Elvis Costello Album

Can you recall my taste at all
My little faithless one?
The fractured lie in your alibi
It didn't help you none

And you swore it was an accident
From the world of trouble you frequent
But you came back wearing that guilty scent

This is a test (this is a test)
And it's going to cut you down to scale
This is a test (this is a test)
And it looks like you're the failure
This is a test (you say you want to make it better)
This is a test (but I only want the best)
This is a test, this is a test

We can make this easy on you or we can make it rough
By the way I have to say you didn't love me enough

And you swore it was an accident
Are you sure that that is what you meant?
When you're not even competent

This is a test (this is a test)
And it's going to cut you down to scale
This is a test (this is a test)
And it looks like you're the failure
This is a test (you say you want to make it better)
This is a test (but I only want the best)
This is a test, this is a test
This is a test

Outside my window
Not long before sleep arrives
They come with their sirens
And they sweep away all the boys
Busy draining the joy from their lives
They never said their prayers out loud
And while I'm dreaming
There's a passing motor car
That broadcasts a popular song
And a girl appears to be saying
"Do you think that I'm going to go far?"

Just look at me
I'm having the time of my life
Or something quite like it
When I'm walking out and about
In London's brilliant parade

She's one of those girls that you just can't place
You feel guilty desiring such an innocent face
But of course they knew that when they cast her
Along with the red Routemaster
And the film takes place in an MGB
And a perfect re-creation of "The Speakeasy"
Everybody looks happy and twisted
Though she probably never existed
For old times' sake
Don't let me awake

I wouldn't want you to walk across Hungerford Bridge
Especially at twilight
Looking through the bolts and the girders
Into the water below
You'll never find your answer there

They sounded the "all-clear" in the occidental bazaar
They used to call Oxford Street
Now the bankrupt souls in the city
Are finally tasting defeat

Don't look at me
I'm having the time of my life
Or something quite like it
When I'm walking out and about
In London's brilliant parade
When I'm walking out and about
In London's brilliant parade

From the gates of St. Mary's, there were horses in Olympia
And a trolley bus in Fulham Broadway
The lions and the tigers in Regents Park
Couldn't pay their way
And now they're not the only ones

At the Hammersmith Palais
In Kensington and Camden Town
There's a part that I used to play;
The lovely Diorama is really part of the drama, I'd say

Just look at me
I'm having the time of my life
Or something quite like it
When I'm walking out and about
In London's brilliant parade
(x2)

Lucy Grace can't show her face down in the North End Road
For in Belgravia rumours have been whispered and suggestions have been made
Did you sell your friends out when the heat got too intense?
You say you like the danger but it's only a pretense
You say you need the money
When everybody knows you can always fall back on your inheritance

Did you bruise your arms on those false alarms?
Did you bruise your pride on his smile so wide?
Only fingertips from forbidden bliss
Did you bruise your lips on this basement kiss?

Who's that sneaking 'round the door?
You can't come here no more
Can't you go home again?
She used to sit alone for hours
Spend her evenings watering dried flowers
When her mother came to stay and finally went to bed
Lucy Grace was in the front room shooting through your head
She tried to take your breath away and give you something else instead

Did you bruise your arms on those false alarms?
Did you bruise your pride on his smile so wide?
Only fingertips from forbidden bliss
Did you bruise your lips on this basement kiss?

Next year she'll serve her function in her Audrey Hepburn hat
It still won't suit her much but she'll get over that
She'll be pale and feign indifference as they're handing out the prizes
Spilling Daddy's words of wisdom and her ugly sister's tranquilizers

Why were you so tardy putting up your guard?
When you hurt so easily and you try so hard
Did you bruise your arms on those false alarms?
Did you bruise your pride on his face so snide?
Only fingertips from forbidden bliss
Did you bruise you lips on this basement kiss?

Hey there little puppet girl
How'd you learn to walk that way?
Hey there little puppet girl
Who put the mouth in all the words you say?

Hey little puppet girl
Now it's time to dance and sing
We built your reputation to fade away the very day
You cut, cut, cut, cut, cut your string

I looked in the office mirror
And I saw that our faces matched
I looked at their offer and I saw the strings attached
They said that any girl would be impressed but still
It's better than being tied to the kitchen sink
Or stuck at the checkout till

Hey little puppet girl
Now it's time to dance and sing
We built your reputation to fade away the very day
You cut, cut, cut, cut, cut your string

I ran out screaming and of course it commenced to rain
My ears were ringing and my cheeks were tear-stained
Then her words came back to me
She said “judge me if you dare”
“When I look in the mirror, I don't see a puppet, I see a millionaire”

Hey little puppet girl
Now it's time to dance and sing
We built your reputation to fade away the very day
You cut, cut, cut, cut, cut your string

Hey there little puppet girl
Hey there little pup-pup-pup-pup-puppet
Hey there little puppet girl
Hey there little pup-pup-pup-pup-puppet
Hey there little puppet girl
Hey there little…cut, cut, cut, cut, cut it

I've grown so fond of gravity
Sometimes I like to breathe
And now that I've got used to it
I find it hard to say "I will be leaving"

The stars so distant, the heavens so wide
And it's not safe to even venture outside
If you see me walking and I start to cry
Don't wonder why I'm shaking my fist at the sky

'Cos I'm earthbound and my fate is unknown
Yes, I'm earthbound and I feel like, I feel like leaving my home

The forgotten rapture of sun-drenched days
Pray you didn't stay out in those poisonous rays
And if you think that this is only a dream
Jesus probably wants you for a sunbeam

'Cos I'm earthbound and my fate is unknown
Yes, I'm earthbound and I feel like, I feel like leaving my home

The mutant creatures washed up in the tide
And if I don't weep, it's only my alien pride
Businessmen barter sky-scraping deals
It's hard to credit that once this really was fields
The ground opens up and swallows your appeals
Spare us the dangerous elements that it yields

'Cos I'm earthbound and my fate is unknown
Yes, I'm earthbound and I feel like, I feel like leaving my home

The faint embrace of gravity
Is causing my delay
Yes, cancel my departure
Looks like I'm here to stay

'Cos I'm earthbound and my fate is unknown
Yes, I'm earthbound and I feel like, I feel like leaving my home

The past prima donna in buttons and bells
Is speaking what's left of her mind as the audience rebels
Do you know what I'm saying?

Those intimate melodramatic farewells
At about twenty thousand or so decibels
Do you know what I'm saying?

The lights they were dimmed, the music by Strauss
She entered on roller-skates, fetchingly tousled
She danced like an ambulance, talked like a cartoon mouse
She took off her clothes and it brought down the house
Do you know what I'm saying?

Do you know what I'm saying?
Why don't you come when I call?
Do you know what I'm saying?
Can you still hear me at all?

The male counterpart: stupid, brutal and rich
Lies under the arm of the world like an itch
Do you know what I'm saying?

Because he is such an attractive young lout
Putting words in his mouth and then trying them out
It doesn't much matter what they are about
As long as he has something nasty to spout
Do you know what I'm saying?

Boys will be boys, blood must be spilt
And nothing like show-business was ever built
For letting your critical function wilt
Under the weight of your liberal guilt
Do you know what I'm saying?

Do you know what I'm saying?
Why don't you come when I call?
Do you know what I'm saying?
Why can't you hear me at all?

He's the genuine voice of his unlovely state
And the first to complain when they start to investigate
Under his criminal past and his polythene skin
He's blowing his lines with his cheeks sucked in
Do you know what I'm saying?

Hush, now he has something special to say
"Can you put your hands together this way?"
Do you know what I'm saying?

Do you know what I'm saying?
Why don't you come when I call?
Do you know what I'm saying?
Can you still hear me at all?

Hey you! Are you looking at me?
Don't waste your time
'Cos I know your crime and I know that pose
And the lines around your eyes don't show
When your face is in repose
The skin is tightening as you touch a nerve
Did you get what you paid for
Or did you only get what you deserve?

Go home, go home, go home, go home
And don't come out again until we tell you to
Until we say you can
Go home, go home, go home, go home
And don't come out again 'til we analyze you
We despise you
But we can't help you now

The sins visit on your face
As you think about that cul-de-sac and the wit you lack
And the slanders you repeat when I don't fall at your feet
Too old to be so frightened
And too scared to tell the truth
You lie in teenage anguish
Which you can no longer blame upon your youth

Go home, go home, go home, go home
And don't come out again until we tell you to
Until we say you can
Go home, go home, go home, go home
And don't come out again as we analyze you
We despise you
But we can't help you now

We despise you
We despise you
We despise you
We despise you

You might think that you want to hold me
You might think that you'd like to scold me
Even believe that you can control me
Fill in the blanks

You fantasize you'd like to get me alone
Do you imagine that you could own me?
Well, that's a weakness that I've outgrown
Fill in the blanks

Fill in the blanks, you silly little man
Fill in the blanks
Get down and kneel, turn on your heel
'Cos my ideal is more genteel, feel me now

And I won't be told by new recruits
Not to drop my “aitches” or to show my roots
'Cos you're not fit to lick my lovely little leather boots
What's the matter, are you queer?
Or isn't that what you wanted to hear?
Feel me now

On your imitation leather sofa
In your knocked-off suit and your penny loafers
And a foreign film that you have such hopes for
Fill in the blanks
Adjani, Dalle and Fanny Ardant
He says “all those French birds give me a hard-on”
Suffer me as I beg to differ while I beg your pardon

Fill in the blanks, you silly little man
Fill in the blanks
Get down and kneel, turn on your heel
'Cos my ideal is more genteel, feel me now
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Unstoppable
Unshakeable
Unworthy
Unfaithful
Unbreakable

Incorruptible
Unattainable
Unacceptable
Unforgivable
Unforgettable

Coming undone with the nameless one

Huckleberry Hound and Huckleberry Finn
Your huckleberry friend has done you in
Finn Mac Cool
Cool Hand Luke
Luke and Matt
And that other top cat
Jack the Hat McVitie
Old blue eyes is back

Unstoppable
Unshakeable
Unworthy and
Unbreakable

Incorruptible
Unattainable
Unacceptable
Unforgivable
Unforgettable

Coming undone with the nameless one

Hogan's heroes and Logan's run
Alma Cogan
Volkswagen
Johnny Logan
Run for your wife
This is your life
...on Mars
Work, rest and play
For today
In parliament
Hill fields
W.C. Fields
Lesley Anne Down
In the tube station
Master race
Your place or mine

Unstoppable
Unshakeable
Unworthy and
Unbreakable

Incorruptible
Unattainable
Unacceptable
Unforgivable
Unforgettable

Hey, coming undone with the nameless one
Yeah, yeah

Huckleberry Hound and Huckleberry Finn
Your huckleberry friend has done you in
Finn Mac Cool
Cool Hand Luke
Luke and Matt
And that other top cat
Jack the Hat McVitie
Old blue eyes is back

Unstoppable
Unshakeable
Unworthy and
Unbreakable

Incorruptible
Unattainable
Unacceptable
Unforgivable
Unforgettable

Hey, coming undone with the nameless one
Coming undone with the nameless one

This used to seem so important
Then again what is there left to say?
I came up with a dream once
And if I had my way
I would never answer when they tried to wake me up
From my beautiful reverie
It might be a dream, but it's my dream
A fantastic disastrous affair

I want to stand forever
'Til the mountains crumble into the sea
And that's not as unlikely as it used to be
'Til the waters rise and we're swept away
And that could happen almost any day

Yes, I want to stand forever
From now 'til the thirteenth of never
You can throw me in the hellish river
Of my eternally hopeful endeavour
Yes, I want to stand forever