Church underground
by Elvis Costello
lyricscopy.com
She stood spotlit in a plain print dress
Came howling out of the wilderness
There beat a cunning and murderous heart
Beneath that calm exterior
"You know my name
You don´t know my mind
Don´t doubt my eyes
They betray the past
And I´ve already forgotten
Much more than you will ever know"
And every word that I have spoken is true
Except for those that were broken in two
I´m trying to make peace after a long night of pretend
I need a pawnbroker or moneylender
Why do you do me down, Mister?
Sing "Hallelujah," Sister
Turn up the volume, just to turn it down
The trivial secrets buried with profound
It´s enough to put a Church Underground
Deflowered young and then ever since
She´s tried to wash off his fingerprints
So every charlatan and prince
Was made to feel inferior
She worked for tips in a 10-cent dance
Said moving pictures might pay perchance
10,000 one-way tickets to the sparkling coast
From the blank interior
Everybody´s either talking in code
Or getting ready to explode
Then she was singing with five-piece band
But seems that no-one wants this sound
Why do you do me down, Mister?
Sing "Hallelujah," Sister
Turn up the volume, just to turn it down
The trivial secrets buried with profound
It´s enough to put a Church Underground
The shaft of fanlight streaked with rain
Poured through the glass, punched through the pain
A holy picture hidden in the midden of that poisoned stitch
Her lonely voice was just a ruin in these riches
Must have been dreaming this all along
Could she be redeeming herself in song?
"I´m no-one´s martyred, plaster saint
Below the grease, beneath the paint"
I´m rolling like barrel
Swinging like a gallows
I´m rising up fast like all hell and all hallows
Why do you do me down, Mister?
Sing "Hallelujah," Sister
I´ll be damned or purgatory bound
Before those jokers ever understand
It´s enough to put a Church Underground
Came howling out of the wilderness
There beat a cunning and murderous heart
Beneath that calm exterior
"You know my name
You don´t know my mind
Don´t doubt my eyes
They betray the past
And I´ve already forgotten
Much more than you will ever know"
And every word that I have spoken is true
Except for those that were broken in two
I´m trying to make peace after a long night of pretend
I need a pawnbroker or moneylender
Why do you do me down, Mister?
Sing "Hallelujah," Sister
Turn up the volume, just to turn it down
The trivial secrets buried with profound
It´s enough to put a Church Underground
Deflowered young and then ever since
She´s tried to wash off his fingerprints
So every charlatan and prince
Was made to feel inferior
She worked for tips in a 10-cent dance
Said moving pictures might pay perchance
10,000 one-way tickets to the sparkling coast
From the blank interior
Everybody´s either talking in code
Or getting ready to explode
Then she was singing with five-piece band
But seems that no-one wants this sound
Why do you do me down, Mister?
Sing "Hallelujah," Sister
Turn up the volume, just to turn it down
The trivial secrets buried with profound
It´s enough to put a Church Underground
The shaft of fanlight streaked with rain
Poured through the glass, punched through the pain
A holy picture hidden in the midden of that poisoned stitch
Her lonely voice was just a ruin in these riches
Must have been dreaming this all along
Could she be redeeming herself in song?
"I´m no-one´s martyred, plaster saint
Below the grease, beneath the paint"
I´m rolling like barrel
Swinging like a gallows
I´m rising up fast like all hell and all hallows
Why do you do me down, Mister?
Sing "Hallelujah," Sister
I´ll be damned or purgatory bound
Before those jokers ever understand
It´s enough to put a Church Underground