Elvis Costello
Lyric guide

Coal Train Robberies

Read Coal Train Robberies 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/coal-train-robberies Related lyric paths: 6 Video embedded: yes
Lyrics

Coal Train Robberies

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Yesterday's coal train came to rest in the bitter cutting

And as the signals took an age to change it was easy pickings

So you go to the movies where they smash it up

You want to feel your heart pumping it makes you feel good

All through the karaoke girls were squealing the hits

As another Mercedes-Benz gets blown to bits

While all the time in the camptown theatres of Piccadilly

They're going to throw a black-face minstrel show for the barefoot children

That they're always selling

They'll say "It's quaint" as the guilty ones faint and claim they ain't underneath this paint

We interrupt these liberal saints with their whips and watermelon

Reports are coming in of a coal-train robbery

It's like another world, or it had better be

So we return to whitewashed pout of his committed lips

Since he was declared the long lost fountain

of youth that drips and drips and drips

They'll be sending him round from door to door,

to sell you back what's already yours

"So many good deeds, so little time"

Say the advertising agency swine

When man has destroyed what he thinks he owns

I hope no living thing cries over his bones

If you don't believe that I'm going for good

You can count the days I'm gone and chop up

The chairs for firewood

Reports are coming in of a coal-train robbery

It's like another world, or it had better be

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Who performs "Coal Train Robberies"?

Elvis Costello performs "Coal Train Robberies", and this lyric page sits inside the Elvis Costello catalog on LyroVerse.

Are there related songs to explore after "Coal Train Robberies"?

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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