Lyrics to
Cheap Reward

This version of Cheap Reward was released by Elvis Costello in 1977.

Visit the Elvis Costello Lyrics profile at Decade Lyrics - it has the Cheap Reward lyrics as well as the rest of the songs by Elvis Costello.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Elvis Costello or about the 1970s in general.

Oh, well, I feel so loose tonight I might fall to pieces
So be prepared to sweep me out the door
And I might be horizontal by the time the music ceases
So I think I’ll get acquainted with the floor
Oh, I was trying to get away from the things that I always do
Hello, floorboards once again – how are you?

Lip Service – well, that’s all you’ll ever get from me
Well, how could you believe I’ll take you seriously?
With your cheap rewards, your blackmail, and your comical rage
Just remember you’ll only be the boss so long as you pay my wage

All the sign posts on this road that point one way
Don’t act like you’re above me, just look at your shoes
I’ll turn the light out now ’cause there’s nothing more to say
And it’s all been lost before so there’s nothing to lose

Oh, but you could say that you love me very painlessly
I would’ve done the same for you, oh, but you said to me:

Lip service – well, that’s all you’ll ever get from me
Well, how could you believe I’d take you seriously?
With your cheap rewards, your blackmail, and your comical rage
Just remember you’ll only be the boss so long as you pay my wage

Just remember you’ll only be the boss so long as you pay my wage

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Elvis Costello has released many songs over the years besides Cheap Reward. 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 1977 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Cheap Reward by Elvis Costello

The lyrics to Cheap Reward are the words, verses and chorus for the song released by Elvis Costello in 1977. Elements of the lyrics to Cheap Reward are both direct in meaning and also metaphorical with the real meanings of the song only known by Elvis Costello and any collaborating writers working on the lyrics for Cheap Reward back when it was created.

Some people have an interest in the etymology behind words and phrases. You can take apart the lyrics to Cheap Reward by Elvis Costello in a number of ways. 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 Cheap Reward" means the words set to the music of Cheap Reward, 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 Cheap Reward and the lyrics to Cheap Reward 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 Cheap Reward, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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