116 :: Unless You Know Otherwise :: A Slow Drag with "The First To Leave"

Today’s slow drag is with “The First to Leave,” from “The Juliet Letters,” released in 1993. The songwriting is credited to Elvis Costello’s birth name.

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Show Notes:

Appreciation written, produced, and narrated by Remedy Robinson, MA/MFA

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Transcription: https://slowdragwithremedy.weebly.com

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

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

 

References:

Elvis Costello Wiki Resource, “The First to Leave” https://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/index.php?title=The_First_To_Leave

 

“The First to Leave” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS0dPEacnTY

“The Dark Ensemble: Voice and String Quartet https://interlude.hk/the-dark-ensemble-voice-and-string-quartet-20th-century/

 

Purchase “The Most Terrible Time in My Life…Ends Thursday”

 

Listen to the audiobook for free at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq7n1pN8D1Y

 

"The First to Leave" Lyrics

I should open with a kiss

For if you're reading this

You must have opened up your case

And found this letter where I placed it

In between the silk and lace

There were other clues, like your walking shoes

But I still refused to believe

That you were meant to be the first to leave

 

Everybody here sends you their love

How could I forget you still walk above

Or below

Perhaps you'll never know this Purgatory

We never could agree

There's a thought, there's a pause

No time to repent

Eternally yours in a permanent Lent

 

But if I should give you up

If you're right and life just stops

And I never see your face again

Then from unearthly pleasures, proud and plain

I shall abstain

'Til you realize, my loss is your surprise

Unless you know otherwise, then don't grieve

You see I had to be the first to leave