I know a girl got my mind in a mess
I never heard her say goodnight and God bless
She's not the only flame in town
And when we're alone, we never quarrel
I'm miles away, now here's the moral
She's not the only flame in town
She's not the only flame in town
She's got to stop thinking that I'm carrying this torch around
He struck a match and it lit up her face
We should have struck a match, girl
To burn down the whole place
Now you're not the only flame in town
But you blew hot and cold
Turned my heart to a cinder
And with each passing day
You're less tender and more tinder
Now you're not the only flame in town
She's not the only flame in town
She's got to stop thinking that I'm carrying this torch around
You're not the only flame
You're not the only flame
Thought I saw your face in the fire
But it's so hard to remember
Even an inferno can cool down to an ember
Now you're not the only flame
You're not the only flame
You're not the only flame in town
Alternate lyrics
Alternate lyrics for verses one and two from the demo version on the 2001 Rhino reissue of All This Useless Beauty
I know a girl got my mind in a mess
I'll never hear her say goodnight and God bless
She's not the only flame in town
It's a love that I lost that I'll always regret
It's so easy to fall and so hard to forget
That she's not the only flame in town
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The Only Flame In Town |
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Written by | Elvis Costello |
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Performed by | Elvis Costello & The Attractions |
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Produced by | Clive Langer & Alan Winstanley |
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Musicians | Elvis Costello - vocals, guitar Maurice Worm (a.k.a. Steve Nieve) - keyboards Bruce Thomas - bass Pete Thomas - drums Gary Barnacle - saxophone Daryl Hall - vocals see Goodbye Cruel World credits for possible additional musicians |
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Recorded | February 1984, SARM West Studios, London |
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Released | June 18, 1984 |
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Albums | Goodbye Cruel World, 1984 |
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Singles | The Only Flame In Town, 1984 (edit on at least some 7" singles) |
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Collections | The Best Of Elvis Costello & The Attractions, 1985 (edit) Singles, Volume 3, 2003 (edit) |
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Promos | Columbia Retail In-Store Sampler, 1984 Save The Children, 1985 (excerpt) Punch The World, 1995 Visa Sampler, 2007 |
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Videos | The Right Spectacle: The Very Best Of Elvis Costello - The Videos, 2005 |
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Length | 4:01 (album version) 3:35 (single edit) |
Alternate versions
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Covers
Chords
C#m G#m F#m (4 times)
E F#m
I know a girl, got my mind in a mess
G#m A G#m F#m
I never heard her say goodnight and God bless
B E
She's not the only flame in town
E F#m G#m A G#m F#m E
And when we're alone, we never quarrel
I'm miles away, now here's the moral
E
She's not the only flame in town
*E G#m F#m A G#m B A
Chorus:
A B G#m C#m
She's not the only flame in town
D E
She's got to stop thinking that I'm
A G#m F#m B
Carrying this torch around
He struck a match and it lit up her face
We should have struck a match, girl
To burn down the whole place
Now you're not the only flame in town
But you blew hot and cold
Turn my heart to a cinder
And with each passing day
You're less tender and more tinder
Now you're not the only flame in the town
Chorus
C#m G#m F#m (4 times)
Thought I saw your face in the fire
But it's so hard to remember
Even an inferno can cool down to an ember
B G#m
Now you're not the only flame
C#m
You're not the only flame
C B
You're not the only flame
C#m G#m F#m
... in town
C#m G#m F#m (repeat and fade)
*The keyboard, the only instrument actually making chords,
cuts out here and the bass and saxophone play the root notes
of these chords. The easier, and possibly better sounding,
alternative for playing on guitar is an E F#m G#m A walkup,
as is used on the alternate versions on the Goodbye Cruel World
reissues.
Internal links
External links