Elvis Costello & The Attractions

I've got troubled thoughts
And self esteem to match
What a catch
What a catch whoa oh

You'll never catch us
So just let me be
Instead I'll be fine
Till the hospital
Or american embasy
Miss Flack
Said I still want you back
Yeah
Miss flack said
I still want you back
I've got troubled thoughts
And self esteem to match
What a catch
What a catch
And all I can think of
Is the way
I'm the one who charmed
The one who gave up on you
Who gave up on you

They say the captain
goes down with the ship
So when the world ends
Will God go down with it
Miss flack said
I still want you back
Yeah
Miss flack said
I still want you ba a ack
I've got troubled thoughts
And Self esteem to match
What a catch
What a catch
And all I can think of is the way
I'm the one who charmed
The one who gave up on you
Who gave up on you
Na na nanana na na nanana
Na na nanana na na
What a catch
what a catch what a catch

I will never end up like him
Behind my back I already am
Keep a calender
This way you will always know
I've got troubled thoughts
and self esteem to match
What a catch what a catch
And all I can think of is the way
I'm the one who charmed
The one who gave up on you
Who gave up on you
Where is your boy tonight
I hope he is a gentleman
maybe he wont
Down down in an
earlier round sugar
Dance dance we're
falling apart to half time
dance dance these
This aint a scene
it's a goddamn arms race
this aint a scene it's a
One more night and one more time
thanks for the memories even
Growing up growing up

I've got troubled thoughts and
Self esteem to match
What a catch
What a catch

Romeo was restless, he was ready to kill
He jumped out the window 'cause he couldn't sit still
Juliet was waiting with a safety net
He said, "Don't bury me 'cause I'm not dead yet"

Why don't you tell me 'bout the mystery dance?
I wanna know about the mystery dance
Why don't you show me 'cause I've tried and I've tried and I'm still mystified
I can't do it anymore and I'm not satisfied

Well, I remember when the lights went out
And I was tryin' to make it look like it was never in doubt
She thought that I knew and I thought that she knew
So both of us were willing but we didn't know how to do it

Why don't you tell me 'bout the mystery dance?
I wanna know about the mystery dance
Why don't you show me 'cause I've tried and I've tried and I'm still mystified
I can't do it anymore and I'm not satisfied

Well, I was down under the covers in the middle of the night
Tryin' to discover my left foot from my right
You can see those pictures in any magazine
But what's the use of looking when you don't know what they mean?

Why don't you tell me 'bout the mystery dance?
I wanna know about the mystery dance
Why don't you show me 'cause I've tried and I've tried and I'm still mystified
I can't do it anymore and I'm not satisfied
I can't do it anymore and I'm not satisfied
I can't do it anymore and I'm not satisfied
...

That Charlie Sedarka was a-playing the piano like he was pawing a dirty book
He bit a hole in his big bottom lip and gave his very best little boy look
It was a song with a topical verse which I'm afraid he then proceeded to sing
Something about the moody doomed love of the Fish-Finger King

(chorus)
You're nobody in this town
You're nobody in this crowd
You're nobody 'til everybody in this town thinks you're poison,
Got your number, knows it must be avoided
You're nobody 'til everybody in this town thinks you're a bastard

Mr. Getgood moved up to Self-Made Man Row
Although he swears that he's the salt of the earth
He's so proud of the "kick-me-hard" sign that they hung on his back at birth
He said "I appreciate beauty, if I have one, then it's my fault"
"Beauty is on my pillow, beauty is there in my vault"

(chorus)

The girl with the eternity rock went down on her bookie to buy some stock
Now all her signs in the shopping arcades say "The corporation thief is The New
Jesse James"
Her clothes and her attention were scant, her eyes were everywhere,
Her eyes were like absinthe
The little green figures that dance on his screen say everything you want to
hear and nothing they mean
They made love while she was changing her dress
She wiped him off, she wiped him out and then she made him confess
A little amused by the belief in her power
You must remember this it was the fetish of the hour

(chorus

Bentley said to Craig "Let him have it Chris"
They still don't know today just what he meant by this
Craig fired the pistol, but was too young to swing
So the police took Bentley and the very next thing
Let him dangle
Let him dangle

Bentley had surrendered, he was under arrest, when he gave Chris Craig that
fatal request
Craig shot Sidney miles, he took Bentley's word
The prosecution claimed as they charged them with murder
Let him dangle
Let him dangle

They say Derek Bentley was easily led
Well what's that to the woman that Sidney Miles wed
Though guilty was the verdict, and Craig had shot him dead
The gallows were for Bentley and still she never said
Let him dangle
Let him dangle

Well it's hard to imagine it's the times that have changed
When there's a murder in the kitchen that is brutal and strange
If killing anybody is a terrible crime
Why does this bloodthirsty chorus come 'round from time to time
Let him dangle

Not many people thought that Bentley would hang
But the word never came, the phone never rang
Outside Wandsworth Prison there was horror and hate
As the hangman shook Bentley's hand to calculate his weight
Let him dangle

One day you're going to have to face
A deep dark truthful mirror
And it's going to tell you things that I still love
you too much to say
The sky was just a purple bruise, the ground
was iron
And you fell all around the town until you
looked the same
Chorus:

The same eyes, the same lips, the same lie from
your tongue trips
Deep dark, deep dark truthful mirror
Deep dark, deep dark truthful mirror

Now the flagstone streets where the newspaper
shouts ring to the boots of roustabouts
But you're never in any doubt, there's something
happening somewhere

You chase down the road till your fingers bleed
On a fiberglass tumbleweed

You can blow around the town, but it all shuts
down the same

Chorus

So you bay for the boy in the tiger-skin trunks
They set him up, set him up on the stool
He falls down, falls down like a drunk
And you drink till you drool
And it's his story you'll flatter
You'll stretch him out like a saint
But the canvas that he splattered will be the
picture that you never paint

Chorus

A stripping puppet on a liquid stick gets into it
pretty thick
A butterfly drinks a turtle's tears, but how do
you know he really needs it?

'Cos a butterfly feeds on a dead monkey's hand,
Jesus wept he felt abandoned
You're spellbound baby there's no doubting that
Did you ever see a stare like a Persian cat?

Chorus

Is it all in that pretty little head of yours?
What goes on in that place in the dark?
Well I used to know a girl and I would have
sworn that her name was Veronica
Well she used to have a carefree mind of her
own and a delicate look in her eye
These days I'm afraid she's not even sure if her
name is Veronica
Chorus:
Do you suppose, that waiting hands on eyes,
Veronica has gone to hide?
And all the time she laughs at those who shout
her name and steal her clothes
Veronica
Veronica
Did the days drag by? Did the favours wane?
Did he roam down the town all the time?
Will you wake from your dream, with a wolf at
the door, reaching out for Veronica
Well it was all of sixty-five years ago
When the world was the street where she lived
And a young man sailed on a ship in the sea
With a picture of Veronica
On the "Empress of India"
And as she closed her eyes upon the world and
picked upon the bones of last week's news
She spoke his name outloud again
Chorus
Veronica sits in her favourite chair and she sits
very quiet and still
And they call her a name that they never get
right and if they don't then nobody else will
But she used to have a carefree mind of her
own, with devilish look in her eye
Saying "You can call me anything you like, but
my name is Veronica"
Chorus

wish you'd known me when I was alive, I was a funny feller
The crowd would hoot and holler for more
I wore a drunk's red nose for applause
Oh yes I was a comical priest

With their cardboard hands by their sides,
here's a naked man and lady
And they're yours to cut out and keep
So you can dress them up maybe
They don't know just who they are, or who they're
supposed to be
You can make them happy or sad
Or assume their identity
So here they are in the departure lounge
It's the "Gateway to the East"
She is just another mail-order bride
She doesn't know he's a kinky beast
So he gives her a picture of Maradona and child
She wants to "roll and rock"
As he spills his beer over her, bumps and he
grinds, as he repeats "Bang-Cock"

Chorus:

There must be something that is better than this
It starts with a slap and ends up with a kiss
Begins with you bawling and it ends up in tears
Oh my little one, take that chewing gum out of
your ears

She might as well be in the jungle
She might as well be on the moon
He's away on a business trip, in Dusseldorf [sic], but
she's becoming immune
To the lack of glamour and danger in a West-
German city today
The nearest she comes to the "Dynasty" he
promised her
Is a Chinese takeaway

Chorus

Though he only taught her three little words, it
doesn't matter if they're dirty or clean
He can only control what they look like
He can never possess what they mean
Now he wants to whisper in her ear
All the shrinking nothingness
But something always comes between them,
I wonder if you can guess

Chorus

I saw a newspaper picture from the political
campaign
A woman was kissing a child, who was obviously
in pain
She spills with compassion, as that young child's
face in her hands she grips
Can you imagine all that greed and avarice
coming down on that child's lips
Well I hope I don't die too soon
I pray the Lord my soul to save
Oh I'll be a good boy, I'm trying so hard to behave
Because there's one thing I know, I'd like to live
long enough to savour
That's when they finally put you in the ground
I'll stand on your grave and tramp the dirt down

When England was the whore of the world
Margeret [sic] was her madam
And the future looked as bright and as clear as
the black tarmacadam
Well I hope that she sleeps well at night, isn't
haunted by every tiny detail
'Cos when she held that lovely face in her hands
all she thought of was betrayal

And now the cynical ones say that it all ends
the same in the long run
Try telling that to the desperate father who just
squeezed the life from his only son
And how it's only voices in your head and
dreams you never dreamt
Try telling him the subtle difference between
justice and contempt
Try telling me she isn't angry with this pitiful
discontent
When they flaunt it in your face as you line up
for punishment
And then expect you to say "Thank you"
straighten up, look proud and pleased
Because you've only got the symptoms, you
haven't got the whole disease
Just like a schoolboy, whose head's like a tin-can
filled up with dreams then poured down
the drain
Try telling that to the boys on both sides, being
blown to bits o

I'm going to make you even fear the dream you dream
So don't even think about it don't make a wish
You think that I don't see you as you trawl those young weak fish
Hooked on those poor wonders, 'til they want you alone
Though they can't tell a cuckoo-clock from the squeals of saxophones
That's when they'll fear my name
Stalin Malone

I'm telling you the day will come when this man gets what he merits
Though people still wear animal skins to ward off evil spirits
Only wife-swapping and witchcraft woke the dormitory town
'Til horse's heads up in the trees came dripping down
Yes, horse's heads up hung in the trees after the bird had flown
Did you wonder of my whereabouts as the barrack-room was blown
Did anybody call my name?
Stalin Malone

In a room called creation, where you all obey my laws
Where Seconal is gravity and pain is like applause
You think that this phenomenon is some coincidence
But I've got people everywhere, you're under
my surveillance, in the pocket of my pants
Okay, she left me, but I'll soon get over that
Falling out of the

She looked like she learned to dance from a
series of still pictures
She's madly excited now, she throws her hands
up like a tulip
She looks like an illustration of a cocktail party
Where cartoon bubbles burst in the air,
champagne rolls off her tongue
Like a second language
And it should have been her biggest night
The satellite looks down on her as she begins
to cry

All over the world at the very same time people
sharing the same sorrow
As the satellite looks down her darkest hour is
somebody's bright tomorrow

He pulled on a cigarette, in the crook of his
first finger
Felt the static electric charge of her perfect
hour-glass figure
As he undressed her with his eyes her weakness
was his talent
How could she know as she stepped through
the lights, that her dress would become
transparent
And with his face pressed to the screen, he
muttered words he'd never dare to say if she
could see him

All over the world at the very same time
People sharing the same cheap sensation the
thrill of watching somebody watching those
forbidden things we never mention

Chorus:

The satellite looks down right now and forever
What it has pulled apart let no man tether his
own body to his dream,
His dream to someone else
Oh no, oh no.

She went back to a pitiful compromise
He'd go back to his family
But for the matter of a thousand miles that
separated them entirely
In the hot unloving spotlight, with secrets
it arouses
Now they both know what it's like inside a
pornographer's trousers
And in a funny way it's anonymous, the satellite
it blesses us and makes these

She's a feline tormentor, not any vaudeville wife
But with a drunk-town lament he leads her a miserable life
But when he's full of that beer-champagne
She pads, paws, pads, paws and claws
And if he should wake up in some terrible dive
And he don't know if he's so-so
But he's so surprised he's alive
"Come on little honey, let me under your hive"
She pads, paws, pads, paws and claws

She pads, pads around the bedroom, practicing ways to flirt
He paws, pours another drink and anything in a skirt
Anything wearing a necklace
He thinks of claws scratching his back
He's going out there he's not coming back

She's got spider-leg fingers, sharpened whenever he strays
And she carries a bird-purse, with all of her womanly ways
Till he's drinking hairspray, she knows that he never would dare
She could be in pictures if she wasn't all covered in fur
He's coming home now and here's the surprise
You wouldn't believe the lies that he tries
She cut him down to her favourite size
She pads, paws, pads, paws and claws

She pads, paws, pads, paws and claws

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

All the children testified that Miss Macbeth
wore a fishbone slide in her cobweb tresses
Her eyes were black like first foot coal, clutched
as white as chalk-dust
Her fingers sweated india-ink and poison-pen
letters
There is a hungry hanging tree, just below your
bedroom window
You can hear her take a broom to beat out a
tattoo on the ceiling
Her bloodless face ran red inside but was she
really evil, was she only pantomime
Now the chalk on the wall says that somebody
saves, that somebody's face has just been
washed off the pavement
Into a puzzle where petrol will be poisoned by rain
Miss Macbeth saw her reflection
As confetti bled it's colours down the drain

Chorus:

And everyday she lives out another love song
It's a tearful lament of somebody done wrong
Well how can you miss what you've never
possessed
Miss Macbeth

Well we all should have known when the
children paraded
They portrayed her in their fairytales, sprinkling
Deadly Nightshade
And as they tormented her she rose to the bait
Even a scapegoat must have someone to hate

And everyday she lives out another love song
"You're up there enjoying yourself, and I know
it's wrong"

Well how can you miss what you've never
possessed
Miss Macbeth

Sometimes people are just what they appear to be
With no redemption at all
We try to walk upright when we can't even crawl

Miss Macbeth has a gollywog she chucks under
the chin and she whispers to it tenderly
Then sticks it on a pin
And It might be coincidence, but a boy down
the lane, that she said "went white as he could
do," then doubled over in p

You're a fine one, oh yes you are
You're a fine one just like me
And we're friends now, oh wouldn't you say?
We've been friends now, oh haven't we?
Stay at home tonight if you know what's good for you
I can't say more it would be telling
For if you don't what will become of you
Just isn't worth any king's shilling

I will answer when they make that call, pull upon this ragged uniform
Up 'til now I know it's been your trade
Spit and polish the potato parade
Stay at home tonight if you know what's good for you
I can't say more it would be telling
For if you don't what will become of you
Just isn't worth any king's shilling

Please don't put your silly head in that pretty soldier's hat
You've done your duty, that's enough of that

I don't know if what I'm doing is right
I don't know if you should be forgiving
But for me it seems it means my life
While for you it could just be a living
Stay at home tonight if you know what's good for you
I can't say more it would be telling
For if you don't what will become of you
Just isn't worth any king's shilling

Please don't put your silly head in that British soldier's hat
You've done your duty that's enough of that

You're a fine one, oh yes you are
You're a fine one, just like me

Yesterday's coal train came to rest in the bitter cutting
And as the signals took an age to change it was easy pickings
So you go to the movies where they smash it up
You want to feel your heart pumping it makes you feel good
All through the karaoke girls were squealing the hits
As another mercedes-benz gets blown to bits

While all the time in the camptown theatres of piccadilly
They're going to throw a black-face minstrel show for the barefoot children
That they're always selling
They'll say "it's quaint" as the guilty ones faint and claim they ain't underneath this paint
We interrupt these liberal saints with their whips and watermelon

Reports are coming in of a coal-train robbery



It's like another world, or it had better be

So we return to whitewashed pout of his committed lips
Since he was declared the long lost fountain
Of youth that drips and drips and drips
They'll be sending him round from door to door,
To sell you back what's already yours
"so many good deeds, so little time"
Say the advertising agency swine
When man has destroyed what he thinks he owns
I hope no living thing cries over his bones
If you don't believe that i'm going for good
You can count the days i'm gone and chop up
The chairs for firewood

Reports are coming in of a coal-train robbery
It's like another world, or it had better be

Hush my little one don't cry so
You know your daddy's bound to go
They took his pride
They took his voice
Don't upset him now, don't make a noise
They said "You're lucky son you've still got a choice"
Last boat leaving
Don't waste your tears
It's not as if I'm in chains
I don't want to go now, it would be better for
you, too, if I don't look back when we sail

Hush my dear, while I whisper it in your ear
We're not going to sail tonight
We're going to disappear
And it feels like a punishment, but I don't know what for
Take care of your mother, son, it's you that she adores
'Cos no matter how long we sail we'll never reach the shore
Last boat leaving

So dry your tears
It's not as if I'm in chains
When you go to school, son, you'll read my
story in history books
Only they won't mention my name

So hush now, my darling, my sweet little one
I hope that you never have to do what I've done
Do you know what I've done?
Why I'm going away? On the last boat leaving
this stinking town
It's the last boat leaving, it's the last boat leaving

You've had my innocence, you've had my heartbreak
You've taken the place where I once belonged
Now what more can you take?