Down Among The Wines And Spirits

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Down among the wines and spirits
Where a man gets what he merits
Once he was written in letters of nine feet tall
Now he finds how far he's fallen
Since he set his mind on her completely
Oh well I guess that you mustn't have seen him lately
Walking around with a pain that never ceases
He starts to speak and then he falls to pieces

Down among the wines and spirits
Where a man gets what he merits
Lives with the echoing words of their final quarrel
The vacant chamber and the empty barrel
But as he picks himself up from a sawdust floor
Clicks his fingers to that swinging door
Suddenly he's calling out more, more, more
I'm twice the foolish man I was before
Down among the wines and spirits

Bubbles escaping from him from the rim of a glass of grape
She sails through his memory just like a ship of chaplet
As it started to sink he was drinking to drown his sorrows
That fill his nights and they empty his tomorrows
But as he picks himself up from a sawdust floor
Clicks his fingers to that swinging door
Suddenly he's calling out more, more, more

Speaks of invisible things he hardly credits
Down among
Down among
Down among the wines and spirits

(additional lines in early performances:)
Walking around with a head that is fit to burst
A heart full of hurt and a powerful thirst

Down Among The Wines And Spirits
Written byElvis Costello
Performed byElvis Costello
Produced byT Bone Burnett
MusiciansElvis Costello - vocal, Gibson Century of Progress acoustic guitar
Dennis Crouch - double bass
Stuart Duncan - fiddle
Jerry Douglas - dobro
Mike Compton - mandolin
Jim Lauderdale - harmony vocal
RecordedMarch 31-April 2, 2008, Sound Emporium Studio, Nashville
ReleasedJune 2, 2009
AlbumsSecret, Profane & Sugarcane, 2009
Various Artists collectionsWord Magazine 76 - Now Hear This!, 2009

First known performance:
September 19, 2007, Nashville, TN
Last known performance:
February 13, 2023, New York, NY
     (103 known performances)



Secret, Profane & SugarcaneSecret Profane And Sugarcane album cover medium.jpg

Covers

Steve Nieve performed live, 2020-08-30, The Immobile Tour Backstage, France 2020 Facebook - 00:00

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