When nobody knows she puts on secret clothes
And lies in the meadow with her hands tied behind her back
I won't refuse if you know how to use it
Just stop playing that ugly drug music
Thirteen steps lead down
Thirteen steps lead down
There's commoners and kings
And everyone's a prisoner of
Paper and glue
And a decent pair of scissors
So tonight I'm drinking to your health
Because I just can't stand myself
Thirteen steps lead down
Thirteen steps lead down
Thirteen steps lead down
Thirteen steps lead down
She stands and fails
On fashion fingernails
Her lovers have her walking 'round
On instruments of torture
And one of them is poisonous
The other is a thief they say
So what one could give to her
The other cannot take away
When nobody knows she puts on secret clothes
And lies in her splendor for a picture opportunity
Cover up that bruise, put on patent leather shoes
Just stop playing that bad mood music baby
Thirteen steps lead down
Thirteen steps lead down
There's commoners and kings
And everyone's a prisoner of
Paper and glue
And a decent pair of scissors
So tonight I'm drinking to your health
Because I just can't stand myself
Thirteen steps lead down
Thirteen steps lead down
Thirteen steps lead down
Thirteen steps lead down
And lies in the meadow with her hands tied behind her back
I won't refuse if you know how to use it
Just stop playing that ugly drug music
Thirteen steps lead down
Thirteen steps lead down
There's commoners and kings
And everyone's a prisoner of
Paper and glue
And a decent pair of scissors
So tonight I'm drinking to your health
Because I just can't stand myself
Thirteen steps lead down
Thirteen steps lead down
Thirteen steps lead down
Thirteen steps lead down
She stands and fails
On fashion fingernails
Her lovers have her walking 'round
On instruments of torture
And one of them is poisonous
The other is a thief they say
So what one could give to her
The other cannot take away
When nobody knows she puts on secret clothes
And lies in her splendor for a picture opportunity
Cover up that bruise, put on patent leather shoes
Just stop playing that bad mood music baby
Thirteen steps lead down
Thirteen steps lead down
There's commoners and kings
And everyone's a prisoner of
Paper and glue
And a decent pair of scissors
So tonight I'm drinking to your health
Because I just can't stand myself
Thirteen steps lead down
Thirteen steps lead down
Thirteen steps lead down
Thirteen steps lead down
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What she's trying to escape, however, is quite beyond me.
Elvis is a voyeur, looking at "amateur porn." After all, photos of people naked include both "commoners & kings" (& whose viewers might want to clip & save the images, which is why they need scissors & glue). & most certainly anyone engaged in amateur porn is going to keep it from most of their friends. So, "when nobody knows..." she takes pictures of herself in pornographic situations - some of them bondage related.
Meanwhile, Elvis, sitting at home, looking at this - online? in a magazine? - drinks to her health, full of self-loathing for indulging in this pastime.
Could "ugly drug music" & "bad mood music" be the way Elvis hears porn music? Or is this the "music" of the situation?
I do note this: at some level, the implication of the song is that women do NOT do this of their own volition - that some male in their lives coerce them or force them to "debase" themselves in this way. Elvis seems to be judging them, & himself, for wanting or looking at things like this. Shame on him!
Paper and glue are used to try to construct destroyed lives back together and scissors represent booze that's shredding them apart.
He says, "13 steps leads down" 12 times in the song, to represent the 12 steps. The 13th step is relapse.
Just thought someone should clarify the reference in the title. I will never be a 12-stepper, but I know a lot of people who went so far that they could not see any other option.
"So tonight I'm drinking to your health
Because I just can't stand myself "
How does all this relate to the rest of the song? Well, I think the characters are all in that seedy world that is the result of unchecked addiction, low self-esteem, and lack of decency - seedy people taking advantage of an insecure woman who goes along with their not so gentle prodding - doing things she hates doing, which destroys her self-esteem, leading to her chemical addictions requiring the help of 12 step programs, and, then, a vicious cycle.