...This Town...

Album This song officially appears on the Spike Official album.
Timeline This song has been officially released in 1988

Song facts

…This Town…” is a song from Elvis Costello which Paul McCartney plays his Rickenbacker bass on. It appears on the 1989 album “Spike” from Elvis Costello, which also contains Veronica & Pads, Paws and Claws, two songs co-written by Elvis Costello & Paul. It was also released as a single but missed both of the main singles chart in UK & US.

Last updated on May 4, 2019

Lyrics

That Charlie Sedarka was a-playing the piano like he was pawing a dirty book
He bit a hole in his big bottom lip and gave his very best little boy look
It was a song with a topical verse which I’m afraid he then proceeded to sing
Something about the moody doomed love of the Fish-Finger King

You’re nobody in this town
You’re nobody in this crowd
You’re nobody till everybody in this town knows you’re poison
Got your number, knows it must be avoided
You’re nobody till everybody in this town thinks you’re a bastard

Mr. Getgood moved up to Self-Made Man Row
Though he swears that he’s the salt of the earth
He’s so proud of the “kick-me-hard” sign that they hung on his back at birth
He said “I appreciate beauty, if I have one, then it’s my fault”
“Beauty is on my pillow, beauty is there in my vault”

The girl with the eternity rock went down on her bookie to buy some stock
Now all the signs in the shopping arcades
Say “The corporation thief is the new Jesse James”
Her clothes and her attention were scant
Her eyes were everywhere, her eyes were like absinthe
The little green figures that dance on your screen
Say everything you want to hear and nothing they mean
They made love while she was changing her dress
She wiped him off, she wiped him out and then she made him confess
A little amused by the belief in her power
You must remember this it was the fetish of the hour

You’re nobody in this town…

Officially appears on


Spike

Official album • Released in 1989

4:31 • Studio versionA

Paul McCartney :
Rickenbacker bass
Elvis Costello :
Acoustic guitar, Gretch, Melodica, Organ, Piano, Producer, Rickenbacker 6-string, Spider guitar, Tambourine, Vocals
Jim Keltner :
Extra snare drum
Kevin Killen :
Producer
T Bone Burnett :
Acoustic guitar, Producer
Ralph Forbes :
Electric drums
Michael Blair :
Bells, Glockenspiel
Cait O'Riordan :
Lunge maracas
Roger McGuinn :
Rickenbacker 12-string guitar

Recording :
1988
Studio :
Ocean Way, Los Angeles & AIR Studios, London

Spike

Official album • Released in 1989

3:50 • DemoB

Elvis Costello :
Guitars, Percussion, Piano, Vocals

Recording :
Feb 16, 1988
Studio :
Eden Studios, London

Latest concerts where ...This Town... has been played

Paul McCartney has never played this song in concert.

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