Elvis Costello's "Clown Strike"

Ahh, romance a la Elvis Costello...

"But you don't have to play so hard
And I'm nobody's fool
You don't have to go so far
'Cause I love you as you are"

"If only I were able
To love you like I want to do
And not by some times table"

"And it's pandemonium
For the humble and the mighty
You don't have to tumble for me
Even a clown knows when to strike"

"Tell me what you want of me
Or are you terrified of failure?
You put on a superstitious face
Behind all this paraphernalia
We're not living in a masquerade
Where you only have three wishes
It isn't easy to see
In a lifetime of mistaken kisses"

---

The guy's voice is like butter. He could be singing "watermelon cantaloupe" over and over again and it would still make me swoon. Brutal Youth is a great album as a whole but this song stuck out to me tonight. As you can see, I have a # of favorite lines from this song... "Even a clown knows when to strike" is a great line for Costello - if you're familiar with his lyrics, you know they're always witty - often having double meanings, often singing inside metaphor. So when he sings about a clown... You know where I'm going with this don't you?
Yeah that shit is good.