My Aim Is True - Lyrics
From ElvisCostello
Welcome To The Working Week / Miracle Man / No Dancing / Blame It On Cain / Alison / Sneaky Feelings / (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes
Less Than Zero / Mystery Dance / Pay It Back / I'm Not Angry / Waiting For The End Of The World / Watching The Detectives
Welcome To The Working Week
Now that your picture's in the paper being rhythmically admired
and you can have anyone that you have ever desired,
all you gotta tell me now is why, why, why, why.
Welcome to the workin' week.
Oh I know it don't thrill you, I hope it don't kill you.
Welcome to the workin' week.
You gotta do it till you're through it so you better get to it.
All of your family had to kill to survive,
and they're still waitin' for their big day to arrive.
But if they knew how I felt they'd bury me alive.
Welcome to the workin' week.
Oh I know it don't thrill you, I hope it don't kill you.
Welcome to the workin' week.
You gotta do it till you're through it so you better get to it.
I hear you sayin', "Hey, the city's all right
when you only read about it in books.
Spend all your money gettin' so convinced
that you never even bother to look.
Sometimes I wonder if we're livin' in the same land,
Why d'you wanna be my friend when I feel like a juggler
running out of hands?
Welcome to the workin' week, oh, welcome to the working week.
Miracle Man
You never asked me what I wanted. You only asked me why.
I never thought that so much trouble was restin' on my reply,
I could say it was the nights when I was lonely
and you were the only one who'd come.
I could tell you that I like your sensitivity,
when you know it's the way that you walk.
Why do you have to say that there's always someone
who can do it better than I can?
But don't you think that I know that walking on the water
won't make me a miracle man?
Baby's gotta have the things she wants.
You know she's gotta have the things she loves.
She's got a ten-inch bamboo cigarette holder
and her black patent leather gloves.
And I'm doing everything just tryin' to please her,
even crawling around on all fours.
Oh, I thought by now that it was gonna be easy,
but she still seems to want for more.
(chorus)
I hear they're givin' you a bad reputation
just because you've never been denied.
You try to say you've done it all before.
Baby, you know that you just get tired.
Yet everybody loves you so much, girl.
I just don't know how you stand the strain.
Oh, I, I'm the one who's here tonight,
and I don't wanna do it all in vain.
(chorus)
No Dancing
Oh I know that she
Has made a fool of him
Like girls have done so many nights before
Time and time again
Life is so strange
I don't know why
But somebody, somebody has to cry
There's gonna be no dancing when they get home
There's gonna be no dancing
There's gonna be no dancing
There's gonna be no dancing when they get home
Now he's telling her
Every little thing he's done
Once he glanced at the jackets of some paperbacks
Now he's read every one
He's such a drag
He's not insane
It's just that everybody
Has to feel his pain
There's gonna be no dancing when they get home
He's getting down on his knees
He finds that the girl is not so easy to please
Oh oh, after all, his nights were just a paper striptease
She's caught it like some disease
If he says no dancing
There's gonna be no dancing
There's gonna be no dancing on my own
She can't even speak to him
He can't face her now
He says "Even though I wanna shake your hand
All I ever do is bow.
So now you see
How can it be.
Why can't you give me anythin' but sympathy?"
There's gonna be no dancing
There's gonna be no dancing
There's gonna be no dancing
There's gonna be no dancing
There's gonna be no dancing on my own
Blame It On Cain
Once upon a time, I had a little money.
Government burglars took it long
before I could mail it to you.
Still, you are the only one.
Now I can't let it slip away.
So if the man with the ticker tape,
he tries to take it,
well this is what I'm gonna say.
Blame it on Cain.
Don't blame it on me.
Oh, oh, it's nobody's fault,
but we need somebody to burn.
Well if I was a saint with
a silver cup
and the money got low
we could always heat it up
or trade it in.
But then the radio that heaven will be wired to your purse.
And then you can run down the wave band,
coast to coast, hand in hand.
Bad to worse, curse for curse,
don't be dissatisfied.
So you're not satisfied.
chorus
I think I've lived a little too long
on the outskirts of town
I think I'm going insane
from talking to myself for so long.
Oh but I've never been accused.
When they step on your face,
you wear that good look grin.
I gotta break out one weekend
if I do somebody in.
But every single time
I feel a little stronger,
they tell me it's a crime.
Well how much longer?
chorus
Alison
Oh it's so funny to be seeing you after so long, girl.
And with the way you look I understand
that you were not impressed.
But I heard you let that little friend of mine
take off your party dress.
I'm not going to get too sentimental
like those other sticky valentines,
'cause I don't know if you've been loving some body.
I only know it isn't mine.
Alison, I know this world is killing you.
Oh, Alison, my aim is true.
Well I see you've got a husband now.
Did he leave your pretty fingers lying
in the wedding cake?
You used to hold him right in your hand.
I'll bet he took all he could take.
Sometimes I wish that I could stop you from talking
when I hear the silly things that you say.
I think somebody better put out the big light,
cause I can't stand to see you this way.
Alison, I know this world is killing you.
Oh, Alison, my aim is true.
My aim is true.
Sneaky Feelings
Now everybody's breakin' up somebody else's home,
before somebody else starts breaking up their own.
I get you in my dreams.
You should hear the things you say.
It's not that it's so much fun,
but it's safer that way.
Sneaky feeling, sneaky feelings,
you can't let those kind of feeling show.
I'd like to get right through the way I feel for you,
but I've still got a long way to go.
Why don't we call it a day, and we can both confess.
You can force me to use a little tenderness.
White lies, alibis, anything but say that it's true.
Now we could sit like lovers, staring in each other's eyes,
but the magic of the moment might become too much for you.
Sneaky feeling, sneaky feelings,
you can't let those kind of feeling show.
I'd like to get right through the way I feel for you,
(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes
Oh I used to be disgusted
and now I try to be amused.
But since their wings have got rusted,
you know, the angels wanna wear my red shoes.
But when they told me 'bout their side of the bargain,
that's when I knew that I could not refuse.
And I won't get any older, now the angels wanna wear my red shoes.
I was watching while you're dancing away.
Our love got fractured in the echo and sway.
How come everybody wants to be your friend?
You know that it still hurts me just to say it.
Oh, I know that she's disgusted (oh why's that)
Cause she's feeling so abused. (oh that's too bad)
She gets tired of the lust, (oh I'm so sad)
but it's so hard to refuse.
How can you say that I'm too old,
when the angels have stolen my red shoes.
Oh, I said "I'm so happy, I could die."
She said "Drop dead," then left with another guy.
That's what you get if you go chasing after vengeance.
Ever since you got me punctured this has been my sentence.
Oh I used to be disgusted
and now I try to be amused.
But since their wings have got rusted,
you know, the angels wanna wear my red shoes.
Red shoes, the angels wanna wear my red shoes.
Less Than Zero
Calling Mister Oswald with the swastika tattoo,
there is a vacancy waiting in the English voodoo,
carving "v" for vandal on the guilty boy's head.
When he's had enough of that maybe you'll take him to bed
to teach him he's alive before he wishes he was dead.
Turn up the TV. No one listening will suspect,
even your mother won't detect it,
no your father won't know.
they think that I've got no respect
but everything means less than zero.
Hey, ooh hey, hey, ooh hey.
Oswald and his sister are doing it again.
They've got the finest home movies that you have ever seen.
They've got a thousand variations: every service with a smile.
They're gonna take a little break, and they'll be back after a while.
well I hear that South America is coming into style.
chorus
A pistol was still smoking, a man lay on the floor.
Mister Oswald said he had an understanding with the law.
He said he heard about a couple living in the USA.
He said they traded in their baby for a Chevrolet.
Let's talk about the future now we've put the past away.
chorus
Mystery Dance
Romeo was restless, he was ready to kill
He jumped out the window 'cause he couldn't sit still
Juliet was waiting with a safety net
He said "Don't bury me 'cause I'm not dead yet"
Chorus:
Why don't you tell me 'bout the mystery dance
I wanna know about the mystery dance
Why don't you show me 'cause I've tried and I've tried,
and I'm still mystified
I can't do it anymore and I'm not satisfied
Well I remember when the lights went out
And I was tryin' to make it look like it was never in doubt
She thought that I knew, and I thought that she knew,
So both of us were willing, but we didn't know how to do it
(chorus)
Well I was down under the covers in the middle of the night,
Tryin' to discover my left foot from my right
You can see those pictures in any magazine
But what's the use of looking when you don't know what they mean
(chorus)
I can't do it anymore and I'm not satisfied (repeats)
Pay It Back
Stop thief; you're gonna come to grief
If you don't take a little more care
You're gonna get more than the family plan
From this one shoestring affair
I may be crazy but I can't contemplate
Being trapped between the doctor and the magistrate
Chorus:
One of these days I'm gonna pay it back, pay it back,
one of these days
One of these days I'm gonna pay it back, pay it back,
one of these days
And then they told me I could be somebody
If I didn't let too much get in my way
And I tried so hard just to be myself
But I keep on fading away
And then the lights went out, I didn't know what to do
If I could fool myself, then maybe I'd fool you
(chorus)
I wouldn't say that I was raised on romance
Let's not get stuck in the past
I love you more than everything in the world
I don't expect that will last
They told me everything was guaranteed
Somebody somewhere must've lied to me
(chorus)
I'm Not Angry
You're upstairs with the boyfriend while I'm left here to listen
I hear you calling his name, I hear the stutter of ignition
I could hear you whispering as I crept by your door
So you found some other joker who could please you more
Chorus:
I'm not angry, I'm not angry anymore
I'm not angry, I'm not angry anymore
Ooh, I know what you're doin'
I know where you've been
I know where, but I don't care
'Cause there's no such thing as an original sin
I've got this camera click, click, clickin' in my head
I got you talking with your hands, got you smiling with your legs
Spend all my time in a vanity factory
Wonderin' when they're gonna come and take it all back
(Chorus)
Oh, there's no such thing as an original sin
Oh, there's no such thing as an original sin
I'm not angry, I'm not angry anymore
I'm not angry, I'm not angry anymore
I'm not angry, I'm not angry
I'm not angry anymore, I'm not angry anymore
I'm not angry anymore, I'm not angry anymore...
Waiting For The End Of The World
The man from the television crawled into the train
I wonder who he's gonna stick it in this time
Everyone was looking for a little entertainment
So they'll probably pull his hands off when they find out his name
And then they shut down the power all along the line
And we got stuck in the tunnel where no lights shine
They got to touching all the girls who were too scared to call out
Nobody was saying anything at all
We were waiting for the end of the world
Waiting for the end of the world
Waiting for the end of the world
Dear Lord, I sincerely hope you're coming
'cause you really started something
Things got back to normal as the train began to roll again
We got to the station about twenty minutes later
The legendary hitchhiker says that he knows where it's at
Now he'd like to go to Spain or somewhere like that
With his two-tone Bible and his funny cigarettes,
His suntan lotion and his castanets
He was waiting for the end of the world
Waiting for the end of the world
Waiting for the end of the world
Dear Lord, I sincerely hope you're coming
'cause you really started something
And then the bride, the groom, the congregation and the priest
All got onto the train when we were three stations east, yeah
Hiding from a scandal in the national press
They had been trying to get married since they stole the wedding dress
You may see them drowning as you stroll along the beach
But don't throw out the lifeline till they're clean out of reach
Waiting for the end of the world
Waiting for the end of the world
Waiting for the end of the world
Waiting for the end of the world
Watching The Detectives
Nice girls not one with a defect,
cellophane shrink-wrapped, so correct.
Red dogs under illegal legs.
She looks so good that he gets down and begs.
She is watching the detectives.
"ooh, he's so cute!"
She is watching the detectives
when they shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot.
They beat him up until the teardrops start,
but he can't be wounded 'cause he's got no heart.
Long shot of that jumping sign,
Visible shivers running down my spine.
Cut the baby taking off her clothes.
Close-up of the sign that says,"We never close"
You snatch a tune, you a match a cigarette,
She pulls the eyes out with a face like a magnet.
I don't know how much more of this I can take.
She's filing her nails while they're dragging the lake.
chorus
You think you're alone until you realize you're in it.
Now fear is here to stay. Love is here for a visit.
They call it instant justice when it's past the legal limit.
Someone's scratching at the window. I wonder who is it?
The detectives come to check if you belong to the parents
who are ready to hear the worst about their daughter's disappearance.
Though it nearly took a miracle to get you to stay,
it only took my little fingers to blow you away.
Just like watching the detectives.
Don't get cute!"
It's just like watching the detectives.
I get so angry when the teardrops start,
but he can't be wounded 'cause he's got no heart.
Watching the detectives.
It's just like watching the detectives.
