I Can't Turn It Off
From ElvisCostello
LyricsBasement babies strangling saxophones They got twisted motives, they got eyes of stone But it's a terminal condition that is tattered through and through It's not that they don't need you They're too mixed up to choose
Broken noses hung up on the wall Back-slapping drinkers cheer the championship brawl And they're so punch drunk they don't understand the word defeat They can take you out and shoot you They can't confiscate that beat
Steam engineer breaks down in the newsreel He's seen the future of the diesel wheel Listen to the hammers falling in the breaker's yard When you're used to the glamour it comes at you twice as hard
Sometimes I think that I have had enough Sometimes I scare myself I get enough But you know that I can't turn it off
Young girl rehearses all her blackmail faces She's looking for a love that lasts She'd never break the heart of any aces And she's learning pretty fast
I've seen those clowns running all over town Trying to satisfy all of their carnival desires You start out looking for your own melody They end up in the closing time choirs
All you lucky people crying in your beer When it comes down to silence not even tears You're in real trouble between the two When it comes down to me When it comes down to you
But it must be something you're allowed to keep In between the longest pantomimes 'Cos it's very easy to let love fall asleep When you are worrying about hard times
Sometimes I think that I have had enough Sometimes I scare myself I get enough But you know that I can't turn it off But you know that I can't turn it off
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Credits
PerformancesElvis performed this unreleased song at both shows in San Francisco 2007-11-08, explaining that he wrote it in 1975. Some of its lyrics later appeared in Watch Your Step, while a line similar to "young girl rehearses all her blackmail faces" turned up many years later in Sulky Girl. Covers
Bootlegs
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