River In Reverse Lyrics - The River In Reverse - Elvis Costello

How long does a promise last? 

How long can a lie be told? 

What would I take in exchange for my soul? 

Would I notice when it was sold? 

Wake me up, wake me up 

Wake me up with a slap or a kiss 

There must be something better than this 

'Cos I don't see how it can get much worse 

What do we have to do to send the river in reverse? 

Every man, a crawling king snake 

Every girl, a half a heartbreak 

Every woman sold into shame 

To any son without a name 

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Are your arms too weak to lift? 

Another shovel on the graveyard shift 

Here comes the flood if you catch my drift 

Where the things that they promised are not a gift 

If man falls through the mirror of a lake 

They fish him out quick and they call him a fake 

Give him all the temptations he can take 

Tie him up high till his bones break 

Wake me up, wake me up 

Wake me up with a slap or a kiss 

There must be something better than this 

'Cos I don't see how it can get much worse 

What do we have to do to send the river in reverse 

I thought I heard somebody laugh 

Look out your window 

They're chasing shadows in the dark 

They're counting widows 

Photos 

I felt a sliver of glass 

Saw a cross in splinters 

I felt the truce of spring 

Dig me out of the trench of winter 

So count your blessings when they ask permission 

To govern with money and superstition 

They tell you it's all for your own protection 

Till you fear your own reflection 

But the times are passing from illumination 

Like bodies falling from a constellation 

An uncivil war divides the nation 

So erase the tape on that final ape running down creation 

Running down creation 

Wake me up, wake me up 

Wake me up with a slap or a kiss 

There must be something better than this 

Wake me up, wake me up with a slap or a kiss 

There must be something better than this