Elvis Costello Quotes

My sense of history in music is much greater than a lot of people's. I listen a lot further back in the whole history of music. It's not just pop music of the last 20, 30, 40, 50 years. I'm listening to stuff from hundreds of years ago as well, because you can learn from everything.

My ultimate vocation in life is to be an irritant, someone who disrupts the daily drag of life just enough to leave the victim thinking there's maybe more to it all than the mere hum-drum quality of existence.

I wanna bite the hand that feeds me. I wanna bite that hand so badly. I want to make them wish they'd never seen me.

Oh, I said 'I'm so happy, I could die.'
She said 'Drop dead,' then left with another guy.

I hear they're givin' you a bad reputation
just because you've never been denied.
You try to say you've done it all before,
baby, you know that you just get tired.
Yet everybody loves you so much, girl,
I just don't know how you stand the strain.
Oh, I, I'm the one who's here tonight,
and I don't wanna do it all in vain.

Now I just don't know who to tell to go to hell Who put the old devil in the distorted angel?

I could say it was the nights when I was lonely
and you were the only one who'd talk.
I could tell you that I like your sensitivity,
when you know it's the way that you walk.

Don't tell me you don't know what love is When you're old enough to know better.

Oh, I know that she's disgusted,
cause she's feeling so abused.
She gets tired of the lust,
but it's so hard to refuse.

Nonsense prevails, modesty fails Grace and virtue turn into stupidity While the calendar fades almost all barricades to a pale compromise And our leaders have feasts on the backsides of beasts They still think they're the gods of antiquity If something you missed didn't even exist It was just an ideal — is it such a surprise?

Well, I used to be disgusted.
Now I try to be amused.

What's so funny about peace, love and understanding

Don't put your heart out on your sleeve, When your remarks are off the cuff - Riot Act from Get Happy

Sometimes I wish that I could stop you from talking, when I hear the silly things that you say.

But it's easier to say 'I love you',
than 'Yours, sincerely' I suppose.