Lyrics to
Accidents Will Happen

This version of Accidents Will Happen was released by Elvis Costello in 1979.

Our About Elvis Costello page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for Accidents Will Happen from 1979 as well as all of the other lyrics from Elvis Costello that we have in our lyrics database.

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Oh I just don’t know where to begin
Though he says he’ll wait forever
It’s now or never
But she keeps him hanging on
The silly champion
She says she can’t go home
Without a chaperone

Accidents will happen
We only hit and run
He used to be your victim
Now you’re not the only one

Accidents will happen
We only hit and run
I don’t want to hear it
‘Cause I know what I’ve done

There’s so many fish in the sea
That only rise up in the sweat and smoke like mercury
But they keep you hanging on
They say you’re so young
Your mind is made up but your mouth is undone

And it’s the damage that we do
And never know
It’s the words that we don’t say
That scare me so

There’s so many people to see
So many people you can check up on
And add to your collection
But they keep you hanging on
Until you’re well hung
Your mouth is made up but your mind is undone

I know, I know,

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Elvis Costello has released many songs over the years besides Accidents Will Happen. Elvis Costello released songs from 1977 to 2004 spanning across albums like My Aim Is True, This Year's Model, Armed Forces, Get Happy!!, Trust, Almost Blue, Imperial Bedroom, Punch The Clock, Goodbye Cruel World, Blood And Chocolate, King Of America, Spike, Mighty Like A Rose, The Juliet Letters, Brutal Youth, Kojak Variety, Deep Dead Blue, All This Useless Beauty, Painted From Memory, For The Stars, When I Was Cruel, North, and The Delivery Man. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Elvis Costello.

If you're a fan of popular 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1979 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Accidents Will Happen by Elvis Costello

The lyrics to Accidents Will Happen are just the words, phrases, verses and chorus that Elvis Costello used when the song was created in 1979. The lyrics to Accidents Will Happen have both easy-to-spot meanings and hidden metaphors that have been discussed by the music press and fans, but only Elvis Costello and any collaborators know all of the inspirations for the song.

If you like etymology or breaking apart phrases and words, it is easy to understand the lyrics to Accidents Will Happen by Elvis Costello. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Accidents Will Happen" means the words set to the music of Accidents Will Happen, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Elvis Costello. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Accidents Will Happen and the lyrics to Accidents Will Happen are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Elvis Costello who came here looking just for the lyrics to Accidents Will Happen, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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