Illustrated Lady
From ElvisCostello
LyricsI dip my pen into the well and draw up An indolent Princess, insolent soldiers and invisible garments thrown over old tyrants A heart that beats within a spinning top Scratched upon blank paper Stain it with Indian ink Now let me think
How does a glass containing ruby wine fill up once it is drunk? Why does that song come from branches of a lightening blasted trunk? Friends said I would recognise her by her silhouette And that I’d be sorry for that merry day before we met
But where on earth is my ideal? Is this she the latest one who makes me feel my heart, my heart My heart is set upon? But if my past I should reveal then I may well be undone
My mother was laundress Wading in the icy river The blue veins raised upon her skin like carnival tattoos Washing out of secrets found in other people’s dirt Gin to cheer her when the waters were turbulent And laughing at the scandal of a noble mistress beaten by her servant
Her sister ran a wanton house of dubious repute Her daughter fell into the arms of every brute Who offered her a tiny fist of coins and drunken punches Blows and blessings raining down in bunches And I gathered up these splinters put them in my tales and misadventures
Where is the one that I hold sacred Everything that I hold dear Anyone that I wanted but can’t hold near for fear For fear, for fear, for fear Anyone one that I wanted Anyone that I hold dear For fear For fear
They said that Jenny, too was once an ugly wretch And how her dress was torn and ragged Back when her life was bleak and rugged She had no sense for fine perfume And still her eyes cast down as she walks through each gilded room
You’ll note her gowns are never hung with a strings of pearls No one who sees her, plain and modest, senses the illegitimate girl Hidden within… So, hark and hail “The Swedish Nightingale”
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Credits
DiscographyThis unreleased song is intended for Elvis' chamber opera The Secret Songs Of Hans Christian Andersen. Covers
Bootlegs
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