Elvis Costello
Lyric guide

All These Strangers

Read All These Strangers lyrics by Elvis Costello on LyroVerse, with linked artist context and related song paths.

Elvis Costello visibility1 visits Video on page
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Page type: lyric reference Artist: Elvis Costello Canonical path: /elvis-costello/all-these-strangers Related lyric paths: 6 Video embedded: yes
Lyrics

All These Strangers

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Mistreat me darling and i might just disappear"

Upon freighter running dark out of algiers

Put tiny grains in children's tears

While taking 25% of all the flashbulbs and mementoes

From the mechanized divisions rolling over your frontiers

I saw my baby talking with another man to day

Speaking softly in a confidential way

I saw a shadow pull his glove off

As a bluebird flew over

Life's is no pleasure

When you doubt the one you love

Who are all these strangers?

I never will go back again

Go back into the past

For the flood is rising fast

You can break your window and look down

Into a muddy glass

It's mirror or lens to burn…

There was a deal done in benghazi and belgrade...

Upon a scimitar or other crooked blade

Ransacks and loots, vacated suits

And pistol points but never shoots, army sitting in a locomotive yard without their boots

Upstairs your man is painting the rain out in the street

Imagines woman that he's destined still to meet

He's trying sidetrack one to count on

Caught somewhere between countess or a courtesan

And it's only love to feign and then it's gone

Who are all these strangers?

He's a privateer as dusk gets near

A brigand after dark, his victim lined with chalk

A corsair, filled with horsehair to the core

Dashed on your eyes of adamantine, you despised his stripling whine

That little smudger and the mouthpiece that he's with

Using his clause just like a practised fingersmith

I dreamed i took his digit prints

And then sewed then on a villain's hands

Watched him ransom and demand

Until called the flatfoots in

I never will go back again

Go back into the past

For the flood is rising fast

You can break your window and look down

Into a muddy glass

It's a mirror or lens to burn…

Who are all these strangers?

All these strangers

I sat down on a narrow bed

I thought about the things she said

All these strangers

How i wished the night would never end

So tried to stop the days ahead

I'd carve her name down in the wood

Some small remembrance if i could

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Who performs "All These Strangers"?

Elvis Costello performs "All These Strangers", and this lyric page sits inside the Elvis Costello catalog on LyroVerse.

Are there related songs to explore after "All These Strangers"?

Yes. The related section below points to All This Useless Beauty and Beautiful with a short reason for opening each page next.

Where can I find more songs by Elvis Costello?

Use the artist link near the top of the page or the related paths section below to keep moving through Elvis Costello's lyric pages.

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