1 Meaning
Add Yours
Share
Q&A

Invasion Hit Parade Lyrics

now that you set everybody free
what are you going to do about me?
don't want to be treated like some poor grateful clown
i'd rather go back in the sweet underground
where i can tell the time by the colour of my skin
and i know my neighbour 'cos he's the one
yes he's the one who always turns me in

a woman works the tunnel in the middle of the night
picking up every lost object in sight
handbags, toupees, lost legs and fingernails
the black market eats up all your failures
her transistor offers no salvation or regrets
no pool, no pets, no cigarettes
just non-stop disco tex and sex-o-lettes

(chorus)
there's no name, no name for the place or pain
we'll cause you again and again
if you do not cooperate with the invasion hit parade

the liberation forces make movies of their own
playing their "doors" records and pretending to be stoned
drowning out a broadcast that wasn't authorised
incidentally the revolution will be televised
with one head for business and another for good looks
until they started arriving with their rubber aprons
and their butcher's hooks

(chorus)

they're hunting us down here with liberty's light
a handshaking double talking procession of the mighty
pursued by a t.v. crew and coming after them
a limousine of singing stars and their brotherhood anthem
the former dictator was impeccably behaved
they're mopping up all the stubborn ones
who just refuse to be saved

(chorus)
Questions and Answers

Ask specific questions and get answers to unlock more indepth meanings & facts.

1 Meaning

Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.

Cover art for Invasion Hit Parade lyrics by Elvis Costello

As an American this makes me think about our dismaying history of supporting dictators for whom "human rights" is an oxymoron and then having the nerve to wrap it all up in a nice neat argument like halting the dominos from falling or forcing democracy upon people who never asked for it. Say what you will about Elvis, but he knows how to conjure up a brutally vivid image in ones head "rubber aprons and butcher's hooks" makes my skin crawl. What price the American's peoples ability to maintain our denial that we live at the expense of so many others?