I stole a glance at my reflection, Though these days I tend to hurry by How pale the rose of my complexion, How strange the knowing look that's in my eye But wh...

Nothing clings like Ivy Frightened by the dark Though she cuts deep It never leaves a mark No one quite like Ivy Ever gets it straight What she believes She wo...

The ink is running The words are taught I'm sitting helpless with my paper and charts I had to follow my passion Oh well I don't get paid that much for all I d...

Don't start me talking I could talk all night My mind goes sleepwalking While Im putting the world to right Called careers information Have you got yourself an...

Born in the middle of a second big baby boom Those noisy boys just might have spoken up too soon Now I'm looking for a little girl, I wonder where she's gone Bi...

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 se...

Shall we agree that that just this once I'm gonna change my life Until it's just as tiny or Important as you like And in time we won't even recall that we spok...

This is the place where I made my best mistakes This is the place even angels don't understand I've seen the disappointment in her face And the collection of en...

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,...

Such a picture of loveliness Didn't you notice the resemblance? Doesn't it look like she could speak? Those eyes I tried to capture They are lost to me now fore...

We're gonna drink enough tonight to drown the average army By New Year's Day the next door neighbour will be goin' barmy The milkman arrives at midday with his ...

(Steve Nieve/Elvis Costello) Obscure the late afternoon with a drape Don't let him follow her latest escape Or the fanfare of taxis that needlessly played As a...

Let's go out on the town tonight My pockets are heavy with loot And get drunk and blasted (And loud in your dress of blue) I've been living from hand to mouth I...

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...

As i walk through This wicked world Searchin' for light in the darkness of insanity I ask myself Is all hope lost? Is there only pain and hatred, and misery? An...

They talked to the sister, the father and the mother With a microphone in one hand and a chequebook in the other AND THE CAMERA NOSES IN TO THE TEARS ON HER FAC...

You had your own way one too many times and now you're going to find out what it's like Just what it's like, now you're a mess You wanted something you could ne...

You had your own way one too many times and now you're going to find out what it's like Just what it's like, now you're a mess You wanted something you could ne...

If I got on my knees and I pleaded with you Not to go but to stay in my arms Would you walk out the door Like you did once before This time be different Please...

The poisoned rose That you gave to me It left me half alive And half in ecstasy But if half of your love Is all I can win Give me just a fraction But no more me...

She lives on Pony St and they should scatter flowers at her feet But when they come calling, I think it's appalling They're sober and they're polite They're dee...

He's out in the woods with his squirrel gun To try to recapture his anger He's screaming some words at the top of his lungs Until he begins to feel younger But ...

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 Poor Napoleon You always ...

If there's anything that you want If there's anything that you need There's no need to be evasive Money talks and it's persuasive Possession Now you're sending ...

You push me when I'm falling And then you put me down I guess I missed my calling I should have been a clown How much more How much more can I stand You're pour...

I ask you nicely Get my face slapped under wraps What's going on precisely Is there something wrong perhaps? Surprise, surprise (surprise, surprise) It's more ...

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 dow...

Put away forbidden playthings Amusements and distractions And dismantle the contraption and carry it away In time as beauty dissolves into glamour It slips fro...

Signal fading, listen to what I'm saying Testing, testing, this better be worth all of the breath I'm wasting Maintaining radio silence from now on Barricaded ...

Love is a burnin' thing And it makes a fiery ring Bound by wild desire I fell into a ring of fire I fell into a burning ring of fire I went down, down, down An...

She can roll her shoulder, she can roll her ass Ain't no doubt about it, she's a gamely lass Jerking with her elbow, clever with her knees When she move it over...

Is anyone there I can talk to? Give us a sign if you're with me CAN'T you see that I'm dying to hear you EVERYONE ELSE HAS LOST INTEREST AND I'M ALL ALONE IN TH...

Down by the harbourside A boat is fastened by a length of rope It was a perfect match, Dreaming of escape, Feeling almost detached Look beneath the waves - The ...

I would never do that What she is suggesting Your protective sister Loves you and adores you Everyone around you Loves you and adores you Chorus And I'm the sa...

This must be the place Second place in the human race Down in the basement Now I know what he meant Secondary modern But there must be a problem till the girls ...

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven Monday's calling you too early when you're sound asleep Bells are ringing by your bedside and out in the streets You sa...

1, 2, 3, 4 Giving you more of what for Always worked for me before Now I'm a shabby doll What's going on behind the Green elevator door With just a shabby dol...

Shadow and Jimmy were always yesterday's news Jimmy's a bowler, Shadow rents out his green bowling shoes Late Friday night when the bars are all shuttered and d...

When I fall in endless sleep I hope that I'll be buried deep Let me be the one that fortune favours Even good children got shallow graves Throw another clown to...

She may be the face I can't forget The trace of pleasure or regret May be my treasure or the price I have to pay She may be the song the summer sings May be the...

She handed me a mirror That she had gazed upon The glass still held an image The glass still held an image But it was of a man I turned from the reflection To ...

She's pulling out the pin That lets her hair fall down She shakes her head and It goes tumbling Her smile was out of place So she swept it off her face Let me ...

I got loaded last night on a bottle of gin And I had a fight with my best girlfriend When I'm drinkin' I am nobody's friend So please baby wait for me until the...

Through the sleepless nights I cry for you And wonder who Is kissing you Oh, these sleepless nights Will brake my heart in two Somehow, through the day I don?t...

Smile though your heart is aching Smile even though it's breaking When there are clouds in the sky You'll get by If you smile through your fear and sorrow Smile...

Here lies the powder and perfume The pretty clothes are scattered 'round the room And it's so like Candy Here lies the lipstick and the face The coloured table...

Poor head Can hardly move my lips for speaking I said So, what is this thing I cannot explain? I'd blame all the things I feel but can't quite place Perhaps the...

Hang my head and shut my eyes What kind of justice is this? Fool I was, I thought that you fought fire with fire Got to be more than just a soul for hire Speak...

You like coffee and you like tea Much more than you like me And everybody says watch out yeah For the sour milk-cow blues You like your coffee just a little too...

Speak darkly, my angel Or do I have to plead? The sweetness has gone out of it And all that's left is bitter barren greed A needy lover with her almost vanishe...

I want a girl to make a mess To do no wrong she must confess And then perhaps hitch up her dress 'Cos when the flashbulbs explode She's such a sensitive soul I...

(Paddy Moloney/Elvis Costello) I knew of two sisters whose name it was Christmas And one was named Dawn of course, the other one was named Eve I wonder if they...

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 ...

It's started to come to me Your new career would probably end like this All that professional lipstick pressed into an amateur kiss Farewell to the studied line...

Step inside love, let me find you a place Where all the cares of the day Will be carried away By the smile on your face We are together now and forever Come wha...

People talkin', tryin' to break us up Why don't they let us be Sticks and stones may break my bones But talk don't bother me (No) People talkin', tryin' to bre...

These few lines I'll devote To a marvelous girl covered up in my coat Pull it up to your chin I'll hold you until the day will begin Still Lying in the shadows...

It's not very far from Sulfur to Sugarcane Everywhere I travel the pretty girls call my name I give them a squeeze and they shoot me a wink I buy their hard-hea...

Times are tough for English babies Send the army and the navy Beat up strangers who talk funny Take their greasy foreign money Skin shop, red leather, hot line ...

Oh Sweet sweet Janelle I just wanted you to know That for the last time I swear I will pick up that phone and bother you So please sweet Janelle Out of curiosi...

Sweet pear, sweet pear Those who say they love you would never dare I'll watch out for you I'll always be there In the hour of distress you need not fear In al...

it's such a drag to want something sometime one thing leads to another I know was a time I wanted you for mine, nobody knew you arrived like a day, passed like ...

Hear silver trumpets will trill in the Arabic streets of Seville Oranges roll in the gutter And you pick them up And peel back the skin To the red fruit within ...

Who dries your eyes when you cry real tears? Who knows or cares what an imitation is? Only you do You can paint his nails Make him wear high heels Why waste tim...

So this award goes out to you A dedication to the youth From magazines for teens that really care Care enough to want to prove That the pretty ones Have got les...

Well, you're standing on the corner flagging all the girls you see Now do like EC and let those ladies be You know that's wrong, man, you know that's wrong Boy,...

Oh, I used to be disgusted And now I try to be amused But since their wings have got rusted You know, the angels wanna wear my red shoes But when they told me '...

The Days Take Care Of Everything (Costello) If you wanna feel sorry for yourself Then go ahead, I'm not gonna stop you Sometimes you're just like a petulant ch...

"Abel was able," so Vivian said Her shoulders flung forward Her lips in a purse She talks like the beauty that she never was Of the fabulous wild nights that sh...

(Elvis Costello/Aimee Mann) There's no charity in you And that surprises me I guess I thought you were a golden idol 'Cause I called you majesty On the balustr...

The accused will rise to be torn in two guilty of nothing but loving you this is the judgement And I'm willing to plead how you don't want me hoping this torme...

(words: costello, music: michael thomas) Beneath the turquoise pools and emerald jewels There lie the broken spines of seven ships The skulls of careless fools ...

There's a part of this feeling that I just cannot kill But the name of this thing is not love And I can't take a potion, and I won't take a pill So it tortures ...

(Ivy J Bryant) Everybody knows you been steppin' on my toes And I'm gettin pretty tired of it Keep steppin' outta line and messin' with my mind If you had any ...

It's a chilly Florentine evening Two men in evening hats Telling tales of the underground and fishing for Reds Policemen armed with Uzis stand guard but they do...

Well I recall his parting words Must I accept his fate? Or take myself far from this place I thought I heard a black bell toll A little bird did sing Man has no...

(costello/nieve) Above the tears Before the scream Invisible and secret scar The true salvation is the human voice Beloved voices of the past The forever stif...

The family circle gather round from very far and near To pass around the same remarks they passed away last year The little girl you dangle on your knee without...

Don't wait for the telephone if you want a call from me There wont be anymore, there wont be anymore And don't wait for the mailman if you want a letter from me...

Once upon another time If you had the need I'd step right in the shoes that you've been walking 'Cos someone put the hurt in you For every one to see And you on...

(Leon Payne) If today the sun should set on all my hopes and cares There is one who's smiling face the gods would see For she'll walk along beside me up the go...

I write in hopes that by the time you get this letter We may live to see a change for the better Or are we so devoted to these wretched selfish motives When the...

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...

See her picture in a thousand places 'cause she's this year's girl You think you all own little pieces of this year's girl Forget your fancy manners, forget yo...

You can run all you like from the classroom or the cot From a great big man or a tiny tot But from this day everyday will be BOXING DAY Don't need your indecisi...

(McCartney/MacManus) She was counting out the window of the outbound train All the poles of the telegraph And the rock-a-bye rhythm in the song of the rails Co...

There may be a break in the road The future looks drab and dreary But if you were here with me, dear I'd spin you a line that's far from cheer There's always so...

Bad lovers face to face in the morning Shy apologies and polite regrets Slow dances that left no warning of Outraged glances and indiscreet yawning Good manners...

(McCartney-MacManus) Twenty five fingers baby I love your nails I love your touch I love to touch you baby It never fails to kill me Some say gimme five But I...

Why are we racing to be so old? I'm up late pacing the floor I won't be told You have your reservations I'm bought and sold I'll face the music I'll face the f...

Blood and chocolate I hope you're satisfied what you have done You think it's over now But we've only just begun I asked for water And they gave me rosy wine A...

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 Veron...

Walking on thin ice, I?m paying the price I?m throwing the dice in the air Why must we learn it the hard way And play the game of life with our hearts? I gave ...

Don't say a word Don't say anything Don't say a word I'm not even listening I read in the paper about their escape They're just two bit of kids from a bunch of ...

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 Chorus: She i...

We oughta be ashamed We oughta be ashamed We use and abuse such a wonderful name See the blooming of the flowers When the spring first appears Hear the crying ...

Now that your pictures in the paper being rhythmically admired And you can have anyone that you have ever desired, All you gotta tell me now is why, why, why, w...

(Wener) Quickly she came dressed up for fame Riding her perfume downstairs Make-up like glue, she danced round the room To the sound of her corduroy flares Le...

What's her name today? What's her name today? She could be anyone I might have known you'd leave her crying What's her name again? You should be ashamed How cou...

You appeared when I was lost in reverie If this is not a dream, it's my mistake And now I lie in wait for dawn to break I'm fairly sure I'm wide awake Pardon m...