Jump Up [*]

by Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello (born Declan Patrick MacManus, 25 August 1954) is an English singer-songwriter. He began his career as part of London's pub rock scene in the early 1970s and later became associated with the first wave of the British punk/New Wave movement of the mid-to-late 1970s. Steeped in word pl…

Year: 1977

Everybody`s talking like they can`t sit down 
And looking like they can`t stand up
It must be the latest style
And they've seen a lot of things that you never see
Back on the mile up to the hanging tree
Some people can`t keep their fingers clean
Just clicking their heels to the beat of the scene
Trying to keep careen until the first edition of last night`s obituaries

Jump up--hold on tight
Can`t trust the promise or a guarantee
`Cause the man `round the curve says that he`s never heard
Of you or me

No tombstone would ever surprise me 
When I`m locked in a room about half the size of a matchbox
Got holes in my socks
They match the ones that I got in my feet
I put my feet in the holes in the street and somebody paved me over
I was a statue standing on the corner
Tell me, how else can a boy get to see those pretty pleats?

Candidate talkin` on the radio from the "Cheaters Jamboree"
It must be their latest fool
`Cause it`s a two-horse race and he changed his bets 
Like it was just another brand of cigarettes

Some people judge and they just guess the rest
They can`t understand that don`t mean that you`re blessed
They ought to catch the express-next stop no where 
That way you can forget

Jump up--hold on tight
Can`t trust the promise or a guarantee
`Cause the man `round the curve says that he`s never heard
Of you or me