Don't tell me you don't know what love is
When you're old enough to know better
When you find strange hands in your sweater
When your dreamboat turns out to be a footnote
I'm a man with a mission in two or three editions
And I'm giving you a longing look
Everyday, everyday, everyday
Everyday I write the book
Chapter One - we didn't really get along
Chapter Two - I think I fell in love with you
You said you'd stand by me in the middle of Chapter Three
But you were up to your old tricks in Chapters Four, Five and Six
And I'm giving you a longing look
Everyday, everyday, everyday
Everyday I write the book
The way you walk
The way you talk, and try to kiss me, and laugh
In four or five paragraphs
All your compliments and your cutting remarks
Are captured here in my quotation marks
And I'm giving you a longing look
Everyday, everyday, everyday
Everyday I write the book
Everyday I write the book
Don't tell me you don't know the difference
Between a lover and a fighter
With my pen and my electric typewriter
Even in a perfect world where everyone was equal
I'd still own the film rights and be working on the sequel
And I'm giving you a longing look
Everyday, everyday, everyday
Everyday I write the book
Alternate lyrics
Alternate verse referring to the Writers Guild of America strike, 2023:
Don't tell me you don't know the difference
Between me and your fobidden lover
If I put down my poison pen
I'll never pick it up again
I should have been on the line all day
For the W.G.A.
Even in a perfect world where
Everyone was equal
I'd still own the film rights
And be working on the sequel
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Everyday I Write The Book |
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Written by | Elvis Costello |
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Performed by | Elvis Costello & The Attractions (with Afrodiziak) |
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Produced by | Clive Langer & Alan Winstanley |
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Musicians | Elvis Costello - vocals, guitar Steve Nieve - keyboards Bruce Thomas - bass Pete Thomas - drums Caron Wheeler - backing vocals Claudia Fontaine - backing vocals |
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Recorded | January-April 1983, AIR Studios, London |
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Released | June 1983 |
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Albums | Punch The Clock, 1983 |
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Singles | Everyday I Write The Book, 1983 |
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Collections | The Best Of Elvis Costello & The Attractions, 1985 The Man (The Best Of Elvis Costello), 1985 The Very Best Of Elvis Costello & The Attractions, 1994 The Very Best Of Elvis Costello, 1999 Singles, Volume 3, 2003 The Best Of Elvis Costello The First 10 Years, 2007 |
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Soundtracks | The Wedding Singer, 1998 The Wedding Singer Vol. 1, 1998 |
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Various Artists collections | Studio Brussel: Torhout - Werchter: 20 ~ 1977-1996, 1996 Before X, 1997 Video Hits: Past Hits, Volume 1, 1997 Tempted - A Collection Of Mellow 80s Classics, 2000 The Very Best Of The Tube, 2002 Alternative Eighties, 2002 Singers And Songwriters: 1980-1986, 2002 Now Yearbook '83 Extra, 2021 |
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Promos | Why Study?, 1983 Timothy White's Rock Stars, 1989 Punch The World, 1995 UK Elvis Costello, 2002
Either Side Of The Same Town Sampler, 2010
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Videos | MTV 20: Pop, 2001 The Right Spectacle: The Very Best Of Elvis Costello - The Videos, 2005 |
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Length | 3:52 |
Alternate versions
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