Next Time 'Round Lyrics

Lyric discussion by Gadgety 

Cover art for Next Time 'Round lyrics by Elvis Costello

Off of Blood & Chocolate. I remember listening to the entire record for the first time and realizing that every song had some connection to death in some way, as does "Next time 'round."

The storyteller's former girlfriend is either physically or emotionally dead. She's dead, or a living dead, zombie-like "her face is creased and her eyes seem strange...my tears were never enough to keep that girl alive" and "in the bedroom with that boy of hers", a young lover, rather than together with the storyteller. Possibly that "boy of hers" is not a physical lover, but heroin, lending her the creased face, strange eyes, and emotional death.

Next time (in another life, perhaps) the roles will somehow be reversed and she's going to be at the storyteller's funeral, dressed in black:

"The next time 'round The next time 'round You'll be someone else's baby But I'll be underground The Next Time 'Round"

The explanation is that she continued without the storyteller

"Then you took two steps forward"

and ended up in be with another man, or possibly shooting up, and dying in the process "and then one step on your back Now it's a future for me and you that I lack"

She's still ravishing, a stand out even when dressed in black "You'll be the one who'll stands out in the dark Even when you're all dressed in black"

Life with this girl was like a living hell, her womb being likened to a velvet lined purgatory:

Your elastic love, this velvet-line purgatory You used to take the breath out of me Now I think you'll be the death of me

Chorus

You'll be in some sputnik baby But I'll be underground

The Next Time 'Round

"The next time 'round The next time 'round You'll be someone else's baby But I'll be underground The Next Time 'Round"

@Gadgety Great Analysis!