I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
I don't like those other guys looking at your curves
I don't like you walking 'round with physical jerks
Everything they say and do is getting on my nerves
Soon they will be lucky to be picking up the perks
'Cause when they pull the shutters down and throw up in the dark
They'll find that all the dogs outside bite much worse than they bark
Here we are living in paradise (paradise), living in luxury
Oh, the thrill is here but it won't last long, you better
Have your fun before it moves along
And you're already looking for another fool like me
I call you Betty Felon 'cause you are a pretty villain
And I think that I should tell them that you'd make a pretty killing
'Cause meanwhile up in heaven they are waiting at the gate
Saying, "We always knew you'd make it, didn't think you'd come this late"
And now it's much too dangerous to stop what you've begun
When everyone in paradise carries a gun
Here we are living in paradise (paradise), living in luxury
Oh, the thrill is here but it won't last long, you better
Have your fun before it moves along
And you're already looking for another fool like me
Later in the evening when arrangements are made
I'll be at the keyhole outside your bedroom door
'Cause I'm the first to know whenever the plans are laid
That never go further than floor to floor
You think that I don't know the boy that you're touching
But I'll be at the video and I will be watching
Here we are living in paradise (paradise)
Here we are living in paradise (paradise)
Here we are living in paradise (paradise)
Here we are living in paradise (paradise), living in luxury
Oh, the thrill is here but it won't last long, you better
Have your fun before it moves along
And you're already looking for another fool like me
And you're already looking for another fool like me
And you're already looking for another fool like me
And you're already looking for another fool like me
And you're already looking for another fool like me
I don't like you walking 'round with physical jerks
Everything they say and do is getting on my nerves
Soon they will be lucky to be picking up the perks
'Cause when they pull the shutters down and throw up in the dark
They'll find that all the dogs outside bite much worse than they bark
Here we are living in paradise (paradise), living in luxury
Oh, the thrill is here but it won't last long, you better
Have your fun before it moves along
And you're already looking for another fool like me
I call you Betty Felon 'cause you are a pretty villain
And I think that I should tell them that you'd make a pretty killing
'Cause meanwhile up in heaven they are waiting at the gate
Saying, "We always knew you'd make it, didn't think you'd come this late"
And now it's much too dangerous to stop what you've begun
When everyone in paradise carries a gun
Here we are living in paradise (paradise), living in luxury
Oh, the thrill is here but it won't last long, you better
Have your fun before it moves along
And you're already looking for another fool like me
Later in the evening when arrangements are made
I'll be at the keyhole outside your bedroom door
'Cause I'm the first to know whenever the plans are laid
That never go further than floor to floor
You think that I don't know the boy that you're touching
But I'll be at the video and I will be watching
Here we are living in paradise (paradise)
Here we are living in paradise (paradise)
Here we are living in paradise (paradise)
Here we are living in paradise (paradise), living in luxury
Oh, the thrill is here but it won't last long, you better
Have your fun before it moves along
And you're already looking for another fool like me
And you're already looking for another fool like me
And you're already looking for another fool like me
And you're already looking for another fool like me
And you're already looking for another fool like me
Lyrics submitted by planetearth
Living In Paradise Lyrics as written by Elvis Costello
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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why no comments? anyway, i love this song, basically just think its about a girl who just uses him and he's thrilled that she's paying attention to him, and thrilled everyone else thinks shes "hot" apparently, but he knows she'll leave him in the long run.
i think this song is about being famous and its dangers. ill elaborate if anyone wants to know why.
I always thought it was about a guy who has been dumped by a girl but he's still heavily infatuated with her so has took to stalking her, going as far as peeping on her sexual encounters with other guys.
I partially agree with elements in the three comments preceding mine, but want to add a touch or two.
He's talking about a woman with whom he wants to maintain a relationship, but knows he'll never really get along with; typifying her as a kind of overly-carnal type, with pauperized values. he's obsessed. It's as though, beside being someone not really worthy of an idealistic type like him, she's also some kind of immutable ideal, even in that degraded state; like Pythagoras's Theorem..
And this serves to highlight something about Costello that might partially explain why he has only a cult following: Sometimes he lavishes an amazing amount of craft on squinky subjects like this that arguably aren't worthy of such exertions.
It's nice to imagine a redemptive angle, like he's reaching out to the guys out there who suffer from being stuck in these places. Only I question the efficacy of this approach to interpersonal, emotional truth.