Lyrics to
The Beat

This version of The Beat was released by Elvis Costello in 1978.

Our About Elvis Costello page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for The Beat from 1978 as well as all of the other lyrics from Elvis Costello that we have in our lyrics database.

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

We’re all going on a summer holiday
Vigilante’s coming out to follow me.
Heard somebody say they’re out to collar me.
Anybody wanna swallow me?
It takes two to tumble. It takes two to tango.
Speak up; don’t mumble if you’re in the combo.

On the beat, on the beat.
Till a man comes along and he says,
‘Have you been a good boy, never played with your toy?
Though you never enjoy, such a pleasure to employ.’

See your friends in the state their in.
See your friends getting under their skin.
See your friends getting taken in.

Well, if you only knew the things you do to me.
I’d do anything to confuse the enemy.
There’s only one thing wrong with you befriending me.
Take it easy. I think you’re bending me.

I’ve been a bad boy with the standard leader.
My neighbor’s revving up his Vauxhall Viva.

On the beat, on the upbeat.
Till a man comes along and he says,
‘Have you been a good boy, never played with your toy?
Though you never enjoy, such a pleasure to employ.’

See your friends walking down the street.
See your friends never quite complete.
See your friends getting under their feet.

Oh, I don’t want to disease you,
but I’m no good with machinery.
Oh, I don’t wanna freeze you.
Stop looking at the scenery.
I keep thinking about your mother.
Oh, I don’t wanna lick them.
I don’t wanna be a lover.
I just wanna be your victim.
I don’t go out much at night.
I don’t go out much at all.
Did you think you were the only one
who was waiting for a call

On the beat, on the upbeat.
Till a man comes along and he says,
‘Have you been a good boy, never played with your toy?
Though you never enjoy, such a pleasure to employ.’

See your friends treat me like a stranger.
See your friends despite all the arrangements.
See your friends Nothing here has changed.
Just the beat.

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Want more lyrics and songs by Elvis Costello?

Elvis Costello has released many songs over the years besides The Beat. 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 1970s music looking for more songs from 1978 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and The Beat by Elvis Costello

When you decide to study the lyrics to The Beat, you're looking at the words, verses and background chorus from the 1978 song by Elvis Costello. Some of the lyrics to The Beat have clear meanings and some contain metaphorical references. Like most songs, only Elvis Costello and their collaborators know the full story behind any of the their songs.

You can understand the lyrics to The Beat if you take apart the structure of the words. 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 The Beat" means the words set to the music of The Beat, 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 The Beat and the lyrics to The Beat 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 The Beat, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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