Lyric discussion by lunaburning 

Cover art for Beyond Belief lyrics by Elvis Costello

Just brilliant. But I've always heard the line as: " I'm just an oil slick in a wind-up world with a nervous tic."

@lunaburning ....Me too, and that's how I sing it... "I'm just an oil slick in a wind-up world with a nervous tic." Anything written by EC is genius, IMO. He's an amazing wordsmith.