120 :: Dumbstruck and Dazed :: A Slow Drag with "American Gangster Time"

11/02/2024 11 min
120 :: Dumbstruck and Dazed :: A Slow Drag with "American Gangster Time"

Listen "120 :: Dumbstruck and Dazed :: A Slow Drag with "American Gangster Time""

Episode Synopsis

Today's slow drag is with "American Gangster Time," from "Momofuku," released in 2008. The songwriting is credited to Elvis Costello. . . . Show Notes: Appreciation written, produced, and narrated by Remedy Robinson, MA/MFA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/slow_drag_remedy/ Bluesky Social: https://bsky.app/profile/slowdragwithremedy.com Email: [email protected]   "Elvis Costello Wiki Resource, Podcasts" https://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/index.php?title=Podcasts Transcription: https://slowdragwithremedy.weebly.com Podcast music by https://www.fesliyanstudios.com Rate this Podcast: https://ratethispodcast.com/slowdrag   References:   Elvis Costello Wiki Resource, "American Gangster Time" https://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/index.php?title=American_Gangster_Time "American Gangster Time" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnRIKlVsk1w Flag Etiquette: https://www.vfw.org/community/flag-etiquette Flatter to Deceive idiom meaning: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/flatter-to-deceive#:~:text=to%20give%20the%20appearance%20of,just%20a%20lull%20in%20hostilities.   Purchase "The Most Terrible Time in My Life…Ends Thursday"   Listen to the audiobook for free at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq7n1pN8D1Y   "American Gangster Time" Lyrics:  One, two, three, four   Somewhere downtown a pretty girl kneels Offers her soft lips and a handful of pills Peels off her dress and then the rest of her skills It buys what she wants and the rest she just steals   He speaks between deep swallows of rum While her head is beating like a big bass drum And she wishes he were mute and not just dumb When the trick asked her quick, "Did you come?"   It's a drag Saluting that starry rag I'd rather go blind For speaking my mind Or use it just like a gag So, raise it in anger Just let it hang American Gangster Time   He sits back and starts to invent All about some Saigon correspondent "'Til the carbine fell silent and spent I never knew it could be so eloquent"   Next week there'll be some fashionable new sin For each harlot and each Puritan Pull off their wings stick them on a pin And just watch the money roll in   It's a drag Saluting that starry rag I'd rather go blind For speaking my mind Or use it just like a gag So, raise it in anger Just let it hang American Gangster Time   What you got hidden up your sleeve? The tracks of the train that were bidding you to leave When they say that you should flatter to deceive Don't count on any reprieve   The hands of the helpless are raised Your dead little secrets are praised The people stand dumbstruck and dazed By the inches that you have erased   It's a drag Saluting that starry rag I'd rather go blind For speaking my mind Or use it just like a gag So, raise it in anger Just let it hang American gangster time Committing the perfect crime In American Gangster Time   Here we go Bye bye American Gangster Time

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