25 :: Tough and Transparent :: A Slow Drag with "Crimes of Paris"

Today’s slow drag is with “Crimes of Paris,” from “Blood and Chocolate,” released in 1986. The songwriting is credited to Elvis Costello’s birth name.

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Written, produced, and narrated by Remedy Robinson

Twitter: @slowdragremedy

Email: [email protected]

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

References:

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

“Crimes of Paris” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97L6Ukrmrk4

Kurt Vonnegut quote regarding love:  https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/91604-if-somebody-says-i-love-you-to-me-i-feel

Hunter S. Thompson, the bats: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC4nP9LA3T4

Duplicate lyrics, “Suffering Face” Wiki Resource: http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/index.php/Suffering_Face

“Suffering Face”: https://www.megalyrics.net/elvis-costello/suffering-face

“Freytag’s Pyramid”: https://blog.reedsy.com/narrative-arc/

“Leave My Kitten Alone” liner notes: http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/index.php/Leave_My_Kitten_Alone

“Leave My Kitten Alone” EC cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVf0HMWmDvE

“Q” Magazine interview, “Kojak Variety” http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/index.php/File:1995-06-00_Q_page_28.jpg

"Crimes in Paris" Lyrics:

I thought it was you with your optimist's view of the clock
And how it's always another day
Just after twelve o'clock's struck
Said "Now I only want you so I don't have to promise"
But tiny children in grown-up clothes whispered all the Crimes of Paris

Chorus: 
You're not the girl next door or a girl from France
Or the cigarette-girl in the sizzle hot-pants
All the words of love seem cruel and crass
When you're tough and transparent as armored glass
You're an everywhere girl in an everyday mess
Who'll pay for the Crimes of Paris

I heard that you fell for the "Hell or to Hammersmith Blues"
In the tiny torn up pieces of his mind, he's irresistible too
It's hard to say now if he's only stupid or is smart
As he crawled through the door
And poured out more of his (weeping) creeping-Jesus heart

(Chorus)

And it's all here and now
She hits him with that paper-weight Eiffel Tower
And I tried to hold on to you, but I don't know how
And I find it hard to swallow good advice
Like going down three times to only come up twice
Come up twice

She's so convenient, he's always stiff as hair-lacquer
It's hard to discover now he's in love with her
It was her way of getting her own back

He never did anything she couldn't do on her own
You're as good as your word and that's no good to her
You'd better leave that kitten alone

(Chorus)