The Coward Brothers lyrics - The Elvis Costello Wiki (2024)

I love you always
Always

I want you always
Always
Always

I used to know a girl
Maybe it was you
Faces change and names do too
And none of these things I've said are true

I want you always
Always
Always

She said, "The sun comes up in the dead of night
And the roof is rubber and it won't stay tight
And the floor is the deck of a ship on the sea
And you can't be sure of the shore"

I love you always
Always
Always

Gets down to the matter
Gets down to the root
To flutter or flatter
In hot pursuit
Like Licorice
Like Licorice
On your tongue
It might get a little ticklish
But it won't take long

Some say they only found one little piece
A relation of Anna and anise
The sweetness of candy
The thrill of your fears
The tart of your tongue
And the salt of your tears

Like Licorice
Like Licorice
On your tongue
It might get a little ticklish
But it won't take long

Give 'em what they want, a promise of a dream
A ticket on a time machine
A voyage to nowhere on a magic stick
Maybe you can give it a lick

Like Licorice
Like Licorice
On your tongue
Like Licorice
Like Licorice
On your tongue
It might get a little ticklish
But it won't take long
It won't take long
It won't take long

She said, "I don't want you anymore"
You put your foot right down through the floor
Uh-oh, should I be here beau?
I'm a flat white-wall on a broken wheel
My Baby Just Squeals
"You Heel"

My Baby Just Squeals
"You Heel"
My Baby Just Squeals
"You Heel"
I don't know
If I let her go
"Brother"
Don't hold her too tight 'cos she's bound to bruise
My baby can't choose

She's the kind of berry that you'd like to pick
There's other kinds of cherries that you'd like to, uh-oh
My dynamo
She's the kind of pretty that you'd like to peel
My Baby Just Squeals
"You Heel"

My Baby Just Squeals
"You Heel"
My Baby Just Squeals
"You Heel"
I don't know
If she'll let me go
She's the kind of pretty that you'd like to peel
My Baby Just Squeals
"You Heel"

My Baby Just Squeals
"You Heel"
My Baby Just Squeals
"You Heel"
I don't know
Should I be her beau?
Don't hold her too tight 'cos she's bound to bite
My Baby Just Squeals
"You Heel"

The judge said, "Will you take this woman for your bride"
I said, "I can't decide"
Uh-oh, should I be her beau?
But she wouldn't listen to my appeals
My Baby Just Squeals
"You Heel"

My Baby Just Squeals
"You Heel"
My Baby Just Squeals
"You Heel"
I don't know
If she'll let me go
She's the kind of pretty that you'd like to peel
My Baby Just Squeals
"You Heel"

You did me wrong
With your twisted tongue
My Baby Just Squeals
"You Heel"
My Baby Just Squeals
"You Heel"
My Baby Just Squeals
"You Heel"

Devil woman, devil doll,
Stick a pin in me and watch me crawl
You're the other side of me that won't put down the knife
Did you ever think that you might be the devil's wife?

His first affair was with Jezebel
But she was even too hot for hell
His second was with Scheherazade
But he thought she thought she was God

When he was riding with Delilah
He tried forever to defile her
When he finally got to Cleopatra
That was a disastra

He had to escape to Macon, Georgia
From the time he spent with Lucretia Borgia
Then he found a fate worse than death
In his tête à tête with Lady MacBeth

But all of those harridans combined
They will have to stand in line
Which is forming to the right
There's a flood in the desert while in the city blight
But you cannot have known trouble and strife
Till you've had a drink with the devil's wife

Devil woman, devil doll,
Stick a pin in me and watch me crawl
You're the other side that won't put down the knife
Did you ever think

The devil's wife the devil's wife
She can't dance to save her life
The devil's wife the devil's wife
Her gaze is as a stiletto knife
With sorrow and grief her streets are rife
The devil's wife

She says, "It's over and out"
She says, "It's over and done"
Shoots him with his own gun
Kills him with his only son

It was raining hard on a cloudless day
When I first heard the demon pray
That he could somehow make her pay

He doesn't wait for her response
He tells her twice he tells her once
To memorize the Renaissance

He makes her read Nathaniel Hawthorne
He dresses her in raiment moth worn
Plays One Note Samba on a car horn

He hides behind the bedroom door
And frightens her with her paramour
When she severs his tongue
He grows two more

The devil's wife the devil's wife
She can't dance to save her life
The devil's wife the devil's wife
Her gaze is as a stiletto knife
With sorrow and grief her streets are rife
The devil's wife

She says, "It's over and out"
She says, "It's over and done"
Shoots him with his own gun
Kills him with his only son

As he is turning fact to fiction
She traps him in this contradiction
Until he's left without conviction

As he makes foolishness of wisdom
She manacles him inside a system
As he wails in pain and plays the victim

Then as he sits paralyzed
By the evil spell that she's devised
He feels criticized

And as he sits there moribund
She shoots him with his only gun
While sleeping with his only son

The devil's wife the devil's wife
She can't dance to save her life
The devil's wife the devil's wife
Her gaze is as a stiletto knife
With sorrow and grief her streets are rife
The devil's wife

She says, "It's over and out"
She says, "It's over and done"
Shoots him with his own gun
Kills him with his only son

I say, "Stop now"
But it's no use
When you're falling into the juice
And it seems to slip down so fine
Take your hand off that glass
That glass is mine

This bourbon is as smooth as silk
It tastes just like cookies and milk
And there used to be a time when I preferred you
Before your very eyes, your eyes were blurred

Tipsy Woman you had better stop
Before the first sip, down to the last drop
My love would be overflowing at the brim
If you didn't want to drink with him

Tipsy Woman, Tipsy, Tipsy, Tipsy, Tipsy Woman
Tipsy Woman, Tipsy, Tipsy, Tipsy, Tipsy

Take a slash dripping from the still
From a quarter down to a gill
'Til the pleasure of it is all gone
The very measure it not for everyone

I see you begin to sway
There's no music getting in the way
But when someone offers you the grape
You think it can help you, help you escape

Tipsy Woman you had better stop
Before the first sip, down to the last drop
My love would be overflowing at the brim
If you didn't want to drink with him

Tipsy Woman, Tipsy, Tipsy, Tipsy, Tipsy Woman
Tipsy Woman

Last night you came into my dream
Sweet as cookies and cream
And you whispered to me, "Let's go crazy"
And everything around me seemed to go hazy

Tipsy Woman you had better stop
Before the first sip, down to the last drop
My love would be overflowing at the brim
If you didn't want to drink with him

Tipsy Woman, Tipsy, Tipsy, Tipsy, Tipsy Woman
Tipsy Woman, Tipsy, Tipsy, Tipsy, Tipsy
Tipsy Woman, Tipsy, Tipsy, Tipsy, Tipsy Woman

She said, "Don't whimper and fret, I might not make you my pet
I'd give you a name but you're not quite tame"
There was a mad dog loose so she called the police
They sent out a catcher with a rope and a leash

What's the matter with these people today?
They're gonna take a little monkey and blast him to Mars
I'm not the kind of animal you put behind bars
I walk around upright
I'm not crawling on all fours
My baby just purrs, "You're mine, you're mine, not hers"

When we go out walking at night, she says, "Come here baby you know I don't bite"
I don't want a mate, I don't want a rival
It's a matter of survival
I begin to growl, you slip out on the prowl
The moon comes up and I begin to howl

What's the matter with these people today?
They're gonna take a little monkey and blast him to Mars
I'm not the kind of animal you put behind bars
I walk around upright
I'm not crawling on all fours
My baby just purrs, "You're mine, you're mine, not hers"

Sometimes she's human kind with all her gifts and spols
She likes to tease the boys, she might even kiss the girls

What's the matter with these people today?
They're gonna take a little monkey and blast him to Mars
I'm not the kind of animal you put behind bars
I walk around upright
I'm not crawling on all fours
My baby just purrs, "You're mine, you're mine, not hers"
My baby just purrs, "You're mine, you're mine, not hers"
My baby just purrs, "You're mine, you're mine, not hers"

My pretty spy up on the dance floor
Feels just like a Cold War
Pulls down the curtain
When I knock on her door
I can't tell if she wants a kiss or a kill
My baby just whistles, here come the missiles

She comes out firing
Like an air-raid siren
She tinkers with my wiring
'Til the blast-off begins
I can't tell if she wants a kiss or a kill
My baby just whistles, here come the missiles

Early in the morning there's a four-minute warning
She's built an anatomic
Like a hydrogen bomb
I tried to run, I couldn't even call out
I fell for her just like some nuclear fallout

She comes here firing
Like an air-raid siren
She tinkers with my wiring
'Til the blast-off begins
I can't tell if she wants a kiss or a kill
My baby just whistles, here come the missiles
My baby just whistles, here come the missiles
My baby just whistles, here come the missiles

Eating ice chrome at the spaceball game
Between the China Reds and the New World Braves
The grandstand swayed as the organ played its soulful anthem
And the old announcers voice rang through the night in Gotham

Where on the street two lovers meet, so discrete
Acting cool but talking cruel about their fools
He's a brute, she's a mute, it don't compute
Unaware that standing there is a gun cocked to shoot

Eating ice chrome at the spaceball game
Instead of the world of such specifics
We speak like freaks
The fate of kings, keen the beasly pipers
Drums and cymbals, stupid with ciphers

Eating ice chrome at the spaceball game
Between the China Reds and the New World Braves
The grandstand swayed as the organ played its soulful anthem
And the old announcers voice rang through the night in Gotham

Sleepy morning
Early warning
She said, "Come back fellow, I'm still on my pillow
What you doing out that door?
Won't you come back and love me some more?"

Early Shirley, Early Shirley
She is sooner than right now
Hold me dearly, love me nearly
It's catch as catch can
I might be early baby but I'm doing my best to be your man

I was struggling and a striving
While she's still arriving
You didn't have to say a word and I'm your early bird
She said, "Didn't I teach you?
Haven't you learned?"
Perhaps I did
But the worm has turned

Early Shirley, Early Shirley
She is sooner than right now
Hold me dearly, love me nearly
It's catch as catch can
I might be early baby but I'm doing my best to be your man

She said that, "that's surprising
Is that the sun that's rising?
Roll down her shade, there can't be delay"
She loves me madly till I'm ready to pop
I'm a dough boy with a cherry on top

Early Shirley, Early Shirley
She is sooner than right now
Hold me dearly, love me nearly
It's catch as catch can
I might be early baby but I'm doing my best to be your man

Cheerio Charlie, I'm off to fight the war
I'm going to live on bully beef
I'm going to wipe the floor with any Hun
Or German son who knocks upon the door

They're coming in the Kitchener
Whispering in your ear
Yesteryear is near

You dream of skinny mademoiselles
You filthy scallywag
Take their bloody bloomers off and wave them like a flag
And when this is all over we will toast in vin du rouge
And piccolo the derrière
'Cos some of them are huge

Toodle-oo Tommy, until we meet again
And if we shouldn't make it back
Let's say, "Up the Kaiser"
and I'll say hello to your old gal
You'll say, "Farewell" to mine

They're coming in the Kitchener
Whispering in your ear
Yesteryear is near

Birkenhead Girl
Birkenhead Girl
Birkenhead Girl
She's the kind of girl you might chance to meet
If you go walking down Conway Street

Birkenhead Girl
Birkenhead Girl
Birkenhead Girl
Birkenhead Girl
She's the kind of girl that makes you stop and stare
If you go walking round Hamilton Square

She drinks formaldehyde 'cos she comes from Kirby
She's quite disturbed 'cos she comes from Irby
Her perfume smells as if she comes from Meols
She's Eastham of the sun
And west of West Kirby

Overchurch, Woodchurch, Bebington, Bromborough, Rock Ferry, New Ferry, Tollemache Road

Birkenhead Girl
Birkenhead Girl
Birkenhead Girl
Birkenhead Girl
Birkenhead Girl

I'm a Clatterbridge boy that you see in Port Sunlight
My heart will be Greasby
If you leave me

Overchurch, Woodchurch, Bebington, Bromborough, Rock Ferry, New Ferry, Tollemache Road

Thingwall, Hoylake, Egremont, Pensby, Leasowe, Liscard, Ellesmere Port

She thinks she's the boss
'Cos she comes from the Cross
Rub-a-dub dub in the old "Blood Tub"

She's a Birkenhead Girl
She's a Birkenhead Girl
My Birkenhead Girl
Birkenhead Girl

She's the kind of girl that makes you want to stop and stare
If you go walking round Hamilton Square

Birkenhead Girl
Birkenhead Girl
Birkenhead Girl
Birkenhead Girl

She's up in court and hard to defend
They're going to send her down with her big North End

Overchurch, Woodchurch, Bebington, Bromborough, Rock Ferry, New Ferry, Tollemache Road

Thingwall, Hoylake, Egremont, Pensby, Leasowe, Liscard, Ellesmere Port

Birkenhead
Birkenhead
Birkenhead
Birkenhead

I want to give her my heart
In this song I'm singing
She could take me away
And I would give her everything

Sometimes I can't find the right words to say
'Til my angel blows those smoke rings my way

She sees me like no-one does
She loves me like nobody could
And no-one knows what we did here
To make that smoke ring disappear

I want to give her my heart
And I hope she'll take it
She could tear it apart
I made a vow and I won't break it

Sometimes I can't find the right words to say
'Til my angel blows the smoke rings my way
'Til my angel blows the smoke rings my way
'Til my angel blows the smoke rings my way

She said I wooden try that
I really wooden beg
You wooden take my hand now you shouldn't touch my leg
I got the kind of lips you wooden want to miss
Who wooden want to kiss?

I said, "I wooden want to lose you, I wooden want to fail"
I'm driving home to you with a hammer and some nails
So don't try to be fickle if I spin a wooden nickel
Am I calling heads or tails

I wooden care
I wooden tell
A wooden woman wooden wooden wooden yell
You make the papers for newspaper printers
I wish you wooden break my heart to splinters

Wooden Woman - wooden wooden wooden woman wooden
Wooden Woman - wooden wooden wooden woman wooden
Wooden Woman - wooden wooden wooden woman wooden
Wooden Woman - wooden wooden wooden woman wooden

I wooden want a cherry
I wooden want an ash
I wooden want a cedar
Or a little calabash
I wooden want to speak or turn the other cheek
For another slapadash

I said, "I wooden want to lose you, I wooden want to fail"
I'm driving home to you with a hammer and some nails
So don't try to be fickle if I spin a wooden nickel
Am I calling heads or tails

Wooden you?
Wooden I?
You know I wooden wooden wooden lie
She makes the papers for newspaper printers
I wish you wooden break my heart to splinters

Wooden Woman - wooden wooden wooden woman wooden
Wooden Woman - wooden wooden wooden woman wooden
Wooden Woman - wooden wooden wooden woman wooden
Wooden Woman - wooden wooden wooden woman wooden

A Thermidor lobster and a Singapore sling
Something that looked like a diamond ring
Her kisses were sweet and tingling
So I gave her all of my Benjamins

She said, "Mister, you must think I'm a dunce
Well, maybe just this once"

I don't want it
I don't want it
I don't want your Lyndon Johnson

I don't want it
I don't want it
I don't want your Lyndon Johnson

She said, "Mister, you must think that I'm a dunce
Maybe just this once"

Then she took the keys to the Cadillac
She said, "I'm leaving and I'm not coming back"
She picked a card from the top of the pack
And said, "I'm serious as a heart attack"

"Mister, you must think that I'm a dunce
Maybe just this once"

I don't want it
I don't want it
I don't want your Lyndon Johnson

I don't want it
I don't want it
I don't want your Lyndon Johnson

She said, "Mister, you must think that I'm a dunce
Maybe just this once"

I don't want it
I don't want it
I don't want your Lyndon Johnson

I don't want it
I don't want it
I don't want your Lyndon Johnson

She said, "Mister, you must think that I'm a dunce
Maybe just this once
Maybe just this once
Maybe just this once"

There's an awful lot of money going round
Some of it's shillings, threepenny bits and pounds
Some of it's bucks, some of it's bits
But if I don't get some I'm gonna call it quits

Some of it's dollars, some of it's cents
I don't have much it's gonna make no sense
There's an awful lot of money going round

There's an awful lot of money going round
There's an awful lot of money going round
Some are just markers, signed with "X"
"I.O.U."s and cancelled cheques
Some are just bills, counterfeit
Written in blood on the balance sheet
There's an awful lot of money going round

I want a lotta money - lotta money
I want a lotta money - lotta money
I want a lotta money - lotta money
I want a lotta money - lotta money
There's an awful lot of money going round

There's an awful lot of money going round - and round and round and round
Some of it's shilling, threepenny bits and pounds - I want a thousand pounds
Some of it's bucks, some of it's bits
If I don't get some I'm gonna call it quits

Some of it's dollars, some of it's cents
I don't have much that don't make no sense
There's an awful lot of money going round

I want a lotta money - lotta money
I want a lotta money - lotta money
I want a lotta money - lotta money
I want a lotta money - lotta money
I want a lotta money - lotta money
There's an awful lot of money going round

That's what I want...
Gimmie money...

There's a shot
I clicked the shutter
There's a shot
Hear the report
Cathy Come Home
There's a shot
So I thought
I should take it
Make you immortal
Cathy Come Home

If a child pulls apart a petal
He may cry
Cathy Come Home
Cathy Come Home
Bullets sometimes pierce the metal
You can't identify
Cathy Come Home
Cathy Come Home
Cathy Come Home

There's a frame
And an explanation
No-one can blame her
All her youth
And all the beauty
She was doing her duty?
Singing songs in a soldier's suit
Embroidered with her name
Muffled drums and a folded flag

Take aim

Then there's a volley

Reload!

Reload twenty times more

Reload!

Then there's a volley

Reload!

Reload a volley

Reload!

Then there's a volley

For the unknown
Cathy Come Home
Cathy come

If a child pulls apart a petal
He may cry
Cathy Come Home
Cathy Come Home

When a child pulls apart a petal
He may cry
Cathy Come Home
Cathy Come Home
Cathy come

When a child pulls apart a petal
He may cry
Cathy Come Home
Cathy Come Home
Cathy come

When a child pulls apart a petal
You can't identify
Cathy Come Home
Cathy Come Home
Cathy Come Home

Let's let bygones be bygones
Alright? Or all wrong

Well, there was a tme we had it made
But we split apart along the way
Now you want to be together
But, darling, I have been forever
All alone
And bygones
Is bygones

Pretty face take me back to the place
Where the sand and shells castaway their spells
Row me once, row me twice, row me back to paradise

Where the wave rolls over the sandy shore
I don't want much, I won't ask more
Row me once, row me twice, row me back to paradise

Pretty eyes
Tell me lovely
Of the shining seas

Pretty lips
Whisper softly
Of the flying fish and the perfumed breeze

Pretty face take me back to the place
Where the sand and shells castaway their spells
Row me once, row me twice, row me back to paradise

With a shot of rum and a glass of ice
Row me back to paradise

Pretty eyes
Tell me lovely
Of the shining seas

Pretty lips
Whisper softly
Of the flying fish and the perfumed breeze

Pretty face take me back to the place
Where the sand and shells castaway their spells
Row me once, row me twice, row me back to paradise

With a shot of rum and a glass of ice
Row me back to paradise

I'm a clown around town
Whatever I've done
I'm a clown around town
Whatever I do
I'm a jester and a joker with a jape or two
I'm a fool for you

I'm a clown around town
I've heard it said
I'm a clown around town
With eyes of red
I'm a puppet to your tune, a big buffoon
With a bucket of glitter
But I'm not bitter

Everybody knows me now
They've heard me say
I don't care about her
Since she went away

And I paint my smile beneath my rosy cheek
To cover my juggling technique
Spin these china plates 'til they shatter to the ground
Pick a glass up and drink it down

I'm a clown around town
Whatever I've done
I'm a clown around town
Whatever I do
I'm a jester and a joker with a jape or two
I'm a fool for you
I'm a fool for you

Everybody knows me now
They've heard me say
I don't care about her
Since she went away

And I paint my smile beneath my rosy cheek
To cover my juggling technique
Spin these china plates 'til they shatter to the ground
Pick a glass up and drink it down

I'm a clown around town
Whatever I've done
I'm a clown around town
Whatever I do
I'm a jester and a joker with a jape or two
I'm a fool for you
I'm a clown around town
I'm a clown around town
I'm a clown around town