This version of Bedlam was released by Elvis Costello in 2004.
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I’ve got this phosphorescent portrait of gentle Jesus meek and mild
I’ve got this harlot that I’m stuck with carrying another man’s child
The solitary star announcing vacancy burnt out as we arrived
They’d throw us back across the border if they knew that we survived
And they were surprised to see us
So they greeted us with palms
They asked for ammunition, acts of contrition and small alms
I might recite a small prayer
If I ever said them
I lay down on an iron frame
Found myself in bedlam
I wish that I could take something for drowning out the noise
Wailing echoes down the corridors
I’ve got this imaginary radio, and I’m punching up the dial
I’ve got the A.C. trained on the T.V. so it won’t blow up in my eye
And everything that I thought fanciful and mocked as too extreme
Must be family entertainment here in the strange land of my dreams
Now I’m practicing my likeness of St. Francis of Assisi
For if I hold my hand outstretched
A little bird comes to me
I might recite a small prayer
If I ever said them
I lay down on an iron frame
Found myself in bedlam
Escaping from the fingers that were stretching through the bars
Wailing echoes down the corridors
The player piano picks out “Life Goes On”
Ring tone rang out “Jerusalem”
And in this pit of sadness
Where the rank of wretched plunge
We’ve buried all the innocents
Now we must bury revenge
They’ve got this scared and decorated girl strapped to the steel trunk of a mustang
And then they drove her down a cypress grove where traitors hang and stars still spangle
They dangled flags and other rags along a coloured thread of twine
And then they dragged that bruised and purple heart along the road to Palestine
Someone went off muttering, he mentioned thirty pieces
Easter saw a slaughtering, each wrapped in bloodstained fleeces
Then my thoughts returned to vengeance, but I put up no resistance
Though I seemed a long way from my home
It really was no distance
And I might recite a small prayer
If I ever said them
I lay down on an iron frame
Found myself in bedlam
Bowing like an actor acknowledging applause
Playing the Crusader who was conquering the Moors
And he knew the consequences, but he won’t accept the cause
Wailing echoes down the corridors
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More Songs & Lyrics by Elvis Costello
- (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes (1977)
- Alison (1977)
- Blame It On Cain (1977)
- Cheap Reward (1977)
- I’m Not Angry (1977)
- Imagination (Is A Powerful Deceiver) (1977)
- Jump Up (1977)
- Less Than Zero (1977)
- Miracle Man (1977)
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- Mystery Dance (1977)
- No Dancing (1977)
- Pay It Back (1977)
- Poison Moon (1977)
- Radio Sweetheart (1977)
- Sneaky Feelings (1977)
- Stranger In The House (1977)
- Waiting For The End Of The World (1977)
- Watching The Detectives (1977)
- Wave A White Flag (1977)
- Welcome To The Working Week (1977)
- (I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea (1978)
- Big Boys (1978)
- Big Tears (1978)
- Crawling To The U.S.A. (1978)
- Green Shirt (1978)
- Hand In Hand (1978)
- Lip Service (1978)
- Lipstick Vogue (1978)
- Little Triggers (1978)
- Living In Paradise (1978)
- Night Rally (1978)
- No Action (1978)
- Pump It Up (1978)
- Radio Radio (1978)
- Running Out Of Angels (1978)
- The Beat (1978)
- This Year’s Girl (1978)
- You Belong To Me (1978)
- (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding (1979)
- Accidents Will Happen (1979)
- Busy Bodies (1979)
- Chemistry Class (1979)
- Clean Money (1979)
- Goon Squad (1979)
- Moods For Moderns (1979)
- My Funny Valentine (1979)
- Oliver’s Army (1979)
- Party Girl (1979)
- Senior Service (1979)
- Sunday’s Best (1979)
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