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Elvis Costello's latest effort, All This Useless Beauty, is a mix of new and old. Half of the songs on the record were either written for or written by other artists. This collection of songs is sure to please both longtime Costello fans and people new to his music.
This album also officially reunites Elvis with his backing band The Attractions for the first time since their 1986 Album Blood and Chocolate, although members of the Attractions played on the 1994 album Brutal Youth.
The Other End (of the Telescope) Shall we agree 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 spoke Words that turned out to be as big as smoke As smoke that disappears in the air There's always something that's smoldering somewhere I know it don't make a difference to you But oh! It sure made a difference to me You'll see me off in the distance, I hope At the other end At the other end of the telescope. The promise of indulgence in my confidential voice Approached immortal danger but you'll never know how close Then down the hall I overheard such a heavenly choir They interrupted my evil designs One day you are up in the clouds The next thing you're down with the Sweet Adelines (Chorus) Lie down baby now don't say a word There there baby your vision is blurred Your head is so sore from all of that thinking I don't want to hurt you now But I think you're shrinking You're half-naked ambition and you're half out of your wits Or several tiny fractions that this portrait still omits And it's so hard to pick the receiver up when I call I never noticed you could be so small The answer was under your nose but the question never arose I know it don't make a difference to you But oh! It sure made a difference to me 'Cause late in the evening as I sit here moping With a bamboo needle on a shellac of Chopin And the cast-iron heart that you failed to tear open At the other end At the other end of the telescope
Little Atoms I arose and Marigold lay down with Curious Iris Cherry gave to Victor her prudence and her virus For the sake of purity I can recall the time and place Between Wisdom and Murder she gave up her immaculate face My poor belated chastity fell foul of grown up games, With false and lovely modesty I can recall the names I'll miss In the particle of me that cares for this I betrayed those little atoms with a kiss Patience has her virtue still but every grace must have its price I through some felicity may spin a tale of constant vice I took my better nature out, drowned it in the babbling stream Took the blossom of my youth and blew it all to smithereens Chorus And if you still don't like my song then you can just go to hell I don't care if I'm right or wrong or if my typewriter can spell But I cannot promise you I've said "Goodbye" to childish things There's still some pretty insults left and such sport in threatening Chorus And for the sake of clarity They are "Faith", "Hope", and "Charity" In the particle of me that cares for this I betrayed those little atoms with a kiss
All This Useless Beauty It's at times such as this she'd be tempted to spit If she wasn't so ladylike She imagines how she might have lived back when legends and history collide So she looks to her prince finding he's so charmingly slumped at her side Those days are recalled on the gallery wall And she's waiting for passion or humour to strike What shall we do, what shall we do with all this useless beauty? All this useless beauty Good Friday arrived, the sky darkened on time 'Til he almost began to negotiate She held his head like a baby and said "It's okay if you cry" Now he wants her to dress as if you couldn't guess He desires to impress his associates But he's part ugly beast and Hellenic deceased So she finds that the mixture is hard to deny Chorus She won't practice the looks from the great tragic books That were later disgraced to face celluloid It won't even make sense but you can bet If she isn't a sweetheart or plaything or pet The film turns her into an unveiled threat Nonsense prevails, modesty fails Grace and virtue turn into stupidity While the calendar fades almost all barricades to a pale compromise And our leaders have feasts on the backsides of beasts They still think they're the gods of antiquity If something you missed didn't even exist It was just an ideal -- is it such a surprise? Chorus [x2]
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!
Why Can't A Man Stand Alone? Why can't a man stand alone? Must he be burdened by all that he's taught to consider his own? His skin and his station, his kin and his crown, his flag and his nation They just weigh him down You know pride is a sin that we tend to forgive But it gets hard to live When you don't have the love in her heart to begin with Why can't a man stand alone? Why can't a woman be just what she seems? Must she be tarnished by men who can only be men in their dreams? When beauty meets ignorance they shout in the street Repeating their offer to each girl they meet The respect that she needs, it isn't a gift But it gets hard to lift yourself up When you don't have the strength to begin with Why can't a woman stand alone? Why can't a baby sleep at night and dream of the time to come And never fear the world outside the touch of someone very near Why can't a man stand up? Why can't a man stand up? Why can't a man stand alone?
Distorted Angel Strange things seem to occur, somewhere behind the nursery door Though I was just a bit of a kid, it was the bit that she was looking for Now I don't know where to begin confessing The way she's making me feel it can't be a sin I was taught to believe you were looking down on everyone And your benevolent face is beautiful to gaze upon Now I just don't know who to tell to go to hell Who put the old devil in the distorted angel? Distorted Angel Pure illuminated sweetness Frightening small children is just about your only weakness I thought that you would tell me what I'm living for But I can't see you anymore I don't know what we did but I'm sorry if it made you cry And if there's any justice at all I'd be punished for it I'd surmise It will mark the spot very well where I fell Under the shadow of the distorted angel Beneath the shadow of the distorted angel Below the shadow of the distorted angel Angel Beneath the shadow of the distorted angel Below the shadow of the distorted angel Angel
Shallow Graves 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 the lions Throw another Joan on the blaze Cast me away on the cruel calm ocean and leave me for days and days and days and days and days I won't lie in this poor shallow grave I won't lie, I won't lie in this poor shallow grave Dig me down deep where the dead men sleep I won't lie in this poor shallow grave Bless the poor 'cos like the rich They all end up in a ditch In this world of fools and knaves Even good children got shallow graves The tinker, the tailor, the fabulous five Nobody gets out of this alive Chorus Dig me down deep where the dead men sleep I won't lie in this poor shallow grave Dig me down deep where the dead men sleep I won't lie in this poor shallow grave Dig me down, dig me down, dig me down deep I won't lie in this poor shallow grave
Poor Fractured Atlas 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 back at his desk in the city we find Our trembling punch-drunken fighter Who can't find the strength now to punish the length Of the ribbon in his little typewriter Poor Fractured Atlas Threw himself across the mattress Waving his withering pencil As if it were a pirate's cutlass I'm almost certain he's trying to increase his burden He said "That's how the child in me planned it; A woman wouldn't understand it" I believe there was something that I wanted to say Before I conclude this epistle But you would forgive me for holding my tongue 'Cause man made the blade and the pistol Yes man made the waterfall over the dam To temper his tantrum with magic Now you can't be sure of that tent of azure Since he punched a hole in the fabric Chorus A woman wouldn't understand it A woman wouldn't understand it
Starting To Come To Me 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 lines and carefully broken hearts The overpowering perfume and the glimpse of her garter Mingling with the sweet smoldering scent of the martyr Well it's starting to come to me (come to me, come to me) Starting to come to me So you began to recognize the well-dressed man that everybody loves It started when you chopped off all the fingers of those pony skin gloves Then you cut a hole out where the lovelight used to shine Your tears of pleasure equal measure crocodile and brine You try to laugh it off saying "I knew all the time... But it's starting to come to me" (come to me, come to me) Starting to come to me Sometimes you bring me down to play reluctant confidant You say you may reward him if he gives you what you want But these are days to treasure and to hold They are much too precious to be sold You'd probably play the pirate if you weren't so busy digging up the gold Now you could tell he wanted you 'cause you almost taste it on his breath But you always cheated life just like the bold dare-devil cheated death Incidentally, late last night your understudy finally got what you deserve In private she's seductive but in public she's prim, porcelain and nervous Afraid someone will recognize the shame in her eyes You've still got your dignity or the next best disguise You never know when to say no and when to compromise But it's starting to come to me (come to me, come to me) Starting to come to me (come to me, come to me) Starting to come to me
You Bowed Down I expect you're entitled to know why I'm making contact With acquaintances scattered all over the land I'd promise you now and again that I'd honour the contract If it hadn't crumbled away in my hand So we broke that vow independently now But I don't know why you absolutely deny You bowed down (you bowed down, you bowed down) You bowed down (you bowed down, you bowed down) When you first looked away I might say it was really a kindness It must have hurt you to see how dreams sour Now they say that justice and love are the next things to blindness Well you're getting plenty of both of them now And so you parade where appointments are made And never meant to be kept Unless you accept You bowed down (you bowed down, you bowed down) You bowed down (you bowed down, you bowed down) You value the burnt amber of falling leaves And you long to delay As you feel their breath as they whisper "It won't hurt you now to betray If you just bow down" And now every time that we meet on the edge of hysteria You're helping them sell off some new party line I remember a time when you would have seemed so superior Now you say "Will you please meet this good friend of mine?" So you're in demand as long as you kiss their hand But all the applause is for their name not yours You bowed down (you bowed down, you bowed down) You bowed down (you bowed down, you bowed down) You bowed down (you bowed down, you bowed down) You bowed down (you bowed down, you bowed down) You bowed down You bowed down You bowed down You bowed down
It's Time The party's over Your time is up You've had your last pointless teardrop Washed down in that broken coffee cup This magic moment concludes when that cigarette ends Did you get what you wanted? Well I suppose that depends Well I suppose that depends If you go, if you go Where passion is squandered and money is spent It's time, it's time It's time, it's time It's time, it's time, it's time You must see it's time that you went You must see it's time that you went Our brief acquaintance was such a mistake Now it seems more like a sentence Or something you always had to fake This magic moment concludes when they turn out the light It's not the days when you leave me But all I fear are the nights But all I fear are the nights Chorus You told the same joke to me too many times I wish that someone would hit it Just before you reach Just before you reach Just before you reach the punchline The party's over Time we broke up It always seemed like a bad dream One where I finally woke up This magic moment concluding our mutual fate But if you do have to leave me Who will I have left to hate? Who will I have left to hate? Chorus
I Want to Vanish I want to vanish This is my fondest wish To go where I cannot be captured Laid on a decorated dish Even in splendor this curious fate Is more than I care to surrender Now it's too late Whether in wonder or indecent haste You arrange the mirrors and the spools To snare the rare and precious jewels That were only made of paste If you should stumble upon my last remark I'm crying in the wilderness I'm trying my best to make it dark How can I tell you I'm rarer than most I'm certain as a lost dog Pondering a sign post Chorus I want to vanish This is my last request I've given you the awful truth Now give me my rest
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