Album: When I Was Cruel (2002)
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  • Bells are chiming for victory
    There's a page back in history
    Forty five
    They came back to the world that they fought for
    Didn't turn out just like they thought
    Forty five

    Here is a song to sing to do the measuring
    What you lose, what you gain, what you win?

    Nine years later a child is born
    There's a record, so you put it on
    Forty five
    Nine years more, if we're lucky now
    Nine year old puts his money down
    Forty five
    Every scratch, every click, every heartbeat
    Every breath that I held for you
    Forty five
    There's a stack of shellac and vinyl
    Which is yours now and which is mine?
    Forty five

    Here is a song to sing to do the measuring
    What you lose, what you gain, what you win?

    Bass and treble heal every hurt
    There's a rebel in a nylon shirt
    But the words are a mystery, I've heard
    'Til you turn it down to thirty three and a third
    'Cause it helps with the elocution
    Corporations turn revolutions
    Forty five

    So don't you weep and shed
    Just change your name instead
    What you lose when it all goes to your head?

    I heard something peculiar said:
    "Perhaps he's got a shot and now he's dead"
    Forty five

    Bells are chiming and tears are falling
    It creeps up on you without a warning
    Forty five
    Every scratch, every click, every heartbeat
    Every breath that I bless
    I'd be lost, I confess
    Forty five, forty-five, forty-five, forty-five, yeah

    Ooo ooo ooo ooo
    Ooo ooo ooo ooo
    Ooo ooo ooo ooo
    Ooo ooo ooo ooo
    Ooo ooo ooo ooo
    Ooo ooo ooo ooo Writer/s: ELVIS COSTELLO
    Publisher: BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 2

  • Geri from San Francisco, CaIn this song, Elvis sings about the meaning of the number 45 in his life. First of all, his father served military duty in World War II, which ended in 1945. His Parents owned a record store that sold 45's when he was born. He bought his first 45 at 9 years old. He also mentions JFK being shot dead at 45 years old perhaps by a 45 revolver. Finally he muses at how fast we age and confesses that he's just turned 45 himself.
  • Meredith from Austin, Tx45 is a song about the significance in the number 45. he mentions the age, the year, the record, the gun..etc
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