Beyond Belief

• History repeats the old conceits
  The glib replies the same defeats
  Keep your finger on important issues
  With crocodile tears and a pocketful of tissues
  
  
  I'm just the oily slick
  On the windup world of the nervous tick
  In a very fashionable hovel
  
  
  I hang around dying to be tortured
  You'll never be alone in the bone orchard
  This battle with the bottle is nothing so novel
  
  
  So in this almost empty gin palace
  Through a two-way looking glass
  You see your Alice
  
  
  You know she has no sense
  For all your jealousy
  In a sense she still smiles very sweetly
  
  
  Charged with insults and flattery
  Her body moves with malice
  Do you have to be so cruel to be callous
  
  
  And now you find you fit this identikit completely
  You say you have no secrets
  And then leave discreetly
  
  
  I might make it California's fault
  Be locked in Geneva's deepest vault
  Just like the canals of mars and the great barrier reef
  I come to you beyond belief
  
  
  My hands were clammy and cunning
  She's been suitably stunning
  But I know there's not a hope in Hades
  All the laddies cat call and wolf whistle
  So-called gentlemen and ladies
  Dog fight like rose and thistle
  
  
  I've got a feeling
  I'm going to get a lot of grief
  Once this seemed so appealing
  Now I am beyond belief

-- Elvis Costello