Elvis Costello - Heathen Town

Punch The Clock / 1983-03-01 1. Charm School 2. Everyday I Write The Book (Live) 3. Heathen Town 4. King Of Thieves 5. Let Them All Talk 6. Love Went Mad 7. Mouth Almighty 8. Pills And Soap 9. Shatterproof 10. Shipbuilding 11. The Element Within Her 12. The Flirting Kind 13. The Greatest Thing 14. The Invisible Man 15. The World And His Wife 16. The World and His Wife (Live) 17. TKO (Boxing Day) 18. Town Where Time Stood Still 19. Walking On Thin Ice

Heathen Town

We used to call it Sin City
now it's gone way past that.
Painting the town
and then burning it down.
And even that's old hat.
Now there' a choir of angels
in "The Fall of Rome" (a bar at Caesar's Palace)
singin' "Ave Maria"
or "Home Sweet Home"

Chorus:
It's just a heathen town
I hear only evil
as my tongue is tightened.
I used to be god-fearing
now I'm so frightened
'cause the devil will drag you under
by the sharp tailfin
of your Checker Cab (an American cab company)
Now I can't sit down,
I'm going overboard
in this heathen town.

It starts as a flirtation
then ends up as an expensive habit.
With one eye on a place in debtor's prison
And the other on a girl
dressed as a rabbit.
Now you can live forever
in your fits and starts
The only stake you cannot raise
Is the one driven through your heart.

Chorus

The people all said sit down,
sit down you're rocking the boat.
The people all said sit down,
sit down you're rocking the boat.
'cause the devil will drag you under
by the sharp lapels of your checkered coat.
Sit down, sit down, sit down, sit down,
sit down you're rocking the boat.