"20% Amnesia" lyrics - ELVIS COSTELLO

What is your destiny? the policewoman said (20% amnesia)
The word that she wanted was destination I'm afraid (20% amnesia)
This is your future boy, this is your fate (20% amnesia)
And you're obsolete and they can't afford to educate you (20% amnesia)
In his bedtime boot boy jersey
Ringing up some fantasy tart
Give me strength or give me mercy
Life intimidates art

[Chorus:]
Give me strength or give me mercy
Don't let me lose heart
From rage to anaesthesia
Twenty percent amnesia

Were you passed out on the sofa (20% amnesia)
While justice was bartered by a drunken oaf? (20% amnesia)
This is all your glorious country thinks of your life (20% amnesia)
Stripped Jack naked with a Stanley knife (20% amnesia)

So the German Queen went home again
But she couldn't find forgiveness
They made a fist of her hand of friendship
But it's only business

[Chorus]

The wine you drink has never seen a grape
And now your sci-fi suit has lost its shape
But its a dangerous game that comedy plays
Sometimes it tells you the truth, sometimes it delays it

Think back, think back if you still can
When the trumpet sounded and the world began
Somebody said "We must have won"
So they started burying the bogeyman

Mister Gorbachov came cap in hand (20% amnesia)
From a bankrupt land to a bankrupt land (20% amnesia)
Mister Gorbachov and some other fella (20% amnesia)
Were taken to a show called "Cinderella" (20% amnesia)
It wasn't an accident, it wasn't a mystery (20% amnesia)
It was calculated and the rest is history (20% amnesia)

You don't have to listen to me
That's the triumph of free will
When there are promises to break
And dreams to kill

[Chorus]