Lyrics:
Don't tell me you don't know what love is
When you're old enough to know better
When you find strange hairs in your seater
When your dreamboat turns out to be a footnoteI'm a man with a mission in two or three editions
(Chorus):
And I'm giving you a longing look
Everyday, everyday, everyday I write the bookChapter One we didn't really get along
Chapter Two I think I fell in love with you
You said you'd stand by me in the middle of Chapter Three
But you were up to your old tricks in Chapters Four, Five and Six
CHORUS
The way you talk, and try to kiss me, and laugh
In four or five paragraphs
All your compliments and your cutting remarks
Are captured here in my quotation marks
Don't tell me you don't know the difference
Between a lover and a fighter
With my pen and my electric typewriter
Even in a perfect world where everyone was equal
I'd still own the film rights and be working on the sequel
"Everyday I Write the Book" is a very weird song. Even though it's on Punch the Clock, it would fit very nicely as well his next LP, Goodbye Cruel World. This is not a compliment. First of all, while Punch the Clock is well regarded, it's not as good as people remember. Second, Goodbye Cruel World is widely recognized as Costello's weakest from the first phase of his career, his years on Columbia. Either way, I actually like a lot about it. I like the rhythm and I like the crooning vocal, which is often called out as corny. What's weak about the song is that the rest of the arrangement has no guts -- it's just wussy.
ReplyDeleteHowever, that said "Everyday I Write the Book" is apparently a song style compelling to enough people to provide a bit of a commercial breakthrough for Costello. Which seems a bit odd, in that as a top 40 single, it was a dismal failure. The '80s were a weird period of time for crossover artists. Elvis Costello was the kind of guy -- and there weren't a hell of a lot of them -- who could have a flop of a record that could also be his biggest seller to date.
It was a messed up time.
Final note: Punch the Clock has some great cuts on it, but as a full-length LP it'll get on your fucking nerves. Christ.