Elvis Costello [보컬,기타,피아노,작곡,프로듀서]

If only dust could talk
What would we hear it say?
Before it's brushed aside
Just as it's swept away

It's just the evidence
It's of no consequence
It's only flesh and bone
Why don't we leave it alone?

If only dust could gather into lines of chalk
Around a silhouette detective fiction walks
For it's the only witness that can testify
Can I spit out the truth?
Or would you rather just swallow a lie?

Why did they dam the land?
How did they flood the plain?
Did they erase the name?
And wipe away the stain
You kept your mouth well shut
Appeared to turn your coat
Now there's a name for you but it's stuck in my throat

If dust could only mutter
Or in laughter trill
If it could warn and whisper from the windowsill
But it's the only witness that can testify
Can I split out the truth?
Or would you rather just swallow a lie?

Here comes the juggernaut
Here come The Poisoners
They choke the life and land
And rob the joy from us
Why do they taste of sugar?
Oh, when they're made of money
Here come the Lamb of God
And the butcher's boy, sonny

If dust could only gather in the needle track
Then it would skip a beat and it would jump right back
If dust could only gather in a needle track
Then it would skip a beat
And all the sense I lack

15 Petals
One for every year I spent with you
Jewels and precious metals will never do

I love you twisted
And I love you straight
Id write it down but I cant concentrate
Words wont obey they do as they please
And all I am left with are these...

15 Petals
One for every year I spent with you
Jewels and precious metals will never do

The thorn is blunted
The perfume will fade
I stand where sun is set
I crave the shade
Down in the tavern with Mary and Jane
Palms reached for alms as they throw

15 Petals...
One for every hour that were apart
Tears and useless battles
Ill never start

Mussolini highway
Theres a frankincense tree
I picked some up there to carry with me
You take me to places where Id never go
I love you more than you know

15 Petals
Scattered in the path where you will tread
15 Petals
Of vivid red

One wine-bar vamp with the polythene face
Ein Panzer Kommander with no hair in place
The crowded battallions drilled holes in the square

Bells are chiming for victory
Theres a page back in history
45
They came back to the world that they fought for
Didnt turn out just like they thought
45

Here is a song to sing to do the measuring
What do you lose, what do you gain, what do you win?

Nine years later a child is born
Theres a record, so you put it on
45
Nine years more, if were lucky now
Nine-year-old puts his money down
45
Every scratch. every click, every heartbeat
Every breath that I held for you
45
Theres a stack of shellac and vinyl
Which is yours now and which is mine?
45



Bass and treble heal every hurt
Theres a rebel in a nylon shirt
But the words are a mystery, Ive heard
Til you turn it down to 33 and 13
Cos it helps with the elocution
Corporations turn revolutions
45

So dont just weep and shed
Just change your name instead
What do you lose when it all goes to your head?

I heard something peculiar said:
Perhaps hes got a shot and now hes dead
45

Bells are chiming and tears are falling
It creeps up on you without a warning
45
Every scratch, every click, every heartbeat
Every breath that I bless
Id be lost, I confess
45

five gears in reverse
girls looking for the big lift
somebody send out for the night nurse
please don't stick me on the late shift

if you don't know by now
nobody's going to tell you
if you don't know by now
the shock will probably kill you

*and if your patience is exhausted
and you still cannot decide
you're sitting in a garage
contemplating suicide
and you have no motivation
you can't even catch your breath
all the business and celebrations
is driving you to debt

five gears in reverse
you think I don't know what I'm doing
and at a fashionable first
like walking down the road to ruin
but if you're safe and sound
don't let me interrupt you
And if you don't go down
How could I corrupt you

*Repeat

The snitch, the snoop, the tattletale lead a threadbare up the stairs
Adieu, my little ballyhoo, you broke my heart in two
And now I haunt the bars and scent those trite affairs
She went home to gather her comb and caught him unawares

And there was her man enjoying the lay of the land
He took a walk in the dark with a dish from the stand
Girls and their creations, tight in the brightest grenadine
But I'd take all that I've seen for a slow drag with Josephine

Josephine, Josephine
But I'd trade all that I've seen for
A slow drag with Josephine

Gavotte, garrotes, Cotillions and slow Arabesques
Drum rolls and Farandoles were all made in jest
But when you make that move, I can't resist
When will you declare your armistice?

Josephine, Josephine
But I'd trade all that I've seen for
A slow drag with Josephine

In another time and place, a different fate was cast
He tried to skeddle-daddle-do, she might have slapped him
Just for saying, "Grant one more chance before you pass
Then curse the nurse that named me the first or bury me at last"

And in three-quarter time, the true and the false
Dancing the 'Hesitation Waltz'
Then comes the flirtation and temptation
Hip, hip, hooray, listen to what I say
Then you can take it away

You can read right through a book of matches
But that won't make you smart
You can laugh in the face of watches
But time will only break your heart

Kings reign beneath umbrellas
Hide pennies down in cellars
And money pours down and yet
No everyone gets soaking wet

When bores and bullies conspire
To stamp out your spark
Listen for...
A Voice In The Dark

Not a moment too soon as we blue the moon
And a wolf begins to howl in tune
I announced for all mankind
A boon
Stand aside you big baboon
Now I'm the a prize invention
You're the image of yourself
Forget your cares
And disapproving stares
I'm not here to try to jump your borders
Just ask your nieces and daughters

I'm flat as sole, I'm happy as a clam
But they don't know the kind of man I am
Little fish swimming in a jealous shoal
Now my net is overflowing
And I suddenly seem to be all seeing and all knowing
I've got something right there
They you need to hear
But have no fear

Lend a hand
Lend an ear
If your rent-money is in arrears

We'll be striking up a symphony bandstand
Long of hair and loose of tooth
There'll be pirouettes and startling handstands
And who but acrobats know how to tell the truth
When is said that then redundant
They gallivant in peg-leg pants
I'll be your servant
You'll be my pal
I'll be ever faithful you know I shall
There's no fool like an old fool
Who blames it all upon his youth
When times are tough and you find you're down
Without a star to wish upon
Just listen for...
A Voice In The Dark

I was striking through a box of matches
Hoping that one would spark
I heard somebody calling to me
A voice in the dark
A sound both wild and gentle
Daring and confidential
I thought there was music playing
But it was all and only talk
When liars and bullies conspire to stamp out spark
Fill up that empty space in your heart
Listen up, when the herald says, "Hark"
Believe in just a voice in the dark...

You did it 'cause you wanted
Alibi, alibi
And you took it
Cause you need it
Alibi, alibi

But if I've done something wrong there's no "ifs and buts"
'Cause I love you just as much as I hate your guts
Alibi, alibi, alibi...

And you don't need anybody
Alibi, alibi
But you are the only one that knows this
Alibi, alibi
You deserve it 'cause you're special
Alibi, alibi
Maybe Jesus wants you for a sunbeam
Alibi, alibi

But if I've left something out
I apologize
But if you look in my eyes
Then I'm sure you'll see...
Alibis, alibis, alibis...

Sometimes I'm so forgiving
Everything seems bad to me
But I can't go on living
With this alibi, alibi, alibi...

"Insane," what a mundane
Alibi, alibi
And you only wanted to be famous
Alibi, alibi
Sorry, but your mommy doesn't love you
Alibi, alibi
Stop me if you've heard this...
Alibi, alibi

But if I've done something right then don't be surprised
There are soldiers who will kill but refuse to die

But if I've done something wrong there's no "ifs and buts"
'Cause I love you just as much as I hate your guts
Alibi, alibi, alibi, alibi...

You were weak...
You couldn't help it
Alibi, alibi
But you never had a pony
Alibi, alibi

And you don't need anybody
Alibi, alibi
But you are the only one that knows this
Alibi, alibi
You deserve it 'cause you're special
Alibi, alibi
Maybe Jesus wants you for a sunbeam
Alibi, alibi

And you're such a people person
Alibi, alibi
And I will be true to you forever
Alibi, alibi
But you're stupid and you're lazy
Alibi, alibi
Maybe we can make the future better
Alibi, alibi

And you don't need anybody
Alibi, alibi
But you are the only one that knows this
Alibi, alibi
You deserve it 'cause you're special
Alibi, alibi
Maybe Jesus wants you for a sunbeam
Alibi, alibi

Sometimes I'm so forgiving
Everything seems bad to me
But I can't go on living
With this alibi, alibi, alibi...

You were happy when you were poor
And more honest and that's your...
Alibi, ali

Mistreat me darling, and I might just disappear
Upon freighter running dark out of Algiers
Put tiny grains in children tears
While taking twenty five percent
Of all the flashbulbs and mementos
From the mechanized divisions rolling over your frontiers

I saw my baby talking to a man today
Speaking softly in a confidential way
I saw a shadow pull his glove off
As a bluebird flew over, life's no pleasure
When you doubt the one you love

Who are all these strangers?

I never will go back again, go back into the past
For the flood is rising fast
You can break your window and look down
Into the muddy glass, it's a mirror or a lens to burn

Now there was a deal done in Benghazi and Belgrade
Upon a scimitar or other crooked blade
Ransacks and loots, vacated suits
And a pistol points but never shoots
An army sitting in a locomotive yard without their boots

Upstairs, your man is painting rain out in the street
Imagines woman that he's destined still to meet
He's trying to sidetrack one to count on
Caught somewhere between a countess and a courtesan
And it's only love to feign and then it's gone

Who are all these strangers?

He's a privateer as dusk gets near
A brigand after dark, his victim lined with chalk
A corsair filled with horsehair to the core
Dashed on your eyes of Adamantine
You despised his stripling whine

That little smudger and the mouthpiece that he's with
Using his clause just like a practiced finger smith
I dreamed I took his digit prints
And then I sewed them on a villain's hands
Watched him ransom and demand and then called the flatfoots in

I never will go back again, go back into the past
The flood is rising fast
You can break your window and look down
Into the muddy glass, it's a mirror or a lens to burn

Who are all these strangers?
All these strangers
Sat upon a narrow bed
Thought about the things she said
All these strangers

How I wished the night would end
Tried to stop the days ahead
I'd carve her name down in the wood
Some small remembrance if I could

Almost blue
Almost doing things we used to do
There's a girl here, and she's almost you
Almost all the things that your eyes once promised
I see in hers too
Now your eyes are red from crying

Almost blue
Flirting with this disaster became me
It named me as the fool who only aimed to be

Almost blue
It's almost touching; it will almost do
There's a part of me that's always true, always
Not all good things come to an end now; it is only a chosen few
I've seen such an unhappy couple

Almost me
Almost you
Almost blue

Here she comes with her almost ideal eyes
And her flawless skin and her petulant pout
The memory of such a long blond alibi
Still makes me want to shout out loud
You ** when you clear your head my dear
You can't come out here in those stolen clothes
Telling me all about some mystery
I hope she isn't one, I hope she isn't one of those

[Chorus]
Almost ideal eyes
Viewed through a rosey hue
So beautiful, trusting
You find liberal is an insult now and care is what you pay for
Be sure of what you're wishing for, be careful what you pray for
When you look into those almost ideal

Love is smiles, he will hypnotize you wild
He tries to analyze your dreams
Fill you up with all his big ideas while he really wants to make you
Scream out loud at the phony innocence
And pained pretence and the dismal rage.
The vacant lot that thankfully time forgot
Where you never have to act, you never have to act your age

[Chorus]

In the spirit(?) all your friends look uglier
And you find you're wearing an evening gown
Weeping over some tiny broken bird
While the sky is decorated
Shocking pink and a dirty shade of brown
And you think you need to be tranquilized
A feat that may fit to your new career
Whatever you invent you'll never be content with

[Chorus]

I found america had another corner of my wallet
it's a well kept secret, thought that I had better swallow it
thought they'd make me spit out the truth
before they find you're lying about your youth

*b movie that's all you're to me
just a soft-soap story
don't want no woman to act on me
you can't stand it when it goes to reel to reel to reel to reel
I can't stand it when I go on trying, you can't feel

all the time there's rule book in pretending
there's no one in the wings
and everybody's on the make
it's not your heart I want to break

turn out the lights I'm thinking that I want to go to sleep now
but just give me a promise that I'm supposed to keep now
I don't want some fool asking me why
when I find you're finally making me cry

*Repeat

It's not open to discussion anymore
She's out again tonight and I'm alone once more
She's all I have worth waiting for
But baby plays around
And so it seems I've always been the last to know
To hold on to that girl, I had to let her go
I wish to God I didn't love her so
'Cos baby plays around

I try to be strong hold on to my pride
She doesn't even know it's wrong, how much
I hurt Inside
And heaven knows I've tried
But baby plays around. just a plaything
It's hard to reconcile the facts I'm facing

It's not open to discussion anymore
She walks those shiny streets
I walk the worn out floor
She's all I have worth living for
Baby plays, baby plays around

you say that you'll get him and you run and get your mummy
and you're almost beaten to the punch
looking for the man who sold you the dummy
and you're almost beaten to the punch
laughing at the older guys who say it's just as well
saved by the wedding bell
almost beaten to the punch

you're looking for somebody that you can knock-about
you were almost beaten to the punch
if you've got a head for figures then you better count me out
you were almost beaten to the punch
you pull the piece but you soon call it love
you go ahead and end up
almost beaten to the punch

your body speaks so much louder than your voice
you let it do the talking so I don't have any choice
and now you find that younger guys are putting up resistance
and you're almost beaten to the punch
you'd better get out now because you'll never go the distance
and you're almost beaten to the punch
and you'll find a girl and you'll promise her anything
even a wedding ring
almost beaten to the punch

I was looking at the black and white world
it seemed so exciting
if you'd only put me back to back with that girl
when the night's inviting
with just a little lighting
there'll never be days like that again
when I was just a boy and men were men

you'd never go from moment to moment
you're the living double of a single fiction
you're the very colour poets compliment
cause you feel the fingers friction
it's a freeze frame, still it's real life
you don't want to look
cause you've seen the film and read the book

I was looking at the black and white world
trying to name some pin-up
in those days she was just a beautiful girl
now she's framed and hung up
I thought she was younger until
I saw her last night in close detail
though they all fade away when you're so pale

it's more than just a physical attraction
starts with a face and ends up a fixation
but you're never going to feel a fraction
the way it used to work on your imagination
when you were looking at a black and white world

I was looking at the black and white world
it seemed so exciting
if you'd only put me back to back with that girl
when the night's inviting
with just a little lighting
there'll never be days like that again
when I was just a boy and men were men

you'd never go from moment to moment
you're the living double of a single fiction
you're the very colour poets compliment
cause you feel the fingers friction
it's a freeze frame, still it's real life
you don't want to look
cause you've seen the film and read the book

I was looking at the black and white world
trying to name some pin-up
in those days she was just a beautiful girl
now she's framed and hung up
I thought she was younger until
I saw her last night in close detail
though they all fade away when you're so pale

it's more than just a physical attraction
starts with a face and ends up a fixation
but you're never going to feel a fraction
the way it used to work on your imagination
when you were looking at a black and white world

We stood there in the courthouse room so close but far apart
You brought along the lawyer and I brought a broken heart
The judge pronounced the words the way you wanted him to do
You changed your name from Brown to Jones and mine from Brown to Blue

I couldn't help my tears from falling on the courtroom floor
My love, they took away my right to love you anymore
My world just seemed to stop as I stood there so close to you
You changed your name from Brown to Jones and mine from Brown to Blue

The judge forgot to tell me how I'd live my life alone
What I would do without you after loving you so long
He didn't seem to care that I'm still in love with you
You changed your name from Brown to Jones and mine from Brown to Blue

I couldn't help my tears from falling on the courtroom floor
My love, they took away my right to love you anymore
My world just seemed to stop as I stood there so close to you
You changed your name from Brown to Jones and mine from Brown to Blue

No one looks in this place for motive or any hope
But for the dead shot of an amber glass, the blue light of a votive
Rain obscured the window as the pain was dulled by the grains
Absolved by spoons in flames and fear in time dissolving

It's not for the faint of pulse or anybody false
Those amateurs who simply shed their skins
So where are those traitors now, we once called patriots?
Just like those saints who seem to revel in their sins

Oh, my eyes were filled with tears that were stinging
After our assassin's work was done
The bells and hands were only there for the wringing
And we were bringing bullets for the new-born king

The trumpet sound lamenting, tramping down the blooms of the deceased
The double agent girl and the fallen priest were heading for the border
Somewhere in the high command, there stayed the palest hand
That saw the order countermand, erased a tape recorder
And then they hung him from a window cord

Swallow down that voodoo vial and stay your breath a while
Before we spill the tale that we have spun
And now I shall confide all that I have denied
Oh, I'm so sorry for the things I've done

Oh, my eyes were filled with tears that were stinging
After our assassin's work was done
The bells and hands were only there for the wringing
And we were bringing bullets for the new-born king

Can you be true?
Can this possibly be real?
I knew quite suddenly
Do you sense how I feel?
I long to hear you whisper my name
'Til you tell me
"My Darling, you may be my man."

There will be days when you must go from my sight
There may be nights when clouds deny us starlight
Only time will tell us
I hope that it speaks gently if it isn't meant to be
Then again
By then we might not be listening so attentively

I will be there
If the days bring torments and trials
To close the distances only measured in miles
I long to hold you all through the night
And to tell you
"My Darling, you make everything seem right"
And then I'll hear you calling in my name
And I'll answer
"My Darling, I may be your man"

Can You Be True? - Elvis Costello


Can you be true?
Can this possibly be real?
I knew quite suddenly
Do you sense how I feel?
I long to hear you whisper my name
'Til you tell me
"My Darling, you may be my man."

There will be days when you must go from my sight
There may be nights when clouds deny us starlight
Only time will tell us
I hope that it speaks gently if it isn't meant to be
Then again
By then we might not be listening so attentively

I will be there
If the days bring torments and trials
To close the distances only measured in miles
I long to hold you all through the night
And to tell you
"My Darling, you make everything seem right"
And then I'll hear you calling in my name
And I'll answer
"My Darling, I may be your man"

They come to town when the war is over
Dirty boots in the middle of the night
Trolling the bars, hitting on the soldiers
Boys give it up without a fight
They say, "Hey, boy, how about your place?
I know you really want to take me home"
Drop the bags off on the bedroom floor
They make love with the lights on, saying

"I'm a carpetbagger, baby
I'm coming to your town
I'm going to treat you kind
I'm going to rob you blind
I'll smile all the time
Whoa yeah, whoa yeah, whoa yeah, whoa yeah

Sally could have had any one of the boys
But she couldn't love no one she could not control
Friend of mine and her got married
I don't hear too much from him anymore
Last I heard, he had a rope 'round his neck
Dragging around the grocery store
Carrying her bags and pushing down the aisles
Saying, "I ain't got no home in this world anymore"

"I'm a carpetbagger, baby
I'm coming to your town
I'm going to treat you kind
I'm going to rob you blind
I'll smile all the time
Whoa yeah, whoa yeah, whoa yeah, whoa yeah

They come to town when the party's over
Books been written and truths been tried
They'll take it all if the door's left open
Steal the nose right from under your eyes

"I'm a carpetbagger, baby
I'm coming to your town
I'm going to treat you kind
I'm going to rob you blind
I'll smile all the time
Whoa yeah, whoa yeah, whoa yeah, whoa yeah

She stood spot lit in a plain print dress
Came howling out of the wilderness
There beat a cunning and murderous heart
Beneath that calm exterior

You know my name, you don't know my mind
Don't doubt my eyes, they betray the past
And I've already forgotten
Much more than you will ever know

Every word that I have spoken is true
Except the ones that have been broken in two
Trying to make peace after the long night of pretend
Need a pawnbroker or a moneylender

Why do you do me down, Mister?
Sing "Hallelujah", sister
Turn up the volume just to turn it down
The trivial secrets buried with the profound
It's enough to put a church underground
It's enough to put a church underground

Deflowered young and then ever since
She's tried to wash off his fingerprints
So every charlatan and prince
Was made to feel inferior

She worked for tips in a 10-cent dance
Said moving pictures might pay perchance
10,000 one-way tickets to the sparkling coast
From the blank interior

Everybody's either talking in code
Or getting ready to explode

And she was singing in a five-piece band
Seems that no one really wants this sound

Why do you do me down, Mister?
Sing "Hallelujah", sister
Turn up the volume just to turn it down
The trivial secrets buried with the profound
It's enough to put a church underground
It's enough to put a church underground

The shaft of fanlight streaked with rain
Poured through the glass, punched through the pain
A holy picture hidden in the midden of that poisoned stitch
Her lonely voice was just a ruin in these riches

She must have been dreaming this all along
Could she be redeeming herself in song?
I'm no one's martyred, plaster saint
Below the grease, beneath the paint

I'm rolling like barrel, swinging like a gallows
I'm rising up fast like all hell and all hallows

Why do you do me down, Mister?
Sing "Hallelujah," sister
I'll be damned or purgatory bound
Before those jokers ever understand

It's enough to put a church underground
It's enough to put a church underground
It's enough to put a church underground

tears on your blackmail
they turn to ransom
a point of the fingernail
says you're so handsome

*clowntime is over
time to take over
while others just talk and talk
somebody's watching where the others don't walk
clowntime is over

a voice in the shadows
says that his men know
he don't step back as expected
he's otherwise an unprotected

*Repeat

almost too good to be true
who do you?
What do you do?
Why do you do?
Everybody's hiding under covers
who's making lovers' lane
safe again for lovers

*Repeat

Tears on your blackmail
A point of the fingernail
Says that he's handsome

Clowntime is over
Time to take cover
While others just talk and talk
Somebody's watching where the others don't walk
Clowntime is over

A voice in the shadows
Says that his men know
He don't step back as expected
He's otherwise and unprotected

Chorus

Almost too good to be true
Who do you? why do you? what do you do?
While everybody's hiding under covers
Who's making lover's lane safe again for lovers?

Chorus

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

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

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

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

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

Up above me are the skies
Like the twinkle in your eyes
Blue must be the colour of the blues
In the mail, the letters came
But you can't pay for love the same
Blue must be the colour of the blues

The bluebird singin' in the trees
Seems to sympathize with me
'Cause he's not singin' like he used to do
Pretty waters in the sea
Feel as cold as you left me
Blue must be the colour of the blues

Blue days come and blue days go
The way I feel, nobody knows
Life is finally empty without you
There's a blue note in each song
That I sing since you've been gone
Blue must be the colour of the blues

Everybody knows where you go when the sun goes down
They say you only live to see the lights of town
I wasted my time when I would try, try, try
'Cause when the lights have lost their glow, you'll cry, cry, cry

Soon your sugar-daddies will all be gone
And you'll wake up some cold day and find you're alone
You'll come to me but I'm gonna tell you bye, bye, bye
When I turn around and walk away, you'll cry, cry, cry

You're gonna cry, cry, cry and you'll cry alone
When everyone's forgotten and you're on your own
You're gonna cry, cry, cry

I lie awake at night and wait till you come in
You stay a little while and then you're gone again
Every question that I ask, I get a lie, lie, lie
For every lie you tell, you're gonna cry, cry, cry

When your fickle little love gets old, no one will care for you
You'll come back to me for a little love that's true
I'll tell you no and you're gonna ask me why, why, why
When I remind you of all of this, you'll cry, cry, cry

You're gonna cry, cry, cry and you'll want me there
It'll hurt when you think of the fool you've been
You're gonna cry, cry, cry

There is a button and there's a switch
There is a needle and there's a dial
There is a lever I want to lift
And still you treat me like I'm a child
Daddy can I turn this?
Daddy can I turn this?

Will it be very dangerous?
Or will it taste nice?
You wash your hands with perfume and spice
I'll tell you when I want your advice
Daddy can I turn this?
Daddy can I turn this?

Is anybody acting your age?
You got a girl you keep in a cage
You give her present after a while
A birthday cake containing a file
Daddy can I turn this?
Daddy can I turn this?

The flashing lights go running 'round and 'round
It spits out money
It tastes like honey
So drink it down

It leaves the slightest chemical taste
It could be most unfortunate
Earrings that jangle before they're seen
She slaps your face like a tambourine
Daddy can I turn this?
Daddy can I turn this?
Daddy can I turn this?
Daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy

Here I am late again for the last time
And like I promised, I just told her goodbye
Please believe me 'cause this time, it's really over
And darling, you know I wouldn't lie

Didn't I come and tell you about her
How temptation lured she and I
Now I know it was only fascination
And darling, you know I wouldn't lie

I had to let her down easy as slow as I could
After all, she's got feelings too
But it took a little longer than I thought it would
But this time, she knows we're really through

She wanted to hold me forever
And this lipstick shows her final try
And these tears on my shoulder are proof that she failed
And darling, you know I wouldn't lie

Thank you for the days
Those endless days those sacred days you gave me
I'm thinking of the days
I won't forget a single day believe me
I bless the light
I bless the light that shines on you believe me
And though you're gone
You're with me every single day believe me

Days I remember all my life
Days where you can't see wrong from right
You took my life
And then I knew that very soon you'd leave me

But it's alright
Now I'm not frightened of this world believe me
I wish today could be tomorrow
The night is dark
It just brings sorrow let it wait

Thank you for the days
Those endless days those sacred days you gave me
I'm thinking of the days
I won't forget a single day believe me

I bless the light
I bless the light that shines on you believe me
And though you're gone
You're with me every single day believe me
Days I remember all my life
Days where you can't see wrong from right
You took my life
And then I knew that very soon you'd leave me

But it's alright
Now I'm not frightened of this world believe me...days

Thank you for the days
Those endless days those sacred days you gave me
I'm thinking of the days
I won't forget a single day believe me

I bless the light
I bless the light that shines on you believe me
And though you're gone
You're with me every single day believe me...days

Sugar cube drop into a yellow cup
What makes the world just waking up
Revolve?
Dissolve
Who know where on earth it's going to stop?
I can't hear you 'cos we're breaking up
Dissolve

And the stones in the track make work for the mechanic
The birds all fly from the branches in a panic
And a back-fire echoes down the hillside
As the last headline report dies
Dissolve

Ice is melting a the distant Pole
The gin and tonic glasses overflow
Dissolve
The precious little else that I could say
Your stupid tear of laughter washed away
Dissolve

While the poisonous light pours from the picture palace
And it flickers on, tries so hard to be scandalous
A child keeps beating on a toy drum
And the tablets dropped on your tongue
Dissolve

"So salute me in moving frame"
"I might not be there when you look again"
The mourning border card behind the clock
The hour that he passed, unwound and stopped
Dissolve

Everything seems so tranquil
Home movies with no subtitles
Don't you wish you knew what they were sayin'
When the film keeps playin', playin' ?

Oh, he's Doctor Luther's assistant
He'll close in when he seems so distant
Doctor Luther's assistant
He'll get on top of you when you lower your resistance

Some say he is just a lackey
Changing words while the ink is still tacky
He's absolutely indispensable
He keeps the other boys in suspense

Oh, he's Doctor Luther's assistant
He'll close in when he seems so distant
Doctor Luther's assistant
He'll get on top of you when you lower your resistance

Luther is locked in a broken-down cinema
Watches his wife with his video camera
Sees his best boy makin' her grin
Out of the kitchen, she's gone with the wind

Oh, Doctor Luther's assistant
He'll close in, when he seems so distant
Doctor Luther's assistant
He'll get on top of you when you lower your resistance

If dust could only talk
What would we hear it say?
Before it's brushed aside
Just as it's swept away

It's just the evidence
It's of no consequence
It's only flesh and bone
Why don't you leave it alone?

If dust could only speak
Caught in a falling beam
If dust could only cry
If dust could only scream
For it's the single witness that might testify
Could I spit out the truth?
Or would you rather just swallow a lie?

But dust is always caught behind a coat of pain
Beneath the marble fingernails of kings and saints
And in the theatre curtain where they hang a drape
Or in the ticket pocket where your hands escape

Before they start to wander
Or they start to shrink
You rub your eye a little and appear to blink
And then she caught you staring
She knows what you're thinking
What got into you is not a ghost as such
It was just dust

Here comes the juggernaut
Here come The Poisoners
They choke the life and land
And rob the joy from us
Why do they taste of sugar?
Oh, when they're made of money
Here come the Lamb of God
And the butcher's boy, Sonny

Well, I believe we just
Become a speck of dust

I spy for the "Spirit of Curiosity"
All the scandals of each vain monstrosity
I gossip and I pry and I insinuate
If the failure is great
Then it tends to fascinate

A tornado dropped a funnel cloud with twenty tons of rain
Though she had the attention span of warm cellophane
Her lovers fell like skittles in a 10-pin bowling lane
But nothing could compare with the explosion of fame

So you jumped back with alarm
Every Elvis has his army
Every rattlesnake his charm
Can you still hear me?
Am I coming through just fine?
Your memory was buried in simple box of pine

Did her green eyes seduce you and make you get so weak?
Was there fire engine red that she left upon your cheek?
It's such a shame you had to break the heart
You could have counted on but the last thing you need is another
Episode of blonde

Revolving like a jeweller's figure on a music box
Spangled curtain parted and night-club scene unlocks
Pinned and fixed and fastened in a follow spot
Arms thrown out to everyone, she's giving all she's got
To the last gasp of a wounded bandeon
Tiny man imploring to the ceiling fan
This stolen feeling
Amplified up through a busted speaker
Blaring, blasting, advertising, distorted beyond reason
Into the street where petty crime-coats shadow panic drunkards,
Half out of the taxi cab the barker seized my elbow
He thought I was another lonely, likely pilgrim looking for St. Telmo

Repeat chorus

I tried to keep a straight face but you know it never pays
He would stare into those eyes and then vacation in her gaze
She was a cute little ruin that he pulled out of the rubble
Now they are both living in a soft soap bubble

The film producer's con

I spy for the "Spirit of Curiosity"
All the scandals of each vain monstrosity
I gossip and I pry and I insinuate
If the failure is great
Then it tends to fascinate

A tornado dropped a funnel cloud with twenty tons of rain
Though she had the attention span of warm cellophane
Her lovers fell like skittles in a 10-pin bowling lane
But nothing could compare with the explosion of fame

So you jumped back with alarm
Every Elvis has his army
Every rattlesnake his charm
Can you still hear me?
Am I coming through just fine?
Your memory was buried in simple box of pine

Did her green eyes seduce you and make you get so weak?
Was there fire engine red that she left upon your cheek?
It's such a shame you had to break the heart
You could have counted on but the last thing you need is another
Episode of blonde

Revolving like a jeweller's figure on a music box
Spangled curtain parted and night-club scene unlocks
Pinned and fixed and fastened in a follow spot
Arms thrown out to everyone, she's giving all she's got
To the last gasp of a wounded bandeon
Tiny man imploring to the ceiling fan
This stolen feeling
Amplified up through a busted speaker
Blaring, blasting, advertising, distorted beyond reason
Into the street where petty crime-coats shadow panic drunkards,
Half out of the taxi cab the barker seized my elbow
He thought I was another lonely, likely pilgrim looking for St. Telmo

Repeat chorus

I tried to keep a straight face but you know it never pays
He would stare into those eyes and then vacation in her gaze
She was a cute little ruin that he pulled out of the rubble
Now they are both living in a soft soap bubble

The film producer's con

Don't tell me you don't know what love is
When you're old enough to know better
WHEN YOU FIND STRANGE HANDS IN YOUR SWEATER
When your dreamboat turns out to be a footnote
I'm a man with a mission in two or three editions

And I'm giving you a longing look
Everyday, everyday, everyday I write the book

Chapter One we didn't really get along
Chapter Two I think I fell in love with you
You said you'd stand by me in the middle of Chapter
Three
But you were up to your old tricks in Chapters
Four, Five and Six

The way you walk
The way you talk, and try to kiss me, and laugh
In four or five paragraphs
All your compliments and your cutting remarks
Are captured here in my quotation marks

Don't tell me you don't know the difference
Between a lover and a WRITER
With my pen and my electric typewriter
Even in a perfect world where everyone was equal
I'd still own the film rights and be working on the
sequel

All the leaves are turning yellow, red and brown
Soon they'll be scattered as they tumble down
Although they may be swept up so invitingly

I never did what I was told
I trampled though the amber and the burnished gold
But now I clearly see how cruel the young can be

You can convince yourself of anything
If you wish both hard and long
And I believed that life was wonderful
Right up to the moment when love went wrong
I gaze up at the tree-tops and laugh
I need somebody to shake me loose
I want to know what happens next
'Til I don't care at all
There I go
Beginning to fall"

Figure hanging on a leather band
Cog consults the watch he cups in his hand
Bejewelled movement measures lost and vanished time
Pray for the boy who makes his bed in cold earth and quicklime

[Chorus:]
So stay the hands, arrest the time
Till I am captured by your touch
Blessings I don't count
Small mercies and such
The flags may lower as we approach the favorite hour

Now there's a tragic waste of brutal youth
Strip and polish this unvarnished truth
The tricky door that gapes beneath the ragged noose
The crippled verdict begs again for the lamest excuse

[Chorus]

Put out my eyes so I may never spy
Waving branches as they're waving goodbye
Their vile perfume brings to my mouth a bitter taste
The murmuring brooks had best speak up, it's a terrible waste

[Chorus]

Maybe you'll recognize in time
Maybe one day you will discover
All the pain that lies behind
You and your unfortunate love

Somebody might be more
Unsuitable and strange
With eyes that offer everything
That are capable of danger

My mind turns over lies you told
Things said to your other lover
As sweet as they had been to me
You lay there telling them to each other

Now I stand outside the door
My head is filled phrases
Inside someone's calling out
Their voices rise in praises

Five small words
Don't you want me anymore?
Five small words
Well, who is keeping score?

Coward that you are
You would faithlessly implore
"Baby, please don't leave me
Why don't you believe me?"
Why did you deceive me?

Didn't take some shiny dagger
Tattooed fingers grip and hone
I walked under stone dark ladder
I heard your final loving moan

All your indiscretions are
So merciful and brief
Genteel poison sprinkled on
Your Spanish handkerchief

Five small words
Don't you want me anymore?
Five small words
Well, who is keeping score?

The coward that you are
You would faithlessly implore
"Baby, please don't leave me
Why don't you believe me?"
Why did you deceive me?

Maybe in time you'll want me more
Accidentally like this '45
This '45