This House Is Empty Now (feat. Burt Bacharach)
These rooms play tricks upon you
Remember when they were always filled with laughter?
But now they're quite deserted
They seem to just echo voices raised in anger
Maybe you will see my face
Reflected there on the pane
In the window of our poor
Forlorn and broken home
Still this house is empty now
There's nothing I can do
To make you want to stay
So tell me how
Am I supposed to live without you?
These walls were lined with pictures
Remember the glass we charged in celebration?
But now I fill my life up
With all that I can to deaden this sensation
Do you recognize the face
Fixed in that fine silver frame
Were you really so unhappy then?
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song performed by Elvis Costello
Added by Lucian Velea
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You Bowed Down
I expect youre entitled to know why Im making contact
With acquaintances scattered all over the land
Id promise you now and again that Id honour the contract
If it hadnt crumbled away in my hand
So we broke that vow independently now
But I dont 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 youre 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
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song performed by Elvis Costello
Added by Lucian Velea
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Pony Street
She lives on pony street
And they should scatter flowers at her feet
But when they come calling I think its appalling
Theyre sober and theyre polite
Theyre deeply respectful when I would expect them
To keep her out all night
That little martinet
Will get her own way yet
If you need instruction in mindless destruction
Ill show you a thing or two
You used to adore me but now my life flashes before me
For you to view
Oh mother, oh mother, sometimes you are so mortifying
From the hole in your leopard skin tights I can tell youve been spying
But your generation confesses before it transgresses
Those super-8 movies of daddy in your disco dresses
If youre going out tonight
I wont wait up
Reading das kapital
Watching home shopping club
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song performed by Elvis Costello
Added by Lucian Velea
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American Without Tears
Outside in new orleans the heat was almost frightening
But my hotel room as usual was freezing and unkind
On tv they prosecute anyone whos exciting
So I put on my overcoat and went down to find
In revlon and crimpelene they captured my heart
To the strain of a piano and a cocktail murderess
She was singing that its too late, I agreed with that part
For two english girls who had changed their address
[chorus]
Now it seems weve been crying for years and for years
Now I dont speak any english, just american without tears
Just american without tears
One had been a beauty queen and the other was her friend
They had known rogues and rascals and showbiz impresarios
While the boys were licking hitler they had something to defend
>from men armed with chewing gum and fine nylon hose
By a bicycle factory as they sounded the siren
And returned into the dancehall she knew he was the one
Though he wasnt tall or handsome she laughed when he told her
Im the sheriff of nottingham and this is little john
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song performed by Elvis Costello
Added by Lucian Velea
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Miss Macbeth
All the children testified that miss macbeth
Wore a fishbone slide in her cobweb tresses
Her eyes were black like first foot coal, clutched as white as chalk-dust
Her fingers sweated india-ink and poison-pen letters
There is a hungry hanging tree, just below your bedroom window
You can hear her take a broom to beat out a tattoo on the ceiling
Her bloodless face ran red inside but was she
Really evil, was she only pantomime
Now the chalk on the wall says that somebody
Saves, that somebodys face has just been washed off the pavement
Into a puzzle where petrol will be poisoned by rain
Miss macbeth saw her reflection
As confetti bled its colours down the drain
Chorus:
And everyday she lives out another love song
Its a tearful lament of somebody done wrong
Well how can you miss what youve never possessed?
Miss macbeth
Well we all should have known when the children paraded
They portrayed her in their fairytales, sprinkling deadly nightshade
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song performed by Elvis Costello
Added by Lucian Velea
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Little Palaces
In chocolate town all the trains are painted brown
On the silver paper of the wrapper
Theres a dapper little man
And he wears a wax moustache
That he twists with nicotine fingers
As he drops his cigarette ash
And someone comes and sweeps it up
And then he doffs his cap
And theres a rat in someones bedroom
And theyre shutting someones trap
And theyll soon be pulling down the little palaces
And the doors swing back and forward, from the past into the present
And the bedside crucifixion turns from wood to phosphorescent.
And theyre moving problem families from the south up to the north,
Mothers crying over some soft soap opera divorce,
And you say you didnt do it, but you know you did of course,
And theyll soon be pulling down the little palaces.
Its like shouting in a matchbox, filled with plasterboard and hope,
Like a picture of prince william in the arms of john the pope.
Theres a world of good intentions, and pity in their eyes,
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song performed by Elvis Costello
Added by Lucian Velea
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Our Little Angel
This is the place where I made my best mistakes
This is the place even angels dont understand
Ive seen the disappointment in her face
And the collection of engagement rings on her right hand
She sits alone apart from the crowd
In a white dress she wears like a question mark
Friends speak of her fondly
Enemies just think out loud
You think youre man enough to please her
And youre fool enough to start
Youre not going to do a thing to our little angel
Theres nothing youre thinking tonight that tomorrow wont change
Now the cabaret is frozen and the laughter comes in cans
And the lonely hearts club clientele dont know what to do with their hands
You think that youll be sweet to her but everybody knows
That youre the marshmallow valentine that got stuck on her clothes
But youre not going to do a thing to our little angel
Theres nothing youre thinking tonight that tomorrow wont change
So you mix your drinks and words
You make bad jokes you make bad time
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song performed by Elvis Costello
Added by Lucian Velea
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Sulky Girl
She wears a wedding ring her sister lent
To throw them off the scent
Just let them guess, its what they expect
Who in the world has bitten her neck?
Shes discovered wearing last nights dress
The carnal and cunning, she couldnt express
Who do you think shes trying to impress?
Chorus:
I think youd better hold your tongue
Although youve never been that strong
Im sorry to say that I knew all along
Youre no match for that sulky girl
She left her european town
Before she let the family down
She couldnt stand the massacre game
So she dyed her hair and adopted another name
With the evidence of passing out stamped on her hand
She glows in the dark
He thinks shes from another planet
Chorus
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song performed by Elvis Costello
Added by Lucian Velea
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Hidden Shame
Im sorry to say that you dont know me
Im sad in ways you never understood
Each time I try to tell the ugly truth
You always let it pass you by
You said I d never tell you a lie
Just because I could
Did you really think I was a bad man?
You always said that that should be my middle name
But you dont know the half of it
You dont know how that name fits
You dont know my hidden shame
Hidden shame, shame, shame
That I cant get free
From the blame and the torture
And the misery
Must it be my secret for eternity?
Till you know my hidden shame you really dont know me
Well, theres a different kind of prison
And it dont even have to look much like a cell
Its already on your mind
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song performed by Elvis Costello
Added by Lucian Velea
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The Stamping Ground
The stamping ground,
The stamping ground.
All your old gang
Still hang around.
Coming in with the same blokes,
Going home with the same jokes,
If you ever go missing
I know where youll be found :
The stamping ground.
The big fella on the front door knows your face.
The barman pretends that hes saved you a place,
But when your back is turned
They say shes older than she tells.
I could stand the main attraction,
But not the clientelle.
The stamping ground,
The stamping ground.
All your old gang
Still hang around.
Coming in with the same blokes,
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song performed by Elvis Costello
Added by Lucian Velea
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