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Watching The Detectives Lyrics
Artist: Elvis Costello
Album: My Aim Is True
Nice girls, not one with a defect
Cellophane shrink-wrapped, so correct
Red dogs under illegal legs
She looks so good that he gets down and begs
(CHORUS) She is watching the detectives
"Ooh, he's so cute"
She is watching the detectives
When they shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot
They beat him up until the teardrops start
But he can't be wounded 'cause he's got no heart
Long shot at that jumping sign
Invisible shivers running down my spine
Cut to baby taking off her clothes
Close-up of the sign that says "We never close"
He snatches at you and you match his cigarette
She pulls the eyes out with a face like a magnet
I don't know how much more of this I can take
She's filing her nails while they're dragging the lake
(REPEAT CHORUS)
You think you're alone until you realize you're in it
Now fear is here to stay, love is here for a visit
They call it instant justice when it's past the legal limit
Someone's scratching at the window, I wonder who is it?
The detectives come to check if you belong to the parents
Who are ready to hear the worst about their daughter's disappearance
Though it nearly took a miracle to get you to stay
It only took my little fingers to blow you away
Just like watching the detectives
Don't get cute
It's just like watching the detectives
I get so angry when the teardrops start
But he can't be wounded 'cause he's got no heart
Watching the detectives
It's just like watching the detectives
Watching the detectives
Watching the detectives
(REPEAT AND FADE)
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Comments/Interpretations
She looks so good he gets down and begs... Says it all, really.
i like cake
So do eye!
PIE!!!
I like Turtles!!!!!!!!
I like pie too, or is it pi I like? 3.14....
what the hell? i never heard this song b4
I just found out that it is an Elvis Costello's song. I just knew it from the PBS show History Detectives.
"Watching The Detectives" is from Costello's 1977 debut album, "My Aim is True". It's a great track by one of pop music's most gifted tunesmiths. Listen and learn!
One of the best! The music is so weird and distorted - listen to the drums.
What is the song about/from???
This is one of the best songs on one of the best albums of all time.
"It only took my little finger to blow you away" One of the greatest Rock and Roll lines since. "put in yer earplugs, put on yer eyeshades, you know where to put the cork."
All hail to Elvis Costello!!! He IS a God...but WHO is using my name???
I am the only 'Willow' in the United States! What gives?!
I think the song is about a serial killer watching a girl through her window as she watches a detective film. After watching her for a while he cant control himself any longer, he abducts and kills her but then detectives catch and interview him.
Sorry guys. It's about a girl who just watches tv...
he snatches a tune and you match a cigarette
Most people marry their 7th -12th grade love. Since you read this, you will be told good news to night. If you don't post to five status, your worst week will start here
I don't know how much more of this I can take.
She's filing her nails while they're dragging the lake.
My fav. piece!
She pulls the eyes out with a face like a magnet..Sounds like an abducted girl with no hope of survival...Elvis Costello best song
i loved this song when i first heard it in high school, now that we have the internet to see all the words my original thoughts are confirmed,,, ths words are weird ,,, in a fashionable way,,, just like elvis himself,,, a true genious,, thanks for explaining what the song is about angela
Angela is totally wrong about the song. It's more a play about beautiful women and their pull on men. The first verse is basic imagery on a beautiful woman. "Cellophane shrink wrap" is a tight dress...."Red dogs under illegal legs" is talking about sexy legs in red shoes. The "detectives" are all the men who are trying to be cool but are totally checking out the women.
"She pulls the eyes out with a face like a magnet..Sounds like an abducted girl with no hope of survival"
No, it's just saying that men's eyes are metaphorically on stalks while she's around, because she's so attractive.
I don't understand the line, "They beat him up until the teardrops start, but he can't be wounded cause he's got no heart." Any thoughts? I get the no heart part but not the beating up part.What about the line about the parents who are ready to hear the worst about their daughter's disappearance?
Come on guys - it's about a femme fatale that's a serial killer.
Its about a voyeor watching guys pick up hookers.
Guys its allegorical,he is writing about the power women have over men using a "noir" or "pulp" style,where men were tough private eyes,but still fell for the ruthless dame despite knowing better
"she's filing her nails while they're dragging the lake" can only be done by a cold-hearted woman, and yeah she's probably a femme fatale
ENOUGH !!!
DIG THE REAGAE RIFFS MANN !!!
evey one has differnt idea's on what this song is about truefuly no one is wrong. me i think that this song is about a women who is an fbi agent who is working with three other detectives who are guys they all fall for her but she truely only realy likes one and he gets taken hostged she try's to help him but he ends up geting beatenn up and he dose'nt have the heart to fight back becase he knows he is not have the stragth
too so he gets beaten up till back up comes and takes the bad guys in to costady and they tell them were the body of the daughter of the rich parents is after they find her body thry go and tell the mom and dad.
Alex, what drug are you on?
I also agree with the femme fatale "theory". When I first heard this song my mind instantly thought of that.
Ever hear the Duran Duran cover of this song? Very cool.
I'd have sworn...that at the end chourus, one of the lines is "Watching the DEFECTIVES"
On a whim, I played this song backwards, and you'll never believe what I heard. A bunch of garbled noises and uninteliglbe words. No doubt this song is REALLY about "gjodifpif fosijak pikng". Scary stuff, man.
correction: Alex, what drugS are you one?
"My Aim Is True" was written & recorded in a hotel in only two weeks and is,in my oppinion, the best album he ever made. I remember at the time it came out it was and is considered by most people I knew, and still know, to be the father of the "punk" music if you will.
Regardless of what the song is about... it has the best bassline eva!
Cool song...on the drive to HS burning one.
I think it's about a girl who kills guys to watch the police work on the crime and sits there watching them. Guys keep falling for her because she's so attractive and then she kills them, gets interviewed but the cops, all the while she just gets off on it.
Angela is right, in a way. It's about a missing girl, probably who is a prostitute. But the song is called "WATCHING The Detectives", which is a song about watching a detective movie. Read the words and you'll understand - "Long shot at that jumping sign", "Close-up of the sign that says 'We never close'".
It's about a guy trying to get it on with his girl, but she'd rather watch TV. He's going crazy because she's so beautiful and he wants her, and she's more interested in watching a detective show.
Great to see elvis perform this fused with the police's walking on the moon? on "spectacle"
Brina is spot on. The guy's girl is more interested in the cop show. A clever ditty about sexual frustration.
She's watching Alex O'laughlin on the new Hawaii 5-O. Oooh he's sooo cute! LOL!
What do Detectives do? Why, they check you out!
See my Cara Quinn murder investigation
Daaaaaaaaaayyyyyuuuuuuuummmmmm
Many years ago, people used to call detectives dicks. Reread the lyrics and let your own mind put the pieces together...
Wrong, Mark, best baseline ever is David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust!
CORRECTION: Red Docs under illegal legs (as in Doc Martin shoes).
I was told he wrote this song about his wife ...makes enough since
If you want to understand what the song is about, check out some classic film noir (e.g. The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcon); then you'll get it.
VISIBLE shivers running down my spine
Cut to baby taking off her clothes
Close-up of the sign that says "We never close"
He SNAPS at you and you match his cigarette
She pulls THEIR eyes out with a face like a magnet
Now fear is here to stay, love WAS here for a visit
The words are: " she looks so good that he gets down in her dregs". If they are not, they should be