Newspaper Pane - Elvis Costello (埃尔维斯 科斯特洛)

Lyrics by：Michael Leonhart/Elvis Costello/Bill Frisell

Composed by：Michael Leonhart/Elvis Costello/Bill Frisell

She looked at the pictures on a newspaper pane

That was taped to the window

To keep out the wind

To keep out the rain

To keep out the nonsense

And block out the needing

To keep up her spirits

With improving reading

But the ink from the columns

Dissolved down into the stain

On the bare wood floor

That extended to the door

Pictures of bright futures somehow ignored

That offered her finery she could never afford

Tempting out savings that she didn't have or could never risk

Not a fashionable kindness it was grotesque

The beaus with their fiddles played The Rascal's Release

We toasted to valor

And wished there were peace

Six months later in a newspaper margin

They were all cut down in a cavalry charge

Weeping Miss Imogen said to her priest

I gave him my virtue

It was the least I could leave him

On the eve of departure

Though I will long for him now and hereafter

And the child I'll be raising may have his blue eyes

What if he grows up and dies

On some distant unnamable hillside or field

Because a king and a concubine put a mark on his shield

Thomas tomorrow Thomas no more

Father and sunshine beyond and before

William who brought his drum home from the war

To beat it for young lads whose days didn't even add up to a score

I don't spend my time perfecting the past

I live for the future

Because I know it won't last

A bent note on a horn I can't play

The ghosts in the window

That I can't wish away

Freedom to be reckless

Freedom to plunder

Freedom to dream

Freedom to wonder

When you get where I am now

You may feel differently

The cliff drops away sharply

Falls into the sea

No work today

No hope tomorrow

No bread for breaking

No wine for sorrow

Nobody is selling

No truth for telling

No work tomorrow

No work today

Look at that child bride and her ideal bouquet

Boys pick up a rifle

That's too much to pay

Count out her teardrops

Wipe them away