Elvis Costello

diminish; grow smaller

Veronica (Veronica)

Did her days drag by, did the favors wane?

Did he roam down the town all the while?

voiceless; without or deprived of the use of speech or words

I want you

Since when were you so generous and inarticulate

I want you

said or done in a way that lacks thought or is not sincere

History repeats the old conceits

The glib replies, the same defeats

Keep your finger on important issues

spitefulness; feeling a need to see others suffer

Charged with insults and flattery

Her body moves with malice

Do you have to be so cruel to be callous?

give insincere compliments; excessive or insincere praise

In a sense she still smiles very sweetly

Charged with insults and flattery

Her body moves with malice

deserving pitying scorn (as for inadequacy)

The blowtorch amusements, the voodoo chalice

The pale pathetic promises that everybody swallows

The teenage girl is crying 'cos she don't look like a million dollars

a body of people come together in one place

'Cause You really started something

And then the bride, the groom, the congregation and the priest

All got onto the train when we were three stations east, yeah

an explosive sound that is a sign of amusement

When you don't call up

Little sniggers on your lips

Little triggers in your grip

greed; reprehensible acquisitiveness

As that young child's face in her hands she grips

Can you imagine all that greed and avarice

Coming down on that child's lips?

enjoy; derive or receive pleasure from; get enjoyment from; take pleasure in

Because there's one thing I know

I'd like to live long enough to savor

That's when they finally put you in the ground

distrustful; believing the worst of human nature and motives

♪

And now the cynical ones

Say that it all ends the same in the long run

an object of irrational reverence or obsessive devotion

A little amused by the belief in her power

You must remember this it was the fetish of the hour

You're nobody in this town

relating to or given to crude bodily pleasures and appetites

She's discovered wearing last night's dress

The carnal and cunning, she couldn't express

Who do you think she's trying to impress?

clasp; a holding device attached to a workbench

I'm the guilty party and I want my slice

But I know you've got me and I'm in a grip-like vise.

They can't touch me now

stimulating; serving or tending to provoke, excite, or stimulate

In the usual way

Everything is so provocative

Very very, temporary

having or showing lowered moral character or standards

Just like a well-known financier

You know I've never been corrupt

I'll pay you a compliment

to bring together in assembly by or as if by command

You lack lust, you're so lacklustre

Is that all the strength you can muster

Possession

a striking or unlikely combination of events

He was late this time last week

Who can she turn to when the chance of coincidence is slim

'Cause the baby isn't old enought to speak

weaken; destroy property or hinder normal operations

And when the phone rang only once she took a dreadful fright

Little things just seem to undermine her confidence in him

He was late this time last week

disrespectful; marked by casual disrespect

I shed a single tear for my predicament

Don't act surprised or insolent

It's the way you make me feel, magnificent hurt

attractive; according with custom or propriety

If there was a gentleman caller

To a comely wench

And a snooping peeper

covering; cover with veneer

Or pay the price

Peel off your skin like a thin veneer

If something tells you something that I didn't hear from you

unimportant; lacking worth or importance

For a career on the stage

These little things seem inconsequential

Except to Hetty O'Hara Confidential

residue; convert into slag

Sliding down the banister in your Sunday suit

Lying on a slag heap of blankets and magazines

She's only thirty-five going on seventeen

nonsense; unintelligible talking

Italian and german

In sign language, morse code, semaphore and gibberish

Have you forgotten how to say it

filthy; morally degraded

Punch the clock and in time you'll get pulled apart, if you're married on paper and not in your heart

But I won't be told that life with the one you love is sordid, just because some authority says you can't afford it

And it's the greatest thing (4x)

rude; (of persons) so unrefined as to be lacking in discrimination and sensibility

Or the cigarette-girl in the sizzle hot-pants

All the words of love seem cruel and crass

When you're tough and transparent as armoured glass

positive thinker; a person disposed to take a favorable view of things

I thought it was you and your optimist's view of the clock

And how it's always another day

show; break the trust of; reveal unintentionally

You'll hear my voice

Something is bound to betray it

But do people living in Toledo

bargain; discuss the terms of an arrangement

Good Friday arrived, the sky darkened on time

'Til he almost began to negotiate

She held his head like a baby and said

unwillingness; (physics) opposition to magnetic flux (analogous to electric resistance)

Despite the temptation, I try to be very strong

If my reluctance seems a surprise

It's not 'cause I don't want you

to waste time by loitering or delaying

So pack up your troubles in a stolen handbag

Don't dilly-dally boys, rally round the flag

Give us our daily bread in individual slices

nobility; a privileged class holding hereditary titles

They come from lovely people with a hard line in hypocrisy

There are ashtrays of emotion for the Fagins of the aristocracy

What would you say, what would you do?

of, relating to, or affecting cats or the cat family

She's a feline tormentor, not any vaudeville wife

But with a drunk-town lament he leads her a miserable life

opposite to; very opposed in nature or character or purpose

You'll come in a sweetheart and you'll go out a stranger

Well you try to love her but she's so contrary

Like a chainsaw running through a dictionary

seeming; clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment

And in turn they made you miserable

To be the heir apparent to the kingdom of the invisible

So you knock the kids about a bit, because they've got your name

victim; someone who is punished for the errors of others

She rose to the bait

Even a scapegoat

Must have someone date

remorseful; feeling or expressing pain or sorrow for sins or offenses

My tears were never enough to keep that girl alive

Now she seems contrite will she make the change

Chorus: the next time 'round

award; a tangible symbol signifying approval or distinction

You were lost in the smokescreens of cavalcades

And accolades instead of traitor's pay

Where will you find the courage to say

ageless; continuing forever or indefinitely

In one of those reversed earthquakes

Trapped in the House of the Perpetual Succour where

Bitterness always ends so pitifully

threatening; threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments

The man in the corner of this picture has a sinister purpose

In the teeming Temple of the Railroad Kings

fragile; having little elasticity; hence easily cracked or fractured or snapped

You'll hang your sad, aching head

Behind a brittle smile or a shrill of laughter

What if we only get what we deserve?

theft; the act of taking something from someone unlawfully

I didn't lead you on, but there will always be

A little larceny in everyone

So hush and don't you cry, I'm trying to be kind

a formal or elegant letter

I believe there was something that I wanted to say

Before I conclude this epistle

But you would forgive me for holding my tongue

tighten; a grammatical category of verbs used to express distinctions of time

I wish that I could push a button

And talk in the past and not the present tense

And watch this hurtin' feeling

a hazardous situation; broadly

But there's a thought, without your kiss

I wake on the precipice above the abyss

And though the touch of your lips these fears dismiss

false name; a name that has been assumed temporarily

Alibis I must protect

An alias you won't detect

I won't place the blame

comfort; give moral or emotional strength to

Sometimes i pretend you'll come back again

And you'll console the heart you stole

Have pity on the man

an assemblage, collection, or group of usually related persons, qualities, or things

But the times are passing from illumination

Like bodies falling from a constellation

An uncivil war divides the nation

cure; a remedy that stops or controls the effects of a poison

The poison fountain pen

Now requires the antidote

And if I overdo this

government; the organization that is the governing authority of a political unit

Will the red head in my arms go up in flames?

Or dissolve mighty regimes with her screams

Or so it seems

imply; introduce or insert (oneself) in a subtle manner

On every vain, mediocre monstrosity

I gossip and I pry and I insinuate

If the failure is great, then it tends to fascinate

to take by force or wrongfully

Over the waves the Royal Navy rules

To go and plunder the Kingdom of Benin

Where certain history ends and sheen begins

smother; conceal or hide

By the dog biscuit factory

Quick dry the tears and stifle the cheers

As he sinks just like a stone

bond; a restraint that confines or restricts freedom

Picture the scene at the old salt house docks

They loaded the iron shackles and locks

Between a sandstone crocodile, a barrel and a bale

causing weariness, restlessness, or lack of interest

Tape starts running, he's gonna tell you something

Strings start strumming, another humdrum conundrum

Signing off now

riddle; a difficult problem

Tape starts running, he's gonna tell you something

Strings start strumming, another humdrum conundrum

Signing off now

maneuver; deceive by a mock action

Parting the waves of those

Few feint friends

Fingers once offered are now too

rowdy; unpleasantly loud and harsh

The ghostly first wife glides up

On stage, whispering to raucous talkers

Spilling family secrets out to

threatening; threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments

Don't open the door 'cos they're here

Above there's an ominous humming

Below there's a murmur of prayer

seriousness; the state of being sober and not intoxicated by alcohol

Now you're walking off to jeers, the lonely sound of jingling spurs, the "toodle-oos" and "Oh, my dears" down at "The Argyle"

Vile vaudevillians applaud sobriety

There's no place for a half-cut cowboy in polite society

uncaring; marked by a lack of interest

Loose change lonely, not the right amount

Forgotten Man of an indifferent nation

Waiting on a platform at a Lancashire station

excite; gather

Wait until they've got you running

To the night rally, night rally, night rally

Everybody's singing with their hand on their heart

overused; repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse

Adieu, my little ballyhoo, you broke my heart in two

And now I haunt the bars and scent those trite affairs

She went home to gather a comb and caught him unawares

commonplace; a trite or obvious remark

I thought we'd make it all the way

Allowing myself one more cliché

The last hurrah, the first bouquet

section; (grammar) an expression including a subject and predicate

Tell me who's been taken in

Oh, you talk about the new boss automatic clause

But of course they make it all up for you

fool; fool or hoax

Far from this tin-pan alley oop

Did you think I was your dupe?

I hear such lies and howlers

make fun; treat with contempt

And the face of the clock

Seemed to merrily mock

These five minutes with you

pretender; a flamboyant deceiver; one who attracts customers with tricks or jokes

Poor families expecting loved one's return

Only summon some charlatan spectre

Oh, when will they learn?

reveal; make known to the public information that was previously known only to a few

He weeps at the blows

But down in a location that we cannot disclose

He turns the dial slowly

unimportant; (informal) small and of little importance

Turn up the volume just to turn it down

The trivial secrets buried with the profound

It's enough to put a church underground

assume; take to be the case or to be true; accept without verification or proof

Dig the dirt up from the tomb

Dr. Watson, I presume

♪

blessing; a desirable state

And a wolf began to howl in tune

I announced for all mankind a boon

Stand aside you big baboons

complaint; express grief verbally

One lonely bird is singing

Lower the hood hung of his lament

Dash him down on cold cement

ban; forbid the public distribution of ( a movie or a newspaper)

I saw through your pretense but in my defense

There are a few events I think will spare the censor

Sulky girl