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
Additional Lyrics
Additional Verse from Greenshirt (demo):
There are wires in the windows, there are wires in the walls
There are wires in the kitchen and wires in the hall
There are wires on poles, there are wires in your face
There are wires in the holes coming out all over the place
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Green Shirt |
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Written by | Elvis Costello |
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Performed by | Elvis Costello & The Attractions |
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Produced by | Nick Lowe |
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Musicians | Elvis Costello - vocals, guitar Steve Nieve - keyboards Bruce Thomas - bass Pete Thomas - drums |
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Recorded | August-September 1978, Eden Studios, London |
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Released | January 5, 1979 |
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Albums | Armed Forces, 1979 |
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Singles | Green Shirt (Canada), 1979 Green Shirt (UK), 1985 |
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Collections | Almost New, 1982 The Man (The Best Of Elvis Costello), 1985 Girls Girls Girls, 1989 2½ Years, 1993 The Very Best Of Elvis Costello, 1999 |
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Promos | Selections From Armed Forces - Imperial Bedroom - Mighty Like A Rose, 2002 Visa Sampler, 2007 |
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Length | 2:41 |
Alternate versions
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