"What Lewis Did Last" lyrics.... sorta

[The Gentleman]

I've seen some great mis-transcribed lyrics before, but this might be the new reigning champion. From the insert to the booklet for the Japanese edition of Secret, Profane, & Sugarcane:

WHAT LEWIS DID LAST

This smoke from the battered field drifted away
It's coppled jail is deserted in the fray

He ran from the blotter to get a rest
He told his companions I must get my rest

He told his companions "I dream every night"
"The faces of men I dispatched in a fight"

Their shapes will approach me as I lie so still
They offer their hands but they wish me no will

They're shaking their heads now
It's something they know
But there is another who still haunts me so
He name was Naomi
Her life it was brief
She was plain
She was only in Destin for grief
She covered it red
She believed in my prize
She fell to her death
In the larder she lies

There were no farewell kisses
Or a tender embrace
She was guilty of something beyond Everest

She ended the war
As in down she did flow
But they gathered her up
And it troubles me

It's not the can of her beautiful death
It's not in her last beating
Or her final breath
But when I consider how she once beseeched me
Her face has no features
Her tongue has no speech
So I'm here to tell you what Luis did last
Ahead of the firing squad
And trembled blast
He broke through the glass for a lock of her hair
He dug up the grave but the coffin was bare

More usefully (but less amusingly), the booklet also seems to have accurate songwriting and musician credits for the two bonus tracks.

[cwr]

That's hilarious! Elvis should see that-- better yet, he should perform that version at least once in concert!

Can you scan the Japanese booklet (that part at least, and the credits for those songs?)

[The Gentleman]

That's hilarious! Elvis should see that-- better yet, he should perform that version at least once in concert!

Can you scan the Japanese booklet (that part at least, and the credits for those songs?)

No scanner, I'm afraid. But I'll transcribe the musician credits a little later. Oh, if anyone's curious, the Japanese CD is in a jewel box. Does anyone else find it odd that CD Japan shipped my copy to the US on Tuesday, and it arrived Thursday (I didn't not request express shipping)? That was incredibly fast!

Maybe I'll print up the new lyrics and give them to EC after the Nashville show? I think he'd appreciate them (if he hasn't seen them already), and it would certainly be a hoot hearing him sing this!

Have any favorite lines? I find it tough to choose, but I love that the lyrics include "what Luis did last," when that's the title phrase, and spelled correctly everywhere else! On the other hand, "It's not the can of her beautiful death/ It's not in her last beating" has a certain disturbing poetry to it.

[cwr]

I like the implication that Lewis might be a cannibal. Otherwise, why store her remains in the larder?

You should definitely print these up and give them to EC.

[charliestumpy]

Having just listened to track whilst reading above-printed lyrics, I maintain that the Japanese 'English' lyrics as supplied above are VERY close. It is interesting to compare with 'The Harry Smith Project: Anthology of American Folk Music Revisited Disc 2-06' 2006 Kate & Anna McGarrigle (and Elvis Costello eventually...) version.

The latter is clearly enunciated, and makes the above Japanese bonus printed lyrics seem amusing, BUT - a few of us listening to the 2009-06-01 bonus version quite understand why the above lyrics look like what Elvis sings on 'bonus' track 15...

[And No Coffee Table]

The credits as they appear in the Japanese CD insert:

FEMME FATALE
(Lou Reed)
Oakfield Avenue Music (BMI), admin. by Spirit One Music
Elvis Costello - Gibson 160E and Vocal
T Bone Burnett - Kay Electric Guitar
Dennis Crouch - Double Bass
Stuart Duncan - Fiddle
Jeff Taylor - Accordion
Mike Compton - Mandolin
Jim Lauderdale - Harmony Vocal

WHAT LEWIS DID LAST
(Trad. arr. & lyrics by Elvis Costello)
Sideways Songs/Universal Music Publishing/MGB Ltd. (ASCAP)
Elvis Costello - Martin Acoustic Guitar and Vocal
T Bone Burnett - Kay Electric Guitar
Dennis Crouch - Bass
Stuart Duncan - Fiddle
Jerry Douglas - Dobro
Mike Compton - Mandolin
Jim Lauderdale - Harmony Vocal

[The Gentleman]

I like the implication that Lewis might be a cannibal. Otherwise, why store her remains in the larder?

I guess that explains why she wasn't found in the coffin.

[jmm]

From what I remember on the "Harry Smith Project", when I was first aware of EC singing this song, it was composed to bring a bit of closure to the "unjust / unsatisfying" ending to Ommie Wise and was sung as "part 2" with Kate & Anne McGarrigle.

Need to listen to the two together again and go back to whole story about the deceptive John Lewis who lies, etc and kills Ommie and gets away without any consequences. The closure was "found in a drawer in EC's house" if I remember right.

Here she haunts him, he gets the firing squad for cowardice - satisfying closure!!

Also as she's not in the grave, maybe she didn't meet her end by his hand????

Anyone know the "full story"?

[charliestumpy]

I am convinced that - SADLY - further to my last comment on this topic that hardly anyone has heard any version as put on e.g. Jap album/colossus straddling USA-UK iTunes, and does not realise that previous EC versions of 3 songs (I am including superb 1998 private radio easily-available 'Dirty rotten shame') are superior sonically/musically/actually to latest 'record-company' marketing versions.

Go and fork out your money or not but LISTEN for yourself (e.g. SoulSeek occasionally).

This is not supposed to be funny - just a realistic signpost.

[cwr]

I've had several occasions where I've preferred an earlier live version of a song to the eventual studio recording that emerged-- "45" being probably the most stark contrast, it sounded moving and heartfelt when he premiered it in a Costello & Nieve version (acoustic guitar and piano) but too loud and bombastic when the record eventually appeared (too much electric guitar).

So I sympathize with the notion you're expressing w/r/t earlier versions of "Dirty Rotten Shame", but I would disagree with the notion that the studio versions are somehow just part of the "marketing" machine. EC is a recording artist, and I don't think he's ever approached the making of an album as just generating more "product." As much as I love seeing him in concert, my primary bond with his songs is from the records. I don't think this album or any of these recordings as part of some "record company" marketing version-- it was EC spending three days in a studio with some musicians playing songs. Not some recording industry executive's hair-brained scheme...

"Hey, I know-- how 'bout we get Elvis to record that obscure ballad he wrote for Ronnie Drew? Yeah, the one about the boxer! But let's have him tone it down a bit-- not like those earlier, artistically superior renditions-- that way, it's sure to be a massive hit!"