Lyrics: This Year's Model
From ElvisCostello
No Action
I don't wanna kiss you
I don't wanna touch
I don't wanna see you
'Cause I don't miss you that much
I'm not a telephone junkie
I told you that we were just good friends
But when I hold you like I hold that bakelite in my hands
There's no action
There's no action
There's no action
Everytime I phone you, I just wanna put you down
He's got the keys to the car
They are the keys to the kingdom
He's got everything you need
It's a shame that he didn't bring them
I'm not a telephone junkie
If I'm inserting my coin I'm doing just fine
And the things in my head start hurtin' my mind
And I think about the way things used to be
Knowing you're with him is driving me crazy
Sometimes I phone you when I know you're not lonely
But I always disconnect it in time
There's no action
There's no action
There's no action
Everytime I phone you, I just wanna put you
Everytime I phone you, I just wanna put you
Everytime I phone you, I just wanna put you down
There's no action
There's no action
There's no action
Everytime I phone you, I just wanna put you down
This Year's Girl
See her picture in a thousand places 'cause she's this year's girl
You think you all own little pieces of this year's girl
Forget your fancy manners, forget your English grammar
'Cause you don't really give a damn about this year's girl
Still you're hoping that she's well spoken 'cause she's this year's girl
You want her broken with her mouth wide open 'cause she's this year's girl
Never knowing it's a real attraction, all these promises of satisfaction
While she's being bored to distraction being this year's girl
Time's running out, she's not happy with the cost
There'd be no doubt, only she's forgotten much more than she's lost
A bright spark might corner the market in this year's girl
You see yourself rolling on the carpet with this year's girl
Those disco synthesizers, those daily tranquilizers
Those body-building prizes, those bedroom alibis
All this, but no surprises for this year's girl
All this, but no surprises for this year's girl
All this, but no surprises for this year's girl
The Beat
We're all going on a summer holiday
Vigilantes coming out to follow me
Heard somebody say they're out to collar me
Anybody wanna swallow me?
It takes two to tumble, it takes two to tango
Speak up; don't mumble if you're in the combo
On the beat, on the beat
Till a man comes along and he says
"Have you been a good boy, never played with your toy?
Though you never enjoy, such a pleasure to employ"
See your friends in the state they're in
See your friends getting under their skin
See your friends getting taken in
Well, if you only knew the things you do to me
I'd do anything to confuse the enemy
There's only one thing wrong with you befriending me
Take it easy, I think you're bending me
I've been a bad boy with the standard leader
My neighbor's revving up his Vauxhall Viva
On the beat, on the upbeat
Till the man comes along and he says
"Have you been a good boy, never played with your toy?
Though you never enjoy, such a pleasure to employ"
See your friends walking down the street
See your friends never quite complete
See your friends getting under their feet
Oh, I don't want to disease you
But I'm no good with machinery
Oh, I don't wanna freeze you
Stop looking at the scenery
I keep thinking about your mother
Oh, I don't wanna lick them
I don't wanna be a lover
I just wanna be your victim
I don't go out much late at night
I don't go out much at all
Did you think you were the only one
Who was waiting for a call?
On the beat, on the beat, on the upbeat
Till a man comes along and he says,
"Have you been a good boy, never played with your toy?
Though you never enjoy, such a pleasure to employ"
See your friends treat me like a stranger
See your friends despite all the arrangements
See your friends -- nothing here has changed
Just the beat
Just the beat
Just the beat
Just the beat
Pump It Up
I've been on tenterhooks
Ending in dirty looks
List'ning to the Muzak
Thinking 'bout this 'n' that
She said that's that
I don't wanna chitter-chat
Turn it down a little bit
Or turn it down flat.
Pump it up when you don't really need it
Pump it up until you can feel it
Down in the pleasure centre
Hell bent or heaven sent
Listen to the propaganda
Listen to the latest slander
There's nothing underhand
That she wouldn't understand
Pump it up until you can feel it
Pump it up when you don't really need it
She's been a bad girl
She's like a chemical
Though you try to stop it
She's like a narcotic
You wanna torture her
You wanna talk to her
All the things you bought for her
Putting up your temp'rature
Pump it up until you can feel it
Pump it up when you don't really need it
Out in the fashion show
Down in the bargain bin
You put your passion out
Under the pressure pin
Fall into submission
Hit-and-run transmission
No use wishing now for any other sin
Pump it up until you can feel it
Pump it up when you don't really need it
Pump it up until you can feel it
Pump it up when you don't really need it
Pump it up until you can feel it
Pump it up when you don't really need it
Don't really need it
Don't really need it
Don't really need it
Little Triggers
Chorus:
Little triggers that you pull with your tongue
Little triggers I don't wanna be hung up
Strung up when you don't call up
Little sniggers on your lips
Little triggers in your grip
Little triggers, my hand on your hip
Thinking all about those censored sequences
Worrying about the consequences
Waiting until I come to my senses
Better put it all in present tenses
(Chorus)
Worrying about the common decency
When it is only a question of frequency
When you say OK, but I gotta cheek
To be saying you're tired of me
When you don't even weaken these
Little triggers...
(chorus)
You Belong To Me
What are you girls gonna tell your mother
I don't want to hear another word about young lovers
Or hiding your boyfriend in the cupboard
She's been to see the doctor, so you hope that she recovers
You act dumb, you say you're so numb
You say you don't come under his thumb
Chorus:
Don't wanna be a goody-goody
I don't want just anybody
No, I don't want anybody
Saying "You belong to me, you belong to me"
Your eyes are absent, your mouth is silent
Pumping like a fire hydrant
Things you see are getting hard to swallow
You're easily led, but you're much too scared to follow
You've been warned, you're going to get torn
No uniform is gonna keep you warm
(Chorus)
Hand In Hand
No, don't ask me to apologise.
I won't ask you to forgive me.
If I'm gonna go down,
you're gonna come with me
You say 'Why don't you be a man about it,
like they do in the grown-up movies?'
But when it comes to the other way around,
you say you just wanna use me. Oh,
you sit and you wonder whether
it's gonna be syndicated.
You sit with your knees together.
All the time your breath is baited.
Hand in Hand.
No, don't ask me to apologise.
I won't ask you to forgive me.
If I'm gonna go down,
you're gonna come with me
Don't you know I got the bully boys out
changing someone's facial design,
sitting with my toy room lout,
polishing my precious china
Don't you know I'm an animal?
But don't you know I can't stand up steady?
But you can't show me any kind of hell
that I don't know already.
Hand in Hand.
No, don't ask me to apologise.
I won't ask you to forgive me.
If I'm gonna go down,
you're gonna come with me
Hand in hand, hand in hand, hand in hand...
(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea
Photographs of fancy tricks
To get your kicks at sixty-six
He thinks of all the lips that he licks
And all the girls that he's going to fix
She gave a little flirt, gave herself a little cuddle
But there's no place here for the mini-skirt waddle
Capital punishment, she's last year's model
They call her Natasha when she looks like Elsie
I don't want to go to Chelsea
Oh no, it does not move me
Even though I've seen the movie
I don't want to check your pulse
I don't want nobody else
I don't want to go to Chelsea
Everybody's got new orders
Be a nice girl and kiss the warders
Now the teacher is away
All the kids begin to play
Men come screaming, dressed in white coats
Shake you very gently by the throat
One's named Gus, one's named Alfie
I don't want to go to Chelsea
Oh no, it does not move me
Even though I've seen the movie
I don't want to check your pulse
I don't want nobody else
I don't want to go to Chelsea
Photographs of fancy tricks
To get your kicks at sixty-six
He thinks of all the lips that he licks
And all the girls that he's going to fix
She gave a little flirt, gave herself a little cuddle
But there's no place here for the mini-skirt waddle
Capital punishment, she's last year's model
They call her Natasha when she looks like Elsie
I don't want to go to Chelsea
Oh no, it does not move me
Even though I've seen the movie
I don't want to check your pulse
I don't want nobody else
I don't want to go to Chelsea
Lip Service
You left the motor running
But I know you're so attractive
Getting in some sharp practice
You better not do anything reckless
But if everybody is going through the motions
Everybody is going through the motions
Are you really only going through the motions?
Lip service is all you'll ever get from me
Lip service is all you'll ever get from me
Lip service is all you'll ever get from me
But if you change your mind
You can send it in a letter to me
Don't make any sudden movements
These are dangerous amusements
When did you become so choosy
Don't act like you're above me, just look at your shoes
But if everybody is going through the motions
Everybody is going through the motions
Are you really only going through the motions?
Lip service is all you'll ever get from me
Lip service is all you'll ever get from me
Lip service is all you'll ever get from me
But if you change your mind
You can send it in a letter to me
But if you change your mind
You can send it in a letter to me
But if you change your mind
You can send it in a letter to me
Living In Paradise
I don't like those other guys looking at your curves
I don't like you walking 'round with physical jerks
Everything they say and do is getting on my nerves
Soon they will be lucky to be picking up the perks
'Cause when they pull the shutters down and throw up in the dark
They'll find that all the dogs outside bite much worse than they bark
Here we are living in paradise, living in luxury
Oh, the thrill is here but it won't last long
You better have your fun before it moves along
And you're already looking for another fool like me
I call you Betty Felon 'cause you are a pretty villain
And I think that I should tell them that you'd make a pretty killing
'Cause meanwhile up in heaven they are waiting at the gate
Saying "We always knew you'd make it, didn't think you'd come this late"
And now it's much too dangerous to stop what you've begun
When everyone in paradise carries a gun
Here we are living in paradise, living in luxury
Oh, the thrill is here but it won't last long
You better have your fun before it moves along
And you're already looking for another fool like me
Later in the evening when arrangements are made
I'll be at the keyhole outside your bedroom door
'Cause I'm the first to know whenever the plans are laid
That never go further than floor to floor
You think that I don't know the boy that you're touching
But I'll be at the video and I will be watching
Here we are living in paradise
Here we are living in paradise
Here we are living in paradise
Here we are living in paradise, living in luxury
Oh, the thrill is here but it won't last long
You better have your fun before it moves along
And you're already looking for another fool like me
Lipstick Vogue
Don't say you love me when it's just a rumour
Don't say a word if there is any doubt
Sometimes I think that love is just a tumour
You've got to cut it out
You say you're sorry for the things that you've done
You say you're sorry but you know you don't mean it
I wouldn't worry, I had so much fun
Sometimes I almost feel just like a human being
It's you
Not just another mouth in the lipstick vogue
It's you
Not just another mouth in the lipstick vogue
Oh yeah
Get to the slot machine almost dead on arrival
Just hit me one more time with that live wire
Maybe they told you you were only a girl in a million
You say I've got no feelings
This is a good way to kill them
Select the control and then insert the token
You wanna throw me away but I'm not broken
You've got a lot to say, well I'm not joking
There are some words they don't allow to be spoken
Sometimes I almost feel just like a human being
It's you
Not just another mouth in the lipstick vogue
It's you
Not just another mouth in the lipstick vogue
Not just another mouth lost in the lipstick vogue (repeats)
Night Rally
I would send out for assistance but there's someone on the signal wire
And the corporation logo is flashing on and off in the sky
They're putting all your names in the forbidden book
I know what they're doing but I don't want to look
You think they're so dumb, you think they're so funny
Wait until they've got you running to the
Night rally, night rally, night rally
Everybody's singing with their hand on their heart
About deeds done in the darkest hours
That's just the sort of catchy little melody
To get you singing in the showers
Oh, I know that I'm ungrateful
I've got it lying on a plate
And I'm not buying my share of souvenirs
You can stand to attention
You can pray to your uncle
Only get that chicken out of here
Everyone gets armbands and 3-D glasses
Some are in the back room
And they're taking those night classes
You think they're so dumb, you think they're so funny
Wait until they've got you running to the
Night rally, night rally, night rally
Radio, Radio
I was tuning in the shine on the light night dial
doing anything my radio advised
with every one of those late night stations
playing songs bringing tears to me eyes
I was seriously thinking about hiding the receiver
when the switch broke 'cause it's old
They're saying things that I can hardly believe.
They really think we're getting out of control.
Radio is a sound salvation
Radio is cleaning up the nation
They say you better listen to the voice of reason
But they don't give you any choice
'cause they think that it's treason.
So you had better do as you are told.
You better listen to the radio.
I wanna bite the hand that feeds me.
I wanna bite that hand so badly.
I want to make them wish they'd never seen me.
Some of my friends sit around every evening
and they worry about the times ahead
But everybody else is overwhelmed by indifference
and the promise of an early bed
You either shut up or get cut up;
they don't wanna hear about it.
It's only inches on the reel-to-reel.
And the radio is in the hands of such a lot of fools
tryin' to anaesthetise the way that you feel
[Chorus]
Wonderful radio
Marvelous radio
Wonderful radio
Radio, radio...
Big Tears
Everyone is busy with the regular routine
The sniper just takes his aim
Everyone is window shopping, no one is amazed
Even if he hit you, you'd still think it's just a graze
You go to a movie, you go to a show
You think that you're living, you don't really know
Big tears mean nothing
You can count them as they fall
Big tears mean nothing
When you're lying in your coffin
Tell me who's been taken in
Oh, you talk about the new boss automatic clause
But of course they make it all up for you
Always fascinated by the weird edge of town
Come home disappointed every time they put you down
Laughing with the old boys, saying that it's all noise
I suppose big tears mean nothing
You can count them as they fall
Big tears mean nothing
When you're lying in your coffin
Tell me who's been taken in
All the buttons of my overcoat
They have fallen off one by one
You wouldn't even like me if you'd never had a drink
You wouldn't even like me if you never stopped to think
Standing in the shadow, turning wives to widows
Don't you know big tears mean nothing
You can count them as they fall
Big tears mean nothing
When you're lying in your coffin
Tell me who's been taken in
Tell me, me or yous been taken in
Tell me, tell me, tell me
Crawling To The USA
I thought I would go to the sea and shrink down very tiny
And slide inside the telephone wire that runs under the briny
Till I found there is a way of crawling to the U.S.A.
You had better not go too far
There's one way out, there's only one way
Leave your mother and your father
Crawling to the U.S.A.
Saw it late one night on a secret channel
It's farther on along the tunnel
It's way beyond the final station
That's the one they never mention
You had better not go too far
There's one way out, there's only one way
Leave your mother and your father
Crawling to the U.S.A.
You don't have to pay them that much
You had better bring your lunch
It's undercover, around the houses
Up your skirt and down your trousers
You had better not go too far
There's one way out, there's only one way
Leave your mother and your father
Crawling to the U.S.A.
She said, "I catch you taking liberties and they do not impress me
Attach me to your credit card and then you can undress me
Everybody is on their knees except the Russians and the Chinese
You had better not go too far
There's one way out, there's only one way
Leave your mother and your father
Crawling to the U.S.A.
Running Out Of Angels
They say they're running out of angels
They say I'm running out of time
Oh you don't have to be lucky
It is easier than trying, now they're bringing down a
Hammer on anything that sells
I suppose you're a winner
Because they're running out of angels
And all the lies upon the tongues of all the girls upon the rails
Will ruin any man who moved too soon
All except the one who seems to know more than she tells
You know she looks just like an angel
but she sings so out of tune
They say they're running out of angels
They say I'm running out of time
Oh you don't have to be lucky
It is easier than trying, now they're bringing down a
Hammer on anything that sells
I suppose you're a winner
Because they're running out of angels
Oh
Green Shirt
There's a smart young woman on a light blue screen
Who comes into my house every night
And she takes all the red, yellow, orange and green
And she turns them into black and white
But you tease, and you flirt
And you shine all the buttons on your green shirt
You can please yourself but somebody's gonna get it
Better cut off all identifying labels
Before they put you on the torture table
'Cause somewhere in the "Quisling Clinic"
There's a shorthand typist taking seconds over minutes
She's listening in to the Venus line
She's picking out names
I hope none of them are mine
But you tease, and you flirt
And you shine all the buttons on your green shirt
You can please yourself but somebody's gonna get it
Never said I was a stool pigeon
I never said I was a diplomat
Everybody is under suspicion
But you don't wanna hear about that
'Cause you tease, and you flirt
And you shine all the buttons on your green shirt
You can please yourself but somebody's gonna get it
Better send a begging letter to the big investigation
Who put these fingerprints on my imagination?
You tease, and you flirt
And you shine all the buttons on your green shirt
You can please yourself but somebody's gonna get it
You can please yourself but somebody's gonna get it
You can please yourself but somebody's gonna get it
Big Boys
I am starting to function
In the usual way
Everything is so provocative
Very very temporary
I shall walk (I shall walk)
Out of this place (out of this place)
I shall walk
Out on you
'Cause you go silly
If she's willing
Trying so hard to be like the big boys
So you take her to the pictures
Trying to become a fixture
Inch by inch trying to reach her
All the way through the second feature
Worrying about your physical fitness
Tell me how you got this sickness
Oh ohhhh...
I was caught in the suction
By a face like a truncheon
I was down upon one knee
Stroking her vanity
I was stuck on a hammerhead
I came alive and left for dead
As my face returned to red
Choking on my pride and pity
We can talk (we can talk)
Until your face is blue (till your face is blue)
We can talk but she'll get to you
After you've been loved and hated
By the ones you've watched and waited
Found that they were overrated
She'll be the one - when the party's over
She'll be the one - when the girls have gone home
She'll be the one - that you'll wish you'd held onto
She'll be the one - but it's too late for you to
She'll be the one - who knows all your history
She'll be the one -
So you can cross her off your list
And you try so hard
And you try so hard
And you try so hard
To be like the big boys, oh
Neat Neat Neat
Can a man be a mystery man?
Like a doll, like a baby doll
It can't be found not anyway
It can't be found no way at all
A distant man can't sympathise
He can't uphold his distant laws
Due to form on that today
I got a feeling then I hear this call
I said Neat, Neat, Neat - Can't afford no cannon
I said Neat, Neat, Neat - Can't afford a gun at all
Neat, Neat, Neat - She can't afford no cannon
I said, Neat, Neat, Neat - She got no name to call
No crime if there ain't no laws
No more cops left to mess you around
No more dreams of mystery chords
No more sight to bring you down
I got a crazy, I got a thought in my mind
My m-m-m-mind's on when she falls asleep
Feeling fine in her restless time
And these words upon me creep
I said Neat, Neat, Neat - Can't afford no cannon
I said Neat, Neat, Neat - Can't afford a gun at all
I said Neat, Neat, Neat - She can't afford no cannon
I said Neat, Neat, Neat - She got no name to call
Can a man be a mystery man?
Like a doll, like a baby doll
It can't be found not anyway
It can't be fun no way at all
A distant man can't sympathise
Can't uphold his distant laws
Due to form on that today
I got a feeling that I hear this call
I said Neat, Neat, Neat - Can't afford no cannon
I said, Neat, Neat, Neat - She got no name to call
I said Neat, Neat, Neat - She can't afford no cannon
Neat, Neat, Neat - She can't afford a gun at all
Neat, Neat, Neat - She got no name at all
I said, Neat, Neat, Neat - She can't afford no cannon
I said, Neat, Neat, Neat - She got no name to call
Roadette Song
She can roll her shoulder, she can roll her ass
Ain't no doubt about it, she's a gamey lass
Jerking with her elbow, clever with her knees
When she move it over, does the best to please
Diction very bad, friction double rich
Brazen little hussy, rock 'n' rolling bitch
When it comes to business take off like a jet
Rocking's her vocation, she's a very high roadette
Young man
There ain't no need to hustle
Young man
Slow down your hustle bustle
You can take your time, young man
Some of this is muscle
Lightning on her leg, spitfire on her hip
Rock 'n' roll's a habit, guitar wrote the script
Messed up on her history, won the schooling prize
Does her heavy thinking with her Bristols and her thighs
Never had a teacher messing with her brain
You should see her pupils, music's in her veins
Shifting her transmission like Chevolet Corvette
Rock 'n' roll relations with a very high roadette
Hey, young man
There ain't no need to hustle
Young man
Slow down your hustle bustle
You can take your time, young man
Some of this is muscle
Hey, young man
There ain't no need to hustle
Young man
Slow down your hustle bustle
You can take your time, young man
Some of this is muscle
She can roll her shoulder, she can roll her ass
Ain't no doubt about it, she's a gamey lass
Jerking with her elbow, clever with her knees
When she move it over, does the best to please
Diction very bad, friction double rich
Brazen little hussy, rock 'n' rolling bitch
When it come to business, take off like a jet
Rocking's her vocation, she's a very high roadette
Hey, young man
There ain't no need to hustle
Young man
Slow down your hustle bustle
You can take your time, young man
Some of this is muscle
Stranger In The House
This never was one of the great romances
But I thought you'd always have those young girl's eyes
But now they look in tired and bitter glances
At the ghost of a man who walks 'round in my disguise
I get the feeling that I don't belong here
But there's no welcome in the window anyway
And I look down for a number on my keychain
'Cause it feels more like a hotel everyday
There's a stranger in the house; nobody's seen his face
But everybody says he's taken my place
There's a stranger in the house no one will ever see
Everybody says he looks like me
And now you say you've got no expectations
But I know you also miss those carefree days
And for all the angry words that passed between us
You still don't understand me when I say
There's a stranger in the house; nobody's seen his face
But everybody says he's taken my place
There's a stranger in the house no one will ever see
But everybody says he looks like me
Internal links
External links
- Wikipedia | AMG review (1978/1993) | AMG review (2002)
- RobertChristgau.com | PitchforkMedia.com
- Rhino | Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk
- Elvis Costello on Rhino | "Sometimes I Almost Feel Just Like a Human Being" - essay by Connor Ratliff
Categories: 1978 | This Year's Model | Songs | Lyrics
