The Comedians

Lyrics

I fell under such gentle persuasion

You can't refuse it's like a home from home

Meanwhile in the motorcar kingdom

They're finding that all that glitters is not chrome

The social circle have these cardiac complaints

Their hearts are empty when their hands are full

All these new found fond acquaintances

Turn out to be the red rag to my bull

Chorus:

And I'm up while the dawn is breaking

Even though my heart is aching

I should be drinking a toast to absent friends

Instead of these comedians

I've looked into these eyes upon reflection

They've seen the face of love, they've seen a few

What kind of love is this upon inspection

You'll be the last to know who's fooling who

(Chorus)

Alternate Lyrics

From the demo version on All This Useless Beauty (Deluxe Edition) (2001)

I sat there alone upon the Ferris wheel

A pastel coloured carriage in the air

I thought you'd leave me dangling for a minute or two

A silly twist upon a childish dare

Below I saw you whispering to another man

Who held the lever that could bring me down

He'd stop the world from turning at your command

It's always something cruel that laughter drowns

Chorus:

And I'm up while the dawn is breaking

Even though my heart is aching

I should be drinking a toast to absent friends

Instead of these comedians

I can hardly hear the music from the carousel

As the wind picks up the carriage starts to sway

As one by one the lights go out, it's closing time

I see you take his hand and walk away

Walk away

They say that you will always be the last to know

They say that all that glitters is not gold

It's not just that you're never coming back to me

It's the bitter way that I was told

(Repeat Chorus)

Credits

• Written by: Elvis Costello
• Produced by: Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley
• Musicians:

Elvis Costello - vocals and guitar

Steve Nieve - keyboards

Bruce Thomas - bass

Pete Thomas - drums

Gary Barnacle - saxophone

Jim Paterson - trombone

Luis Jardim - percussion

This section may need edits

Discography

Albums:

• Goodbye Cruel World, 1984
• Goodbye Cruel World (reissue), Rykodisc/Demon, 1995
• Goodbye Cruel World (Deluxe Edition), Rhino, 2004
• This section may be incomplete.

Singles:

• This section may be incomplete.

Collections:

• Album Name, Year
• This section may be incomplete.

Alternate Versions:

• The Comedians (demo)

All This Useless Beauty (Deluxe Edition), Rhino, 2001

Soundtracks:

• none

Various Artists collections:

• none

Covers

Recorded by:

• none
• This section may be incomplete.

Performed by:

• none
• This section may be incomplete.

Bootlegs

• This section is incomplete.