Elsie Lyrics

[Admin edit: this thread contains what were originally two threads on the Elsie lyrics]

Let's get some started! I'm slowly figuring them all out...after I've listened to this album about 4 times already. Too amazing.

Tracks 1 through 12 are up, 13 (joey) is still missing, don't have it on the vinyl cover.
Since i don't believe there will be album lyrics of this, if someone can take a crack at it, ill add it ( it will be noted as non-album lyrics)

these are how they appear on the inside jacket of the BLOOD RED vinyl, minus comas and periods.
(they were to small to really tell the difference, didn't really have the energy to figure it out lol)
If you like to type up your own punctuation ( from the album so we know their accurate please) id be happy to add them - credit will be noted


and please feel free to post these anywhere

*thanks to
QueenOfTheBronx
last rites, sugar, I witnessed a crime

Shrewsbury_Stars
behold the hurricane

Philo
Black betty and the moon (first half)

- edited by me and everyone got pretty dam close

(*note for black betty as well as other songs- i think the vinyl cover had some typos, if we can agree, ill change them, currently this is how it is written on the cover)

Anything not noted was done by me


credit will be given where due

--------------------------------------------------------------

LAST RITES

Start up the car...

Bury your memories...

Call on your lovers
Speaking slow and heavy
Call up your boyfriends
from out by the ocean
While I get my last rites
Read by a thief

And you look so holy standing in the water
From all my pictures I worshiped before you.
My baby just ain't
No good

------------------------------------------------------------------

SUGAR

I guess you need a little sugar
'cause you always run around
I heard you like a little fancy
Whenever you feel a little inside out
I heard you need a vacation
Said I bored you right to tears
I heard my love was a season
That you wore for the pretty girls

You said no...
That's not the way it goes...

But it is don’t lie
I've seen that curl up around your smile
It is don’t lie
Who do you think that you’re kidding this time

Only I know you get lonely at night
You get lonely sometimes
Nobody knows you like I do

I guess you need a little sugar
'Cause you never wait around
And I heard you like it to shiver
Its like right up your spine
I saw you walking with him
Down the steps that I walked you in
Like I hurried for midnight
With slippers of glass and perfect fits

Nobody else waits on you
When your hands shake like the breeze
When your mind is a permanent dream
That you had long before you crawled
Through my door

--------------------------------------------------------

BEHOLD THE HURRICANE

I remember everything at night
Every breath of this house's creaking.
I’m familiar with the cold and the windows and the doors
And the sound of my heart beating
in and out of time

It’s such a shame...
I heard the wind say this morning
Be still my heart I age by years
At the mention of your name
And what a pity this season
Do you remember me my lover
I don’t recognize myself I’m not the man you loved
Behold the hurricane

I walk around these empty rooms
Where you once moved like the morning.
But silhouettes they haunt this house
Like your memory haunts me now
As if it were a dream.

-chorus-

I heard the moon has visions of her nightly
I heard the mighty rivers cry out her name
And I saw the heavens and the earth cry over you

When all the lines were drawn
And the leaves have fallen
Suddenly I realized that you were gone

---------------------------------------------------

I WITNESSED A CRIME

I guess the moon had had it out for us
And the night and stars the same
Everything she touched turned to stone or died eventually
Or was never seen the same again

An this heart I had
You never sympathize
And while you held my hand...
I think I witnessed a crime

While she drove we sat in silence
All I could do was try to breathe
Her and I we never talked too much or licked our wounds
We just lived between the hours of sleep

And in this dream I had
My screams were baby’s breath
I watched her steal the air
Right from the atmosphere
Oh this heart I had
You never paid no mind
On the long drive home
I think I witnessed a crime

And you said I just went crazy from the heat
And I just lit a little fire under your feet
But that’s not so bad see people do it all the time
It’s just a little bit of blood in your eyes
So boy stop all your crying

And all my debonair
Died in her arms one night
You go so quietly
Once you’ve seen the end
Oh this heart of mine
You never recognize
While you held my hand
I think I witnessed a crime.

-------------------------------------------------------

Go Tell Everybody
I've been known to wear a fine black suite and a murder of a tie
I've got mile on my shoes that your brothers cant buy
I've got more than your man, more than even what he wants
I carry each and every ghost of my lovers at once

And they say....
"Sugar baby we've got everything you need
Sugar baby we've got something to see
Sugar baby we've got everything you need
And even what you want"

So go tell everybody that you drove your poor lover crazy
Take a good look at just what the night did
There ain't nothing left of your dearly departed
And I just fell to pieces on the night you said you were leaving
You cant come back to the heart that you left
So go tell everybody that your man is dead

And there's always just these three siren spirits always following me
They just appeared one night in the passenger seat
They tell me all about your sins salivate from their tongues
And they kiss from their lips but their fingers are so cold to the touch

I was a man of great sympathy when I loved you baby but tonight all my sympathy is gone
-------------------------------------------------------------------------


CHERRY BLOSSOMS

I drive this car to the city every night
There's a quite I never heard before
And lonely my sisters could not describe
All the good things gone wrong

And there was blood on my teeth
From the long winters here
Bones broken in half
A stain on my shirt
From a couple hours out with the boys
All good things come to an end
All memory has left my bones

And if I drove Straight off this bridge
Only god and my baby would know
I'm sure she'd be laughing conjuring spring
With some fella that just said the right thing

See all i can do is think about you
And miss all your kisses like the spring
But if i had a sign
That you'd one day be mine again
If I could hold you right then
As the chill in this season sputtered and spit and died with...

...Blood on my teeth
From just what they did here
Snow tumbling down on the ground
And me stumbling out of my heart
Finding cherry blossoms on the hood
Of my car
------------------------------------------------


LADY KILLER

Watch me slide over here
Feel me breath over there
I heard a ghost in our willow
Must've lost his love somewhere
I been around a few times
Never caught a fever like you
Never seen me a woman
Turn a deeper shade of blue

You must've met a man
Tall and handsome at that
Who must've put a spell on baby
Must've kept coming back
Cause I can smell him on your skin
I bet I taste him in your blood
Must be all those young boys
Lady killer got the two of us

And how about this for a good one
Maybe we don't ever come down
I can leave the wound wide open
Maybe see if I can tough it out
Let it pour over my head
All your shame and your history
And see if i say a thing...
As it rolls up inside of me

Don't cha say it feels like heaven
When you can sleep through the night
I used to just lay down and close my eyes
And it would feel like heaven
If i could sleep for a while
I used to float right above the fire

-------------------------------------------------

CRUSH

Poor yourself a drink
I'll sing you a song
Don't worry about the money
Honey I got a tab a mile long
Bathe me up in light
Call me up in light
Call me when you drown
I can wait all night I've spent my whole life
A little less up than my downs

I know a secret
Everybody tell
Who goes to heaven
Who goes to hell
I know one thing sure is true
Never kept a secret....
I gotta a crush on you

You're everybody's dream
Out at the schoolboy yard
They tumble like an injury
Just about you all night long
And there was a fire
In your breast and in my brain...
Your fingers on my finger tips
Making lines in windowpanes...

If you should go there before I do
Tell all my friends that I'm coming too
Sometimes I'm up lord and sometimes I'm down
Sometimes I'm almost level with the ground
Gods gonna trouble the water

-----------------------------------------------------------


MARRY ANN

Look out below the hurricane comes near
The water's all poison and they're showing their teeth
So is that your baby oh my my your darling?
Didn't she hear the sirens and the storm bell's warning?
Woah to you lovers with the soft fragile hearts
You cry all night keeping the horses alarmed...

Mary Ann you don't have to worry like that
Mary Ann Jesus gonna be here soon
Put your tiny hands inside my hands and
One more time for me Marry Ann...

Look at that sky burning vengeance and fire
I told you not to touch but you're so selfish sometimes
Never trust a stranger
With a diamond on his tongue
I taught you once baby
I thought by now you
Would've known

-chorus-

My my my my Mary Ann you ain't like them other girls
I see your hands stillness as the summer goes down
Rocksteady I know you won't let me down

(*note* this is how it looks on the vinyl cover didn't repeat words like my)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

(*note for black betty, i think the vinyl cover had some typos, if we can agree, ill change them, currently this is how it is written on it)

BLACK BETTY AND THE MOON

My love my love
You’re the sting of the scorpion
Consider now the angels
A little lower than you
And they twist and turn
And they hold their breath 'till it's blue...
And they cant turn away
Like I can when you're looking like you do

Well looky Black Betty what they tying to you
You did the very thing baby that i ask you not to do
And now you got yourself caught in the silk spiderweb
I hope the money fills the holes
Cause see now the roof's caving in

My heart My heart
You're the moon and
Her shining light
Darkness and void of form
Like you were keeping me alive
And I been dreaming of poisonings
From the venom of my enemies
Clever as the viper dear
But gentle as the stampede of stones

And they want to you doubt
Every trust that you've known
They wanna find the holes in the armor exposed
And they come on whispering
If you just do this for me...
And turn and show show their teeth
Just before they're sinking in
And better than described and deeper the decent
I never thought we'd have to learn to
Doubt our friends

-----------------------------------------------------------

BLOOD LOSS

My first love was a arsonist,
Black eyes, deep set and avarice,
Red lips built like a tomb.
You'll never get out of this (someday i'll see to this)
And moonlight i found would bow
To her slender hand stretched out
Fingers inside your heart and mind
You'll never get over this (some day ill see to this)
Boy.....

And i'll tell you when its over
I'll tell you when you can leave
I'll tell you when
You've cried long enough
When your blood fills my cup
When my footsteps have hung in your hallways enough
For you to be truly haunted
When you blood counts it's losses

My first love was a murderer
Before I ever got to her
Tongue so sharp and serpentine
Waltz to remember her ill call you later
And I heard a curse being born
Forming each finger and forming each thorn
I be came like a stone...
Things never got better But I'll call you later and....
And practicing lies to drip like red wine off her lips

When your blood starts counting losses

Sirens they come and the sirens they leave

----------------------------------------------------------


I BELIEVE JESUS BROUGHT US TOGETHER

I met you in the upper room
Of a house where I slept with the angels
From hell and from heaven
Some for haunting and some for guarding
Each to his own purpose over my trembling skin

And I kept my secrets far from your conditions
And in the explosions they both were just powders
And faded Jean jackets to look just like our daddy's

Did you say you're lovers were liars?
All my lovers were liars too
Did you say were afraid of dying?
I ain't lived a single day with out you
Did you want to come over?
I was just about to miss you
Did you say you were lonely?
I was just about to call you

You called on a wednesday night
I was buried in the church yard
And in the engines of desire and the come down daylight
I believe my trouble and your trouble shook hands

Do you believe there's a heaven?
Do you think we're invited?
You've done some bad things
I was a killer
Did you wanna come over?
I was just about to miss you
Did you say you were lonely?
I was just about to call you

I tried my best with this one... help is appreciated!
Sugar.

I guess you need a little sugar cause you always weren’t around.
I heard you like a little fancy, whenever you feelin inside out.
I heard you need a vacation, said I bored you right to tears.
I heard my love was a season that you wore for the pretty girls.
You said no no no no no no no no it’s not the way it goes
You said no no no no no no no no it’s not the way it goes
Oh, please don’t lie I seen that curl up(?) around your smile
Please, don’t lie, who do you think that you’re kiddin this time?
Honey, I know I know you get lonely at night,
I know I know you get lonely sometimes.
I know I know you get lonely at night..
Nobody knows you like I do.
And I guess you need a little sugar cause you never wait around.
And I heard you like it to shiver, its like right up your spine.
I saw you walkin with him down the steps that I brought you in
I gotta hurry for midnight with slippers of glass and perfect fit.
You said no no no no no no no no it’s not the way it goes
You said no no no no no no no no it’s not the way it goes
Oh, please don’t lieI seen that curl up(?) around your smile
Please, don’t lie, who do you think that you’re kiddin this time?
Honey, I know I know you get lonely at night,
I know I know you get lonely sometimes.
I know I know you get lonely at night..
Nobody knows you like I do.
Nobody else waits on you when your hands shake like the breeze(?)
And your mind is a permanent dream
Let your hair down long before you crawl through my door
Baby baby please don’t lieI seen that curl up(?) around your smile
Please, don’t lie, who do you think gonna be leavin this time
Please don’t lie seen that curl up(?) around your smile
Please, don’t lie, who do you think that you’re kiddin this time?

Behold the Hurricane

I remember everything we had. Every breath of this house creaking.
I’m familiar with the cold and the windows and the doors.
And the sound of my heart beating.
Beating in and out of time.
And it’s such a shame. I heard the wind say this morning.
Be still my heart. I age by years at the mention of your name.
What a pity this season. You remember me my lover.
I don’t recognize myself. I’m not the man you love.
Behold the hurricane. Behold the hurricane.
I walk around these empty rooms. We once moved like the morning.
Silhouettes they haunt this house like a memory haunts me now as if it were a dream.
As if it were a dream.
It’s such a shame. I heard the wind say this morning.
Be still my heart. I age by years at the mention of your name.
What a pity this season. You remember me my lover.
I don’t recognize myself. I’m not the man you love.
Behold the hurricane. Behold the hurricane.
I heard the moon has visions of her nightly.
I heard the mighty rivers cry out her name.
And I saw the heavens and the earth.
Yes I saw the heavens and the earth cry over you.
It’s such a shame. I heard the wind say this morning.
Be still my heart. I age by years at the mention of your name.
What a pity this season. You remember me my lover.
I don’t recognize myself. I’m not the man you love.
Behold the hurricane. Behold the hurricane.
At the door the leaves had fallen.
Suddenly I realized that you were gone.
Suddenly I realized that you were gone.
Behold the hurricane


I got these lyrics from Shrewsbury_Stars, so thanks!

QueenOfTheBronx wrote:

I tried my best with this one... help is appreciated!
Sugar.

I guess you need a little sugar cause you always weren’t around.
I heard you like a little fancy, whenever you feelin inside out.
I heard you need a vacation, said I bored you right to tears.
I heard my love was a season that you wore for the pretty girls.
You said no no no no no no no no it’s not the way it goes
You said no no no no no no no no it’s not the way it goes
Oh, please don’t write I seen that curl up(?) around your smile
Please, don’t write, who do you think that you’re kiddin this time?
Honey, I know I know you get lonely at night,
I know I know you get lonely sometimes.
I know I know you get lonely at night..
Nobody knows you like I do.
And I guess you need a little sugar cause you never wait around.
And I heard you like it to shiver, its like right up your spine.
I saw you walkin with him down the steps that I brought you in
I gotta hurry for midnight with slippers of glass and perfect fit.
You said no no no no no no no no it’s not the way it goes
You said no no no no no no no no it’s not the way it goes
Oh, please don’t write I seen that curl up(?) around your smile
Please, don’t write, who do you think that you’re kiddin this time?
Honey, I know I know you get lonely at night,
I know I know you get lonely sometimes.
I know I know you get lonely at night..
Nobody knows you like I do.
Nobody else waits on you when your hands shake like the breeze(?)
And your mind is a (?) dream
…..?
Baby baby please don’t write I seen that curl up(?) around your smile
Please, don’t write, who do you think gonna be leavin this time
Please don’t write I seen that curl up(?) around your smile
Please, don’t write, who do you think that you’re kiddin this time?

I think it sounds more like Please don't lie, not don't write. Everything else seems right, although at first I thought "you always weren't around" was "you always run around" but I guess that works.

Yeah i think the part in sugar before dream at the end might be permanent dream.
and the part you dont know sounds like... let your hair down long before you crawl through my door

lovely...thanks for doing this!!

Anytime, just request a track if you want the lyrics, or type your own and I'd be glad to add it(make sure their album only please

Go Tell EverybodyCan’t really make out the quiet beginning part

I’ve been know to wear a fine black suit and a murder(?) of a tie
I got miles on my shoes that your brothers can’t buy
Got more than your man, more than even what he wants
I carry each and every ghost of my lovers at once
And they say “sugar baby we’ve got everything we need”
And they say “sugar baby we’ve got something to see”
And they say “sugar baby we’ve got everything we needed even what you want”
So go tell everybody that you drove your poor lover crazy.
Take a good look at just what the night did ain’t nothing left of your deeply departed.
And I just fell to pieces the night that you said you were leavin
And you can’t come back to the heart that you left,
So go tell everybody that your man is dead.
Theres always just these three siren spirits that keep following me
they just appeared one night in the passenger seat
They tell me all about your sins salivate from the their tongue
Kiss from their lips but their fingers are so cold to the touch
“sugar baby we’ve got everything we need”
So cold to the touch
“sugar baby we’ve got something to see”
“sugar baby we’ve got everything we needed even what you want”
So go tell everybody that your drove your poor …? Crazy.
Take a good look at just what the night did ain’t nothing left of your deeply departed.
And I just fell to pieces the night that you said you were leavin
And you can’t come back to the heart that you left,
So go tell everybody that your man is dead.
I was a man of great sympathy when I loved you baby,
But tonight all my sympathy is gone.
I was a man of great sympathy when I loved you baby.
But tonight all my sympathy is gone.
I was a man of great sympathy when I loved you baby,
Oh But tonight all my sympathy is gone.
I was a man of great sympathy when I loved you my baby,
But tonight all my sympathy ya she’s gone gone.
I was a man of great sympathy when I did love you my baby
Tonight all my sympathy is gone.

Debonair transcripted some of the lyrics here:
https://thegaslightanthem.forumotion.com/t3415-elsie-lyrics

Mary Ann and I believe Jesus brought us together. those are the only ones i don't have. Thanks so much for doing this!

Bea wrote:

Debonair transcripted some of the lyrics here:
https://thegaslightanthem.forumotion.com/t3415-elsie-lyrics

ooo so helpful. thanks

i posted some more lyrics too...
https://thegaslightanthem.forumotion.com/t3414-elsie-lyrics

if you ever don't want to type out the whole song and just correct my errors. haha

Done with both of those - their with the rest of them up top

Quote :

Subject: Re: elsie lyrics Today at 9:07 pm
i posted some more lyrics too...
https://thegaslightanthem.forumotion.com/t3414-elsie-lyrics

if you ever don't want to type out the whole song and just correct my errors. haha

wishing i saw that first, ah maybe next time

im going to use some over yours and edit them so its easier - already did last rites, maybe together we can get the whole thing done - noted you as credit, will add songs to your name as their complete

Debonair wrote:

Done with both of those - their with the rest of them up top

Quote :

Subject: Re: elsie lyrics Today at 9:07 pm
i posted some more lyrics too...
https://thegaslightanthem.forumotion.com/t3414-elsie-lyrics

if you ever don't want to type out the whole song and just correct my errors. haha

wishing i saw that first, ah maybe next time

im going to use some over yours and edit them so its easier - already did last rites, maybe together we can get the whole thing done - noted you as credit, will add songs to your name as their complete

sounds great! thanks so much for adding those other songs too. it's greatly appreciated

i butchered this one... Black Betty and the Moon
My love, my love, you’re the sting of the scorpion
Consider now the angels a little lower than you
And they twist and they turn and they hold their breath til its blue
and they cant turn away like i can when you're looking like you do
Look at Black Betty what they're tying to you,
you did the very thing baby that i asked you not to do,
now you got yourself caught in this silk spiderweb,
i hope the money fills the holes cause see the roof is caving in
my heart, my heart, you're the moon and her shining light,
darkness and void of form like you’re keeping me alive.
And i'm dreaming of posoinings from the venom of my enemies,
clever as the viper dear but gentle as a stampede of swans(?)
Look at Black Betty what they're tying to you,
you did the very thing baby that i asked you not to do,
now you got yourself caught in this silk spiderweb,
i hope the money fills the holes cause see the roof is caving in
And they want you to …?And truth that you’ve known
They want to find the holes in the armor exposed
And they come on whispering, “If you just do this for me and …
their teeth just before sinking in.
And … described and deeper the descent
I never thought we’d have to learn to tell our friends
And … described and deeper the descent
I never thought we’d have to learn to tell our friends
Look at Black Betty what they're tying to you,
you did the very thing baby that i asked you not to do,
now you got yourself caught in this silk spiderweb,
i hope the money fills the holes cause see the roof is caving in
Look at Black Betty what they're tying to you,
you did the very thing baby that i asked you not to do,
now you got yourself caught in this silk spiderweb,
i hope the money fills the holes in the place I used to stand

All ready use philos, thanks thought we now have 1 - 12 joey is still missing, let everyone know

Brian really is an incredible lyricist, not that we didn't know that already.

Is it just me or is there something in these songs that we don't find in TGA songs? Theres a different element in them or something

Quote :

Is it just me or is there something in these songs that we don't find in TGA songs?

Definately, its new and refreshing, also I remember reading or hearing a recent interview with Brian that his lyric style has been changing(I'm paraphraseing) and that you'll hear more lyrics similar to this on the new gaslight anthem album that hopefully will be out next summer.

If it is similar lyrical style I wouldn't mind, I like what/ where Brian is heading

Also let me formally thank you for the help with black Betty lyrics philo

Debonair wrote:

Quote :

Is it just me or is there something in these songs that we don't find in TGA songs?

Definately, its new and refreshing, also I remember reading or hearing a recent interview with Brian that his lyric style has been changing(I'm paraphraseing) and that you'll hear more lyrics similar to this on the new gaslight anthem album that hopefully will be out next summer.

If it is similar lyrical style I wouldn't mind, I like what/ where Brian is heading

Also let me formally thank you for the help with black Betty lyrics philo

If theres even just a few songs with lyrics like this on the new Gaslight Anthem album well then its going to be mindblowing, honestly the lyrics in Elsie are actually amazing, theyre so honest and heartfelt at times.

And your welcome! It was nothing really, I'm a bit of a lyrics freak so I just had to know them the minute the preview came out

I'm going to count how many times the word "blood" is said on this album soon. I think the vinyl colour is more than appropriate