Favorite Elvis Costello line?

[Niall G. Pendry]

This is too rich to pass up:

I used to like the clever ones like many of the ones mentioned above to which i would add lines like

"I wish you luck with a capital F"

or

"I catch you taking liberties and they do not impress me

Attach me to your credit card and then you can undress me" or

"Everything you say now sounds like it was ghost written."

I've always loved that Motel Matches line referenced above. Nowadays i think i prefer the simpler lines like

"The truth can't hurt you. It's just like the dark.

Scares you witless, but in time you see things clear and stark" or how about

"I can give you anything but time"

Iunno, there's so much more.

[Niall G. Pendry]

All the lies upon the tongues of all the girls upon the rail

Will ruin any man who moves too soon

[Gobias Industries]

Blame it on Cain

Don't blame it on me

OH it's nobody's fault

but we need somebody to burn

 

Here we are livin' in paradise

livin' in luxury

oh the thrill is here but it won't last long

you better have your fun before it moves along

and you're already looking for another

fool like me

[G_willy]

I am surprised that this hasn't been posted yet:

 

What's so funny 'bout peace love and understanding?

[RainDogToo]

Watching the Detectives:

 

Though it nearly took a miracle to get you to stay,

it only took my little fingers to blow you away

 

You Belong to Me:

 

Your eyes are absent, your mouth is silent;

pumping like a fire hydrant.

Things you see are getting hard to swallow.

You're easily led, but you're much too scared to follow.

 

Bedlam:

 

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

 

The Judgement:

 

There'll be lies

There'll be tears

A jury of your peers

With the pitiful look of experience

Hand down the Judgement

 

And if I've done wrong

And loved you too long

Stand up and just testify

How can you deny it?

 

Objection overruled

I wait for my reprieve

With trust of the deceived

The wisdom of the fooled

[boywiththorninside]

I am surprised that this hasn't been posted yet:

 

What's so funny 'bout peace love and understanding?

 

Nick Lowe penned that one.

[caliber66]

Only takes one itchy trigger

One more widow, one less white nigger

[stooka]

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

[ms. yvon]

"i'd like to be his funeral director"

[boywiththorninside]

I can't lie on this bed anymore it burns my skin

You can take the truthful things you've said to me

And put them on the head of a pin

[kidsmoke]

I said, "I'm so happy I could die."

She said, "Drop dead," then left with another guy...

-"The Angels Want To Wear My Red Shoes"

Easily one of my all-time favorites. When I saw him at Hollywood High all those years ago, someone lobbed a red high-top sneaker onstage during that song. I always kinda wondered if someone had gone home that night wearing a single shoe, having been caught up in the impulse of the moment.

 

My first Stiff Records purchase was their first release, the quiet little single from Elvis, "Less Than Zero". I was blown away by his talent then, and still am.

 

As a sucker for waltz time, may I offer up the lyrics to "New Amsterdam":

 

you're sending me tulips mistaken for lilies

you give me your lip after punching me silly

you turn my head till it rolls down the brain-drain

if I had any sense now I wouldn't want it back again

 

chorus

new amsterdam it's become much too much

'til I have the possession of everything she touches

'til I step on the brake to get out of her clutches

'til I speak double dutch to a real double duchess

 

down on the main spring listen to the tick-tock

collect all the faces that move in your block

twice-shy and dog-tied because you've been bitten

everything you say now sounds like it was ghost-written

 

chorus

 

back in london they'll take you to heart after a little while

though I look right at home I still feel like an exile

 

somehow I found myself down at the dockside

thinking about the old days of liverpool and rotherhide

transparent people who live on the other side

living a life that is almost like suicide

 

chorus

 

All of it is great, but I particularly like the clever wordplay of that chorus.

 

And this line...boy do I know people like this: "everything you say now sounds like it was ghost-written"

[zoom]

He's acting innocent and proud still you know what he's after

Like a matador with his pork sword, while we all die of laughter

In his turquoise pajamas and motorcycle hat

I hope you're happy now because you'll soon put pay to that

[RainDogToo]

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

 

Oh, yes! I forgot about that one. I love that song and that album! It's one of my favorites!

 

Also, here is a new song that was co-written by T Bone Burnett. I was lucky enough to hear Elvis premiere it at the Bob Dylan show this past September.

 

 

From Sulfur to Sugar Cane:

 

It's not very far from sulfur to sugar cane

Everywhere I travel pretty girls call my name

I give them a squeeze and they shoot me a wink

I buy their hard-headed husbands a long cool drink

You better come up smelling sweet 'cos you're a long time stinking

It's a little too late to complain

It's not very far from sulfur to sugar cane

 

 

Now if you catch my eye and it seems to run down your leg

It's like striking a match pretty hard upon a powder keg

They tell you from the borders to the waters of the gulf

If you take all the sugar you will end up in the sulfur

And you're burning

Hello baby I'm pleased to meet ya

I wouldn't do you wrong, honey

I wouldn't cheat ya, honey

When can I see you again?

Wrap you up in cellophane

It's not very far from sulfur to sugar cane

It's not very far from sulfur to sugar cane

 

 

Then your eyes fill up with brine

When you're drowning in wine

It's like the last days of Rome

With the despots and divine

And there's no place like home for a little doll from China

It's a little too late to complain

It's not very far from sulfur to sugar cane

 

You can go west to Texas

Go east to Mississippi

You can run out of money

You can run out of pity

Throw open your purse until you're crying for mercy

Go to Alabama

Escape Louisiana

I'm digging like a miner North and South Carolina

And then if you continue you will end up in Virginia

[the_fliz1]

Only takes one itchy trigger

One more widow, one less white nigger

 

I was gonna put that one. "Olivers Army" is my favorite EC song but I chose one from "I Wanna Be Loved" instead:

 

 

I guess I'm a victim of loneliness

But why should this be my destiny?

A foolish man for a lot of my life

Shouldn't there be someone

Someone for me?

[kidsmoke]

I was gonna put that one. "Olivers Army" is my favorite EC song but I chose one from "I Wanna Be Loved" instead:

 

 

I guess I'm a victim of loneliness

But why should this be my destiny?

A foolish man for a lot of my life

Shouldn't there be someone

Someone for me?

 

Good lines!

 

I also love Oliver's Army!

[airtaco]

Great thread! EC is the best. Here's a vicious verse from Senior Service that I've always loved:

 

I want your company car

I want your girlfriend and love

I want your place at the bar

Because there's always another man

To chop off your head and watch it roll into the basket

If you should drop dead tonight then they won't have to ask me twice

 

Continue on!

[MattZ]

Continue on!

 

...it's a breath you took too late

it's a death that's worse than fate.

[boywiththorninside]

My head is spinning and my legs are weak

Goose step dancing, can't hear myself speak

Hope in the eyes of the ugly girls

That settle for the lies of the last chancers

When slow motion drunks pick wallflower dancers

You come here looking for the ride to glory

Go back home with a hard luck story

[northern lights]

get your mind off

 

the sweet behind of

 

our little angel

[PA stars]

The sky fell over cheap Korean monster-movie scenery

And spilled into the mezzanine of the crushed capsule hotel

Between the Disney abattoir and the chemical refinery

And I knew I was in trouble but I thought I was in hell

 

Death wears a big hat 'cause he's a big bloke