Genius Lyrics
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Elvis Costello & The Imposters – Magnificent Hurt
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[Verse 1] / After talking in tongues, I began to preach / “What falls from the branch is an apple or peach” / Hold on to me, there's a red alert / It’s the way you make me feel
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Elvis Costello – Pump It Up
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One of Costello’s best known songs and a prime example of his witty wordplay, “Pump It Up” is pure sexual frustration, its high octane lyrics being a pun for the speaker’s
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Elvis Costello – Everyday I Write the Book
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Costello said of writing the lyrics, he “invested less emotionally in it than any other songs from that time” in his career.
It was a song I wrote in ten minutes almost as a
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Elvis Costello – Alison
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According to his 2015 autobiography, Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink, Costello reports that his go-to story about the writing of “Alison” is that he became inspired upon
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Elvis Costello – Less Than Zero
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[Verse 1] / Calling Mister Oswald with the swastika tattoo / There is a vacancy waiting in the English voodoo / Carving 'V' for vandal on the guilty boy's head / When he's had
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Elvis Costello – (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding
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[Verse 1] / As I walk through this wicked world / Searching for light in the darkness of insanity / I ask myself, is all hope lost? / Is there only pain and hatred and misery? / [
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Elvis Costello – (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes
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[Chorus] / Oh, I used to be disgusted / And now, I try to be amused / But since their wings have got rusted / You know, the angels want to wear my red shoes / But when they told me
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Elvis Costello (Ft. The London Symphony Orchestra) – She
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[Verse 1] / She may be the face I can't forget / A trace of pleasure or regret / May be my treasure or the price I have to pay / She may be the song that summer sings / May be the
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Elvis Costello – Almost Blue
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Inspired by Chet Baker’s “The Thirll is Gone”.
The song tells the story of a man and his girl reflecting on the things they used to do. Elvis feels that the girl has lost her
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Elvis Costello – New Lace Sleeves
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[Verse 1] / Bad lovers face to face in the morning / Shy apologies and polite regrets / Slow dances that left no one enough / Outraged glances and indiscreet yawning / Good manners
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Elvis Costello – Watching the Detectives
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“Watching the Detectives” is a 1977 single by English singer-songwriter Elvis Costello. It was his first single that credited his backing band, the Attractions, and gave him his
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Elvis Costello – The Beat
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[Verse 1] / We're all going on a summer holiday / Vigilantes coming out to follow me / Heard somebody say they're out to collar me / Anybody want to swallow me? / [Pre-Chorus] / It
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Elvis Costello – New Lace Sleeves
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[Verse 1] / Bad lovers face to face in the morning / Shy apologies and polite regrets / Slow dances that left no one enough / Outraged glances and indiscreet yawning / Good manners
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Elvis Costello – I'm Not Angry
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[Verse 1] / You're upstairs with the boyfriend while I'm left here to listen / I hear you calling his name; I hear the stutter of ignition / I could hear you whispering as I crept
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Elvis Costello – Oliver's Army
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In Oliver’s Army, Costello winds catchy and elegant melodies around slightly off-kilter chord progressions, the production works to the record’s advantage, filling the songs out
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Elvis Costello – Possession
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[Verse 1] / 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 / [Chorus] / Possession
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Elvis Costello – Accidents Will Happen
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[Verse 1] / Oh, I just don't know where to begin / Though he says he'll wait forever, it's now or never / But she keeps him hanging on, the silly champion / She says she can't go
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Elvis Costello – Miracle Man
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A song about trying to impress/be with a girl who doesn’t think anything is good enough. This song was featured in the film The Godfather 3, in a scene where Vincent and Mary
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Elvis Costello – Seven Day Weekend
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[Verse 1] / 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 say
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Elvis Costello – This Year's Girl
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Costello tells fans what the song means in his autobiography, he writes
Everything in the song is about how the way men see woman and what they desire from them. If there is a lie
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Elvis Costello – Radio, Radio
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Costello wrote this song in protest to BBC radio and its restrictions on playing some Punk rock songs, specifically “God Save The Queen” by the Sex Pistols.
Costello performed
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Elvis Costello – Mystery Dance
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Virgin sex is the subject here and Costello presents it with his usual satirical humor.
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Elvis Costello – Man Out of Time
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[Verse 1] / So this is where he came to hide / When he ran from you / In a private detective's overcoat / And dirty dead man's shoes / The pretty things of Knightsbridge / Lying
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Elvis Costello – No Action
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[Verse 1] / I don't wanna kiss you, I don't wanna touch / I don't wanna see you 'cause I don't miss you that much / I'm not a telephone junkie / I told you that we were just good
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Elvis Costello – Peace In Our Time
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[Verse 1] / 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
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Elvis Costello – Night Rally
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In the title, Costello refers to the kinds of mass meetings that promote fascism and violence or use demagoguery to get otherwise sane people to fear another group or minority
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Elvis Costello – Lip Service
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[Verse 1] / You left the motor running / But I know you're so attractive / Getting in some sharp practice / You better not do anything reckless / [Pre-Chorus] / But everybody is
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Elvis Costello – I Want You
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[Intro] / Oh, my baby, baby / I love you more than I can tell / I don't think I can live without you / And I know that I never will / Oh, my baby, baby / I want you so it scares me
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Elvis Costello – Opportunity
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[Verse 1] / Born in the middle of the second big baby boom / Those noisy boys just might've spoken up too soon / Now I'm looking for a little girl, I wonder where she's gone / Big
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Elvis Costello – Blue Chair
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Another Costello breakup song. John Lennon spoke of the blues as a “chair”: “The blues is a chair, not a design for a chair or a better chair … it is the first chair. It is a chair
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Elvis Costello – Uncomplicated
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[Verse 1] / 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 rose' wine
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Elvis Costello – Lipstick Vogue
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[Verse 1] / Don't say you love me when it's just a rumor / Don't say a word if there is any doubt / Sometimes, I think that love is just a tumor / You've got to cut it out / You
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Elvis Costello – Beyond Belief
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[Verse 1] / History repeats the old conceits / The glib replies, the same defeats / Keep your finger on important issues / With crocodile tears and a pocketful of tissues / I'm
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