From Elvis: 50 Songs for the 50 Days Prior to Election Day (Part 3)

 Here on PhilosFX, we will bring you an ongoing recapitulation of Elvis Costello's project, "50 Songs for 50 Days."

On Sept 15, 2020, Sir Declan Patrick MacManus, OBE announced he'd be launching a song daily for the next 50 days. These songs will comprise a curated playlist for this time of cultural, political, and environmental upheaval. The announcement was made on his official website and came to my attention via his Facebook page. 

"I hope these songs will amuse, console or even infuriate, because passive indifference is hardly the way forward."--Elvis Costello

It's probably no surprise that the next 50 days takes us up to early November and an important election in the United States of America. 

If you are a fan of Elvis Costello, you will likely already: 

• be connected to his website
• be able to see each new song as it gets added to the playlist 
• have a streaming service lined up to play these tunes (Playlist added to Spotify on 9/17) 
• have access to the lyrics via a comprehensive Wiki.

But what you will not have, and what we at PhilosFX, therefore, pledge to provide, is a recapitulation of all 50 songs, complete with links to lyrics enabling you to read (or sing?) along as each song plays. 

I want this resource for myself and I am more than happy to build it day by day and share it with others as it develops and afterward, for posterity.  Patronize the creator for the original content, and let me know whether this recap adds value by leaving a comment. 

Part 1 (Songs 1-14, Sep 15-28) is available HERE

Part 2 (Songs 15-28, Sep 29-Oct 12) is available HERE

Now we commence with Part 3 as the countdown to the election continues:

No. 29 - "In The Darkest Place" from Painted From Memory (1998).

In the darkest place

I`m lost

I have abandoned every hope

No. 30 - "Everybody’s Cryin’ Mercy" from Kojak Variety (1995).

A bad enough situation

Is sure enough getting worse

Everybody's crying justice

Just as long as there's business first

No. 31 - "Hora Decubitus" (Bedtime) from My Flame Burns Blue (2006).

Life is a beautiful thing

No. 32 - "Newspaper Pane" released for download / streaming on this day (Oct 16) from the forthcoming album Hey Clockface (due Oct 30, 2020). You may also enjoy this video with lyrics. 

I don’t spend my time perfecting the past

I live for the future

Because I know it won’t last

A bent note on a horn I can’t play

Ghosts in the window

That I can’t wish away

No. 33 - "Clowntime Is Over" from Get Happy!! (1980).

Tears on your blackmail

Written to ransom

A point of the fingernail

Says that he`s handsome

No. 34 - "American Gangster Time" from Momofuku (2008).

Next week there'll be some fashionable new sin
For each harlot and each Puritan
Pull off their wings stick them on a pin
And just watch the money roll in

No. 35 - "Weird Nightmare" from Weird Nightmare: Meditations on Mingus (1992).

Weird nightmare
Why must you torment me?
Weird nightmare
Pain and misery
In a heart that’s loved and lost
Take away the grief you’ve caused

No. 36 - "Poor Napoleon" from Blood & Chocolate (1986).

One day they'll probably make a movie out of all of this
There won't even have to be a murder just a slow dissolving kiss

No. 37 - "TRIPWIRE" from Wise Up Ghost (2013).

Torn from the pages of history

Repeated again and again and again

You're either for or against us

And that is how the hatred begins

Tripwire

 

No. 38 - "It's Time" from All This Useless Beauty (1996) 

The party's over
Time we broke up
It always seemed like a bad dream
One where I finally woke up
This magic moment concluding our mutual fate
But if you do have to leave me
Who will I have left to hate?
Who will I have left to hate?

 

 

No. 39 - "New Lace Sleeves" from Trust (1981)

Even presidents have newspaper lovers
Ministers go crawling under covers
She's no angel
He's no saint
They're all covered up with whitewash and grease paint
And you say…
The teacher never told you anything but white lies
But you never see the lies
And you believe

No. 40 - "Stick Out Your TONGUE" from Wise Up Ghost (2013)*

The sugar-coated pill is getting bitterer still

You think your country needs you but you know it never will

So pack up your troubles in a stolen handbag

Don't dilly dally boys rally 'round the flag

Give us our daily bread, give us our daily bread, in individual slices, in individual slices

And something in the daily rag to cancel any crisis

*Most (80%) of the lyrics are borrowed from “Pills & Soap” which was released on 1983's Punch the Clock. Most of the rest of the lyrics (10%) are borrowed from the title song from National Ransom (2010). For the graph, I discounted the small sample from "National Ransom" and split the Album and Year evenly between PTC (1983) and WUG (2013).


No. 41 - "We Are All Cowards Now" from Hey Clockface (2020)

They're draping stones with colours
And a roll of stolen names
Except those we never cared about
And those we need to blame
We'll extinguish that flame, just the same
We are all cowards now

No. 42 - "How Much I Lied" written by Gram Parsons from Almost Blue (1981)

A thief can only steal from you
He cannot break your heart
He can never touch the precious things inside
Someone like you should surely be
Miles and miles away from me
Then you'd never care how much I lied

No. 43 - "All The Rage" from Brutal Youth (1994)

The twitching impulses to speak your mind

I'll lend you my microscope and maybe you will find it

Is it in that ugly place that's just behind your face?

No. 44 - "National Ransom" from National Ransom (2010)

Did you find how to lie? 
Did you find out how to cheat?
The elite bleat, their obsolete
So what are your prospects?

No. 45 - "American Tune" written by Paul Simon and released as a single by The Imposter (2017)

We’ve lived so well, so long
Still, when I think of the road we’re traveling on
I wonder what went wrong
I can’t help it, I wonder what’s gone wrong

No. 46 - "This Sad Burlesque" from The Juliet Letters (1993)

P.S. Well by now you know the worst of it
And we’ve heard all the alibis that they’ve rehearsed
The smug predictions
If it’s not a contradiction
Please have faith in human nature
And have mercy on the creatures in this sad burlesque

No. 47 - "Crawling To The U.S.A." from Crawling to the U.S.A. (Spanish Edition) (2020)*

Me dijo “no te creas tan especial no vas a impresionarme”
Ponle precio a mi lealtad y puedes desnudarme
De sur al norte de rodillas
Sólo el este los esquiva

*Released in 1979, re-released as a bonus track on the 1993 Rykodisc version of This Year's Model, and covered by Gian Marco and Nicole Zignago on this Spanish version of the single. 

No. 48 - "I’ve Been Wrong Before" from Kojak Variety (1995)

The night we met

The night that I won't forget

You seemed what I'd been waiting for

But baby, I've been wrong before

No. 49 - "Man Out Of Time" from Imperial Bedroom (1982)

There's a tuppenny-ha’penny millionaire
Looking for a fourpenny one
With a tight grip on the short hairs
Of the public imagination

No. 50 - "(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding?" from Armed Forces (1979)

As I walk through this wicked world

Searching for light in the darkness of insanity

I ask myself, "Is all hope lost?"

Is there only pain and hatred and misery?

Wait, what!?

Like the best gifts, this bonus song was truly "unexpected." I will include this 51st song and any subsequent songs in the forthcoming recap post with summary stats.

No. 51 - "Couldn’t Call It Unexpected" from Mighty Like A Rose (1991)

So toll the bell or rock the cradle
Please don't let me fear anything I cannot explain
I can't believe, I'll never believe in anything again

Thank you for stopping by PhilosFX. Comments are always welcome.