the part where everybody loves to cry

Indoor fireworks
Can still burn your fingers
Indoor fireworks
We swore were safe as houses

They're not so spectacular
They don't burn up in the sky
But they can dazzle or delight
Or bring a tear
When the smoke gets in your eyes

You were the spice of life
The gin in my vermouth
And though the sparks would fly
I thought our love was fireproof

Sometimes we'd fight in public, darling
With very little cause
But different kinds of sparks would fly
When we got on our own behind closed doors

Indoor fireworks
Can still burn your fingers
Indoor fireworks
We swore were safe as houses

They're not so spectacular
They don't burn up in the sky
But they can dazzle or delight
Or bring a tear
When the smoke gets in your eyes

It's time to tell the truth
These things have to be faced
My fuse is burning out
And all that powder's gone to waste

Don't think for a moment, dear
That we'll ever be through
I'll build a bonfire of my dreams
And burn a broken effigy of me and you

Indoor fireworks
Can still burn your fingers
Indoor fireworks
We swore were safe as houses

They're not so spectacular
They don't burn up in the sky
But they can dazzle or delight
Or bring a tear
When the smoke gets in your eyes

When the smoke gets in your eyes
When the smoke gets in your eyes

Now I have nothing
So God give me strength
'Cos I'm weak in her wake
And if I'm strong I might still break
And I don't have anything to share
That I won't throw away into the air
That song is sung out
This bell is rung out
She was the light that I'd bless
She took my last chance of happiness
So God give me strength
God give me strength

I can't hold on to her
God give me strength
When the phone doesn't ring
And I'm lost in imagining
Everything that kind of love is worth
As I tumble back down to the earth

That song is sung out
This bell is rung out
She was the light that I'd bless
She took my last chance of happiness
So God give me strength

God if she'd grant me her indulgence and decline
I might as well
Wipe her from my memory
Fracture the spell
As she becomes my enemy

Maybe I was washed out
Like a lip-print on his shirt
See, I'm only human
I want him to hurt
I want him
I want him to hurt

Since I lost the power to pretend
That there could ever be a happy ending
That song is sung out
This bell is rung out
She was the light that I'd bless
She took my last chance of happiness
So God give me strength
God give me strength