I find Elvis Costello to be one of the best song writters to come around since the Beatles. If anyone is familiar with him knows his lyrics tends to be very subjective. But the combination of his voice, the lyrics, and the piano triggers something very deep inside me. I hope you take the time to read these lyrics.


Deep Dark Truthful Mirror

One day your gonna have to face
A deep dark truthful mirror
And it's gonna 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 tips
Deep dark, deep dark truthful mirror
Deep dark, deep dark truthful mirror

Now the flagstone streets where the newspaper shouts ring to boots of roustabouts
But you're never in any doubt, there's something happening somewhere
You chase down the road 'till you 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 on a stool
He falls down, falls down like a drunk
And you drink 'till you drool
And it's his story he'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 tear, but how do you know he really needs it?
'Cos a butterfly feeds on a dead monkey's hand, Jesus wept he felt abandond
You're spellbound baby there's no doubting that
Did you ever see the stare like a Persian cat?

Chorus

Here's another one of Elvis' classics -

Complicated Shadows

Well you know your time has come and you're sorry for what you've done
You should've never have been playing with a gun
In those Complicated Shadows
Well there's a line that you must toe
and it'll soon be time to go
but it's darker than you know in those Complicated Shadows

All you gangsters and rude clowns
Who were shooting up the town
When you should have found someone to put the blame on
Though the fury's hot and hard
I still see that cold graveyard
There's a solitary stone that's got your name on

You don't have to take it from me
But I know what I spake
You think you're like iron and steel
But iron and steel will bend and break
In those Complicated Shadows

Go!

Sometimes justice you will find
Is just dumb not colour-blind
And your poor shattered mind can't take it all in
All those phantoms and those shades
Should Jump up on Judgement Day
And say to the Almighty "I'm still stinking of sin"

But the jury was dismissed
Took his neck and they give it a twist
So you see you won't be missed in those Complicated Shadows

You can say just what you like in a voice like a John Ford film
Take the law into your hands
You will soon get tired of killing
In those Complicated Shadows
Complicated Shadows
Complicated Shadows
Complicated Shadows

Go!

Dave,
It makes me really happy to know that you're an Elvis fan. I've always liked Complicated Shadows and I almost posted that one too. I also like Tramp the Dirt Down. I won't post the lyrics because it's a blatant stab at Margaret Thatcher. But with a chorus like this:

"But when they finally put you in the ground
I'll stand there laughing and tramp the dirt down."

Who wouldn't like this song? It makes you feel good to just sing it when you feel like someone has done you wrong.
Enjoy,
Mike

Hey, any attack on her is ok by me !

Dave

I wish you could hear me laughing right now!

I've been an Elvis C. fan ever since "This Year's Model" and "Armed Forces". He really has a way with words. I think my favorite of his is "Shabby Doll".

Jeff