Alison

Album: My Aim Is True (1977)
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  • Oh, it's so funny to be seeing you after so long, girl
    And with the way you look, I understand that you were not impressed
    But I heard you let that little friend of mine
    Take off your party dress

    I'm not gonna get too sentimental
    Like those other sticky valentines
    'Cause I don't know if you are loving somebody
    I only know it isn't mine

    Allison, I know this world is killing you
    Oh, Allison, my aim is true

    Well, I see you've got a husband now
    Did he leave your pretty fingers lying in the wedding cake?
    You used to hold him right in your hand
    But it took all that he could take

    Sometimes I wish that I could stop you from talking
    When I hear the silly things that you say
    I think somebody better put out the big light
    'Cause I can't stand to see you this way

    Allison, I know this world is killing you
    Oh, Allison, my aim is true
    My aim is true
    My aim is true
    My aim is true
    My aim is true
    My aim is true
    My aim is true
    My aim is true
    My aim is true
    My aim is true
    My aim is true
    My aim is true Writer/s: Elvis Costello
    Publisher: BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 29

  • Caroline 33176 from EnglandI think the line in ‘Alison’ - ‘I think somebody better put out the big light’ - is a paraphrase of the line in Shakespeare’s Othello, spoken before Othello murders Desdamona for suspected infidelity, “Put out the light, then put out the light”. It’s not unusual for Elvis Costello to use Shakespearean imagery and words in his lyrics.
  • Tony from San DiegoSteve from Chino Hills hit it right on the head. Pure and simple
  • Jen from MidwestOK - murder is definitely NOT the intention here. The song is about a girl that he either did not try to go for or tried and it worked out a little or not at all. Either way it always stops him in his tracks if he sees her because his aim is true, meaning true-hearted, like cupid. He did, or thinks, he loved her. Thus the Valentine reference. He would have been better for her instead of the man she married (not the man he thought was a jerk and she slept with, or her husband). He is probably right in that he had pure love for her but she was not loving him, but someone else. She didn’t get it or he never told her. She is perhaps in denial or self deprecating about how her life has gone. She excuses her choice in a man that does not love her in a real way (from HIS perspective the man is not worthy, and maybe not so, or that is the way he wants to see it). Why he hates the silly things that she says...He could be wishing her happiness, BUT she did let that "little" (meaning insignificant) friend of his...take off her party dress. I think she blew the whole thing by letting the friend take off her party dress;)
  • Brenden from Waukesha, WiElvis Costello doesn't hide murder... If it was about about killing someone, he would have made that very clear.
  • Deethewriter from Saint Petersburg, Russia FederationPeter Asher [He was Senior V.P. at Sony Music and co-president of Sanctuary Artist Management,work A & R for Apple, 1989 Grammy for Producer of the Year]: "In Rolling Stone he said he hated Linda Ronstadt's version. He cashed the check, but…(laughter). He came close to apologizing to me, years later. I love Elvis Costello. I know him well but he just kind went “well ya know – mumble mumble” – one of those things. He didn't actually go “you're right it was a stupid thing to say,” but he came damn close."
  • Jo from Adelaide, AustraliaI think this song is about Heroin addition - "i heard that little friend of mine took off your party dress" - referring to heroin as his "little friend" - Elvis used to do heroin.
    The rest is about her pathetic life since they were friends years back, her sad marriage, her addiction, her "silly things she says", and her destructive life resulted in her husband - "i bet it took all that he could take" before he left her. She is now so down and out and pathetic, he thinks she's better off dead, and "my aim is true" I believe like the others here, that he will help her "out" of this life.
  • Steve from Chino Hills, CaTo me this is a simple song about devotion to someone who isn't into you. Alison could be either a secret crush all the way to an ex-lover. It doesn't matter. When you feel this way about a person it doesn't go away with time. You can't talk yourself out of feeling this way, and the mere sight of Alison after all this time is still earth shattering. "My aim is true" simply means "my love for you is pure and honest." It almost seems like Alison is a trolphy bride who is simply another aquisition for her husband. And perhaps he's bored of her. From the perspective of the songwriter, she would have been his whole world.
  • Lenny from Bath, United Kingdomleander, i think the line "...i only know it isn't mine" is another play on words. ie. another persons body has been having love, not his.
  • Mickey Knox from El Rey, NmThis would be a cool song for the Fox medical drama "House". Doctor Cameron's first name on the show is "Allison". Back when Chase and Cameron were having trouble with their relationship (they later became a married couple). I admit it I watch way too much tv and have a lot of time on my hands (drinking and matching good songs with good tv programs is a hobby of mine). Cheers to all.
  • Emily from Canberra, AustraliaAll consuming love, regret, loss, sentimentality, distance. The polite torture of seeing someone, think school reunion. Think mid 30's when your past seemed so perfect. There is no murder here, Elvis did not mean that all.

    Has no-one experienced bumping into your old love and you are expected to be graceful when you have a public encounter? It is internal agony, sadness - all these feelings, that you thought you had gotten over. Love is love. Its always still there, and you tend to tear down the idea of their happiness because it makes you feel better.
  • Allison from New Jersey, NjYou can here it in his voice.You can hear what he means because of the sweetness in his voice.He's not mad just really sad because they could not work it out and shes committed to this other man that clearly does not love her.They are supposed to be together but they cannot be.Thats life.
  • Alison from Bend , OrI was named after this song too AND today is my birthday. It was so cool, because we heard this song at the restaurant I went to for my Bday dinner. Naturally, my Mom got really excited and urged that we look-up and download this song as soon as we got home. I later found out, she didnt remember why she choose this song..... oh well. I love it anyway!!! They call me Ali ;)
  • Stacy from West Hartford, CtIn an interview video I watched once he said this song refered to a girl who worked in a grocery store that he never got the nerve up to talk to. I don't think she is pregnant. She is just loving somebody that is not his "body." His aim is true meaning his intentions and his honor. He said the girl had really low self esteem which are the "silly things" that she says that he wishes he could tell her how great she is without being wierd.
  • Alan from Cookeville, Tn"I think somebody better put out the big light"...I don't think this is necessarily a violent comment...may mean to turn away the spotlight that reveals his beloved as 'silly'.
  • Jesse from Hamilton, OnI wonder if he meant it in a less literal sense, so instead of "my aim is true" meaning I can shoot you and you'll be dead, he means that he's the one who can end her pain because he's in love with her. Another thought; he mentions the word valentine, and one of the most common icons associated with love and valentines is Cupid who shoots an arrow from a bow, which would tie in with the theme of love, and it is certainly a love song(however masked it may be lyrically), as well as the shooting aspect.
  • Jessica from Dallas, GaAlsion, PLEASE, for your own good, get back together with this guy. If nothing else, he can write a song.
  • Jessica from Dallas, GaI don't dig any deeper than the lyrics, because they speak for themselves. He still loves her, she moved on to someone else. He would like for her not to be happy with anyone but him, and he doesn't want to hear otherwise. His aim is true. Beautiful song.
  • Stephen from Sunnyside, NyI think Evan from Aurora IL is ABSOLUTELY right--the lines about Alison "loving somebody" but the singer knowing "it isn't mine" are wordplay shuttling between "somebody" and "some body". That's what I myself concluded a few years ago after long puzzlement.

    Since we all know that "little friend" can mean "penis", perhaps the phrase is introduced in the song to show affectionate, or not so affectionate*, contempt for an actual (or fictional) male human being: i.e. the meaning is "that friend of mine who's something of a prick".
    _______________________________
    *Actually, Elvis sings the phrase "little friend of mine" rather affectionately.

    I think Costello is the king of wordplay: his most intricate wordplay is probably in 4 lines from "Big Sister's Clothes":

    She's got eyes like saucers,
    Oh, you think she's a dish;
    She's the blue chip
    That belongs to the big fish.

    Dig it! Saucer & dish; chip & dish; blue chip; chip & fish (that is "fish & chips")! And whatever other meanings are in there.
  • Evan from Aurora, IlHe is not referring to the baby being not his, he says i dont know if you are loving somebody but i know it isnt mine as in he knows shes not loving his body,so i think the pregnancy idea is wrong. its a play on words like 'some-body but i know it isnt mine(body)' And you forget she has a husband now, and he took all he could take so i believe that my aim is true refers to that elvis loves her for the right reasons. like his cause is pure unlike her husband. as far as i wish i could stop you from talking i think thats like when women talk about how their abusive or bad husbands arent so bad and normally arent like this.
  • John from Washington, DcI know Elvis Costello has a certain amount of depth in his lyrics, but I don't think there's anything particularly tricky about this one. He's singing about some girl he presumably used to date, sees her around and she gives him the brush off. You know how it can be with an ex. "My aim is true" is either talking about his feelings for her, or the accuracy with which he's dissected her situation. It has nothing to do with killing anybody. I'm sure this is a direct song he wrote about a real situation in his own life.
  • Andy from Halesowen, West Midlands, United KingdomAnother personal favoutite. I enjotyed youding your comments. The very fact we don't really know what he means and have our own ideas and suggestions makes it an enduring classic.
  • Leander from Bangkok, ThailandThere has been much discussion about the meaning of Elvis Costello's slow-tempo ballad, "Alison" - the lyrics of which the album "My Aim is True" takes its title. While EC himself purportedly mentioned in an interview that this song was about a woman he used to see in the grocery store, and that "my aim is true" meant that his focus on fame would result in bringing evil into the world, a careful analysis of the lyrics gives us a different meaning.

    The first stanza:

    "Oh it's so funny to be seeing you after so long, girl. And with the way you look I understand that you are not impressed."

    What is the way she looks? Later on, we will learn that EC means that the way she looks is pregnant. Why is she not impressed?

    "But I heard you let that little friend of mine take off your party dress."

    Here we have the first hint that the song has a sexual aspect to it - hinting at her pregnancy. Who is EC's "little friend"? Perhaps the little friend is EC's evil alter ego to which he refers, with the double entendre meaning, of course, is that his "little friend" is his penis.

    "I'm not going to get too sentimental like those other sticky valentines, ?cause I don't know if you've been loving somebody. I only know it isn't mine."

    The end of the first stanza confirms that she's pregnant: "I only know it isn't mine". Another hint above, too, is when he uses the adjective "sticky" we can guess that EC thinks that the child may in fact be his, but that he is in denial about it.

    The lyrics continue:
    "Alison, I know this world is killing you. Oh, Alison, my aim is true."
    Here EC is perhaps trying to alleviate his guilt. The world is killing Alison, so EC will not really be at fault if she dies - for example, by murder. One can suspect murder at the end of the second stanza:

    "Sometimes I wish that I could stop you from talking when I hear the silly things that you say. I think somebody better put out the big light, cause I can't stand to see you this way."

    Alison is perhaps telling EC he is the father, and he can't stand to hear it - so somebody better put out "the big light" of Alison's life, because EC can't stand to see her pregnant and accusatory.

    Then the repeated lyric "my aim is true, my aim is true", which ends the song, hints that EC may be talking about killing her himself - as in aiming a gun. What a dark song! If one did not listen to the lyrics, "Alison" sounds like a love ballad in its tempo and crooning sound. The motif of dark and brooding lyrics focused on death, guilt, and the irony of presentation in a ballad or up tempo poppy tune is a hallmark of EC.
  • Don from NewmarketThis tune was also covered by Linda Ronstadt. Elvis described her versions as "torture" or something nasty like that.
  • Ernie from KranjI love the live version from the promo single 'Live at Hollywood High' that came with 'Armed Forces'.
  • Jonathan from Port Of Spain, South AmericaOnce in an interview Costello echoed a sentiment by Bob Dylan about writing lyrics, which is that if you have the temerity to write a line attacking or criticising someone, you should also be able to have the same line applied to your own self. With that in mind, I believe the line "I think somebody better put out the big light" could apply as much to the singer as to the subject of the song. (After all, he sings "the" rather than "your"). Anyone agree?
  • Craig from Madison, WiCostello [King Elvis II] has denied that this song is about murder, and that "my aim is true" not in a weaponry way, but rather as proof of devotion.
  • Layla from Mission Viejo, CaI thought the name of this song was "My Aim is True?" In any case, I love it and the band I was in during the late 70's played it at clubs often...it was a favorite crowd pleaser.
  • Sari from Hanover, PaI get the impression that it's about him wanting to kill her because she's destructing herself so much.
  • Alison from Fairfield, Cti'm named after this song:)
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