My first lyric departed directly from Mingus’s title “This Subdues My Passion.” If you didn’t think the song was already half written after that titl… - Elvis Costello

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My first lyric departed directly from Mingus’s title “This Subdues My Passion.” If you didn’t think the song was already half written after that title, then you had no business dallying with the tune in the first place. I wrote about the way that music tempers the violence within a man. This subdues my passion And it may control my rage It may stem the poison that spills out onto the page