They talked to the sister, the father and the mother
With a microphone in one hand and a chequebook in the other
And the camera noses in to the tears on her face
The tears on her face
The tears on her face
You can put them back together with your paper and paste
But you can't put them back together, you can't put them back together

What would you say, what would you do?
Children and animals two-by-two
Give me the needle, give me the rope
We're going to melt them down for pills and soap

Four and twenty crowbars, jemmy your desire
Out of the frying pan into the fire
The king is in the counting house, some folk have all the luck
And all we get is pictures of Lord and Lady Muck
They come from lovely people with a hardline in hypocrisy
There are ashtrays of emotion for the fag ends of the aristocracy

What would you say, what would you do?
Children and animals two-by-two
Give me the needle, give me the rope
We're going to melt them down for pills and soap

Give me the needle, give me the rope

The sugar-coated pill is getting bitterer still
You think your country needs you but you know it never will
So pack up your troubles in a stolen handbag
Don't dilly-dally boys, rally round the flag
Give us your daily bread in individual slices
And something in the daily rag to cancel any crisis

What would you say, what would you do?
Children and animals two-by-two
Give me the needle, give me the rope
We're going to melt them down for pills and soap

Give me the needle, give me the rope
We're going to melt them down
For pills and soap


Lyrics submitted by pumkinhed

Pills and Soap Lyrics as written by Elvis Costello

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group

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Pills & Soap song meanings
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3 Comments

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  • +2
    General CommentA veiled comment on the nationalistic fervor that gripped the British media at the time of the ill-conceived Falklands War. To paraphrase Costello: it uses the image of governments abusing people the way people abuse animals.
    imrazoron April 08, 2010   Link
  • +2
    General Commentthe Lord and Lady Muck we get pictures of is, I'm pretty sure, Princes Charles and Diana.
    Furthermore, isn't it scary how this could apply to England today just as well as it did in in the early '80's, 25-odd years and nothing has changed, we've even got a chunk of the same people in the government again!
    dwitefryon August 22, 2012   Link
  • +1
    General Commentabout a confused young man unsure of his identity and purpose tempted to do the needle and rope.
    william758on February 18, 2017   Link

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