22 :: And His Castanets :: A Slow Drag with "Waiting for the End of the World"

Today’s slow drag is with “Waiting for the End of The World,” from “My Aim is True,” released on July 22, 1977, exactly 26 days before the death of Elvis Presley on August 16, 1977. These events are unrelated yet forever cosmically tied to one another. The songwriting is credited to Elvis Costello, a man who, on July 22, 1977 was a mere 35 or so days away from his 23rd birthday.

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Written, produced, and narrated by Remedy Robinson, MA/MFA

Twitter: @slowdragremedy

Email: [email protected]

Podcast music by https://www.fesliyanstudios.com

Rate this Podcast: https://ratethispodcast.com/slowdrag

References:

Elvis Costello Wiki Resource: http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/index.php/Waiting_For_The_End_Of_The_World

“Waiting for the End of the World”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgIR3GU_5sw

To have “agency” https://www.basicknowledge101.com/pdf/Agency%20(philosophy).pdf “The capacity of an entity…to act in any given environment.”

“A Bunch of Stiff Records” contractual band name: http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/index.php/A_Bunch_Of_Stiff_Records

 

"Waiting for the End of the World" lyrics

The man from the television crawled into the train
I wonder who he's gonna stick it in this time
Everyone was looking for a little entertainment
So they'll probably pull his hands off when they find out his name
And then they shut down the power all along the line
And we got stuck in the tunnel where no lights shine
They got to touching all the girls who were too scared to call out
Nobody was saying anything at all

We were waiting for the end of the world
Waiting for the end of the world
Waiting for the end of the world
Dear Lord, I sincerely hope you're coming
'cause you've really started something

Things got back to normal as the train began to roll again
We got to the station about twenty minutes later
The legendary hitchhiker says that he knows where it's at
Now he'd like to go to Spain or somewhere like that
With his two-tone Bible and his funny cigarettes,
His suntan lotion and his castanets

He was waiting for the end of the world
Waiting for the end of the world
Waiting for the end of the world
Dear Lord, I sincerely hope you're coming
'cause you've really started something

And then the bride, the groom, the congregation and the priest
All got onto the train when we were three stations east, yeah
Hiding from a scandal in the national press
They had been trying to get married since they stole the wedding dress
You may see them drowning as you stroll along the beach
But don't throw out the lifeline till they're clean out of reach

Waiting for the end of the world
Waiting for the end of the world
Waiting for the end of the world
Waiting for the end of the world