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 got a feeling
I'm going to get a lot of grief
Once this seemed so appealing
Now I am beyond belief

I got a feeling
I'm going to get a lot of grief
Once this seemed so appealing
Now I am beyond belief

I got a feeling
I'm going to get a lot of grief
Once this seemed so appealing
Now I am beyond belief


Lyrics submitted by Mopnugget, edited by ghostbat

Beyond Belief Lyrics as written by Elvis Costello

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group

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Beyond Belief song meanings
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  • -1
    My Opinion

    A brilliant song, perhaps the finest pop tune I've ever heard. I first heard it on vinyl in 2014. Amongst other things, alongside the repeating refrain that closes out the song, there is a devastating bassline that leaves me in awe every time the tune fades out. On the vinyl album, It's as prevalent or important as the vocals or guitar. Sometimes it brings me to tears if I haven't heard it in a while and I'm in a certain mood.

    I wrote a book about a man's fall from grace. I was listening to this album constantly as I was writing it. Finally, it struck me, the final lines:

    I got a feeling, I'm gonna get a lot of grief, Once this seemed so appealing And now I am beyond belief

    Were the crux of my novel. It's the crux of any story about disillusionment or punishment.

    The alternate phrases to explain the mundane:

    Boneyard = cemetary A scrapple with a bottle = alcoholism A two way looking glass = a mirror OR the bottom of a shot glass. California's faults/Geneva's vault = I DONT KNOW, but I am willing to learn.

    I look for stuff like this to teach me how to write and find new ways to explain old, familiar situations. This is pure genius

    PatMCon June 18, 2016   Link

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