13 Steps Lead Down Lyrics

Lyric discussion by vchamberlain 

Cover art for 13 Steps Lead Down lyrics by Elvis Costello

It's actually very simple.

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!

@vchamberlain This song was recorded in 1994 and was probably written in the late 80s / early 90s Doubt he had much access to anything online.