A Slow Drag With Josephine

From The Elvis Costello Wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search

The snitch, the snoop, the tattletale
Lead a threadbare up stairs
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 her comb
And caught him unawares

And there was her man enjoying the lay of the land
He took a walk in the dark with a dish from the stand
Girls and their creations
Tight in the brightest grenadine
But I'd take all that I've seen
For a Slow Drag with Josephine

Josephine, Josephine
But I'd trade all that I've seen for a Slow Drag with Josephine

Gavotte, garrotes, Cotillions and slow Arabesques
Drum-rolls and Farandoles were all made in jest
But when you make that move
I can't resist
When will you declare your armistice?

Josephine, Josephine
But I'd trade all that I've seen for a Slow Drag with Josephine

In another time and place a different fate was cast
He tried to skeddle-daddle-do
She might have slapped him
Just for saying "Grant one more chance before you pass"
"Then curse the nurse that named me the first or bury me at last"

And in three-quarter time
The true and the false
Dancing the "Hesitation Waltz"
Then comes the "Flirtation"
And temptation
Hip, hip hooray
Listen to what I say
Then you can take it away…

Under The Napoleonic Code – 1921

A Slow Drag With Josephine
Written byElvis Costello
Performed byElvis Costello
Produced byT Bone Burnett
MusiciansElvis Costello - lead vocal, Gibson L-00 acoustic guitar (1937), whistling
Dennis Crouch - double bass
Jeff Taylor - piano, accordion
Mike Compton - mandolin, harmony vocal
Stuart Duncan - violin, waldzither
Marc Ribot - banjo
AlbumsNational Ransom, 2010
SinglesA Slow Drag With Josephine
Length2:43

First known performance:
April 7, 2010, Davis, CA
Last known performance:
February 13, 2023, New York, NY
     (249 known performances)


National RansomNational Ransom album cover.jpg

Covers

Jason Berk Afternoon Snacks 2011 archive.org
Erich Sellheim home studio production, sung in German 2022 YouTube

Internal links

External links