The soldier asked my name and did I come here very often
Well I thought that he was asking me to dance
In my holy coat and hat and him in his red bonnet
We'd have made a lovely couple but we never had the chance

And now you say that you've got to go
Well if you must you must
I suppose that you need the sleep of the just

Well it was a powerful day and there were black crows in the road
And I kept my strong opinions to my chest
I suppose I should have told them that I was on fire for you
When the bus burst into flames outside some place, 'The Poet's Rest'

And now you say that you've got to go
Well if you must you must
I suppose that you need the sleep of the just

A girl woke up in a naked light and said "Oh no not again"
He even looked like her brother in the army but she never mentions him
He'll be tucked up in his bed tonight with his dirty pictures girl
Saying, 'You're some mother's daughter you know or is it
Immaterial girl?'

Now she's pinned up upon the barracks wall in her home town
All the soldiers taking turns with their attentions
And as they speculate what she'd look like beneath that thin nightgown
His family pride was rising up as he cast his eyes down

And now you say that you've got to go
Well if you must you must
I suppose that you need the sleep of the just


Lyrics submitted by Mopnugget

Sleep of the Just Lyrics as written by Elvis Costello

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group

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Sleep of the Just song meanings
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  • +2
    General Comment

    I don't think so, because the singer/narrator is describing "the girl" too objectively. The first two verses (especially the first) sprang from an unpleasant confrontation Costello had with a young British soldier. Costello himself seems to be the "I." The latter two verses are, indeed, about an estranged brother and sister -- he's gone into the Army, while she poses for soft porn and sleeps around, and it's implied she drinks heavily or worse. In the last verse, the brother does not want to reveal to his fellow soldiers that the pin-up they're ogling is his sister ("His family pride was rising up"). A common misreading of the final verse is that it describes a gang rape, but "pinned up upon the barracks wall" is clearly about a picture, not a person. If I were trying to tie it together, I would say that Costello had an unpleasant encounter and tried to find compassion in his imagination; he gave a rude real-life soldier a poignant back-story that exists only in this song. The brother is still protective of his sister, while the sister is unconsciously drawn to a one-night stand because he resembles her brother.

    TokedDingoon July 16, 2013   Link

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