Beyond Belief - Elvis Costello, The Attractions

History repeats the old conceits

The glib replies the same defeats

Keep your finger on important issues

With crocodile tears and a pocketful of tissues

I’m just the oily slick

On the windup world of the nervous tick

In a very fashionable hovel

I hang around dying to be tortured

You’ll never be alone in the bone orchard

This battle with the bottle is nothing so novel

So in this almost empty gin palace

Through a two-way looking glass

You see your Alice

You know she has no sense

For all your jealousy

In a sense she still smiles very sweetly

Charged with insults and flattery

Her body moves with malice

Do you have to be so cruel to be callous

And now you find you fit this identikit completely

You say you have no secrets

And then leave discreetly

I might make it California’s fault

Be locked in Geneva’s deepest vault

Just like the canals of Mars and the great barrier reef

I come to you beyond belief

My hands were clammy and cunning

She’s been suitably stunning

But I know there’s not a hope in Hades

All the laddies cat call and wolf whistle

So-called gentlemen and ladies

Dog fight like rose and thistle

I’ve got a feeling

I’m going to get a lot of grief

Once this seemed so appealing

Now I am beyond belief