Lyrics for Alison as interpreted by magicnudiesuit

Alison Lyrics
Oh it's so funny to be seeing you after so long, girl.
And with the way you look I understand
that you are not impressed.
But I heard you let that little friend of mine
take off your party dress.
I'm not going to get too sentimental
like those other sticky valentines,
'cause I don't know if you've been loving somebody.
I only know it isn't mine.

Alison, I know this world is killing you.
Oh, Alison, my aim is true.

Well I see you've got a husband now.
Did he leave your pretty fingers lying
in the wedding cake?
You used to hold him right in your hand.
I'll bet he took all he could take.
Sometimes I wish that I could stop you from talking
when I hear the silly things that you say.
I think somebody better put out the big light,
cause I can't stand to see you this way.

Alison, I know this world is killing you.
Oh, Alison, my aim is true.
My aim is true.

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watchthefireworks
04-15-2002

Rated -1 
My mother actually named me after this song. I don't think I'm too happy with her. It's a cool song and all, but this Alison girl sounds like a real butthead.

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scheisse
06-02-2002

Rated 0 
i was named after this song as well, but my dad went for, in his words, "the better spelling." personally, i don't care either way about spelling, but it annoys me when people only put 1 L... it's a great song, though i hope i never act like the Alison of this song... he does imply, though, that the world's "killing her" - maybe she's drowning, to be symbolic, and that's why she's behaving this way... you know what i mean?

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Papa
07-02-2002

Rated 0 
I've always thought the song was about a generally sweet and innocent girl who takes a few wrong turns and messes up her life.

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Papa
07-02-2002

Rated -1 
I've always thought the song was about a generally sweet and innocent girl who takes a few wrong turns and messes up her life.

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xaligalx
07-21-2002

Rated 0 
Dude I was named after this song, too. I wasn't too pleased...

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user736176
09-29-2002

Rated -1 
my girlfriend is named after this song. but she is the complete opposite. if you just listen to it, i think it's supposed to be a sweet song. i just think the girl in the song made a few mistakes. either way. whether its sweet or not, my alisson rocks. maybe shes different from this alisson because she has the extra S. regardless. i luh her anyways.

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ArcherAve
03-04-2003

Rated +1 
This is actually somewhat of a sad song, it's about a guy who runs into a girl who broke his heart, and as they talk he finds out how bad her life has gotten. She is in a loveless and judging from the lyrics of the last verse possibly abusive relationship. And he's upset by this cause he thinks she deserves better and wants to help, but she won't let him.

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ArcherAve
03-04-2003

Rated -1 
This is actually somewhat of a sad song, it's about a guy who runs into a girl who broke his heart, and as they talk he finds out how bad her life has gotten. She is in a loveless and judging from the lyrics of the last verse possibly abusive relationship. And he's upset by this cause he thinks she deserves better and wants to help, but she won't let him.

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Compuwiz19
03-16-2003

Rated -1 
Hey, at least you weren't named after the song Casey Jones... by the Grateful Dead... I hate my life...

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vansriotxxx
03-19-2003

Rated -1 
such a touch of honey in his voice in this song, one of the only songs Ive ever heard that makes me wanna cry just because of the way it's sung

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Title_Track
03-27-2003

Rated -1 
ha, I was named after Billie Holiday.

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intoodeep
04-08-2003

Rated 0 
its about a guy, who meets a chica taht he use to love, and finds out what happend after she left him for a friend, and he wants to help her, but he knows he cant

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ScouseMouse
04-14-2003

Rated 0 
It's about his ex-girlfriend who is pregnant by some other guy..."And with the way you look I understand
that you are not impressed.
But I heard you let that little friend of mine
take off your party dress."

She insists it's his...."Sometimes I wish that I could stop you from talking
when I hear the silly things that you say."

He realises it IS his OR to stop her insisting it is his, he suggests an abortion...."I think somebody better put out the big light,
cause I can't stand to see you this way."

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AtarisRule
05-11-2003

Rated 0 
hey, i was named after this song as well, but i'm a guy, oh no wot am i gonna do? hahaha fooled you all my name is alex really, and i plan 2 take over the world, mwahahahahahahahahaha, but seriously cool song

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RMATE13
06-04-2003

Rated 0 
SHe is insisting the kid is his but he doesn't want to hear it:
"SOmetimes I wish that I could stop you from talking when I hear the silly things you say"
He then toys with the idea of killing her if she doesn't stop
"I think somebody better put out the big light....My aim is true"
The big light can only mean "life"

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Imposter
06-24-2004

Rated 0 
Elvis Costello has said in a few interviews that songs that he has written about fictional people eventually become real people. I had never heard the abortion theory before, but I do know that amidst his affair with Bebe Buell some years later she had to have an abortion because she was pregnant with his child. So the abortion theory very well could be true.

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eytanmirsky
10-14-2004

Rated 0 
It's always seemed to me that "put out the big light" means that the narrator thinks Allison herself should be "put out of her misery" because he "can't stand to see her this way." There's really no indication that Allison's life is bad other than the narrator's word. But can he be believed? He's jealous and resentful, in love with the idealized image of a woman that he really can't stand.

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montresor
11-17-2004

Rated 0 
Doesn't anybody else wonder why EC puts this poor, sweet young thing into such a box? I mean, why shouldn't she be able to say what she wants? And be with who she wants? The facts are that this world is killing everyone in it, at all times. She clearly doesn't want to be with him, no matter how tough things are. And, this song is about the fact he cannot accept that - because, as he puts it, his aim is true. Which is funny, because he uses aim to mean ambition here, but in the title of the album, well, he is clearly aiming for something else. But, it is also tragic. It is the singer, not the girl, that is the tragic figure. At least, IMHO.

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ssinger
12-07-2004

Rated 0 
Elvis has said that the song was inspired by seeing a girl in a local store who seemed so sad, and it got to thinking about how she ended up in this place. If you look at the song that way -- as an old lover running into an ex-girlfriend whose life has turned out so badly -- it makes a lot of sense.

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stoolhardy
12-16-2004

Rated 0 
I agree with montresor - I always thought this song was about his jealousy for her and the "woulda, coulda, shouldas" - that her life would be different had she chosen him. But we all know that's all a crock :-)

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Madfoot
02-25-2005

Rated 0 
is he going to kill her though? his aim is true. I always thought he was so angered by how she acted that he was going to put a bullet in her. Augh! Also, didn't bebe buell have steven tyler's kid? as in liv tyler? who thought her dad was todd rundgren? sheesh!

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c-dawg
03-14-2005

Rated 0 
He bumps into a girl he liked in the past but hasn't seen in a long time. She looks down her nose at him but he can see right through her. In an instant, it's obvious to him that her life has gone poorly, even if she doesn't see it herself.

He doesn't know the details of her life but he does know that it was spent with another guy - a guy who may or may not have left her but certainly does not love her and probably can no longer stand her.

She used to pull the strings in her relationship with the other guy but she is such a blithering pain in the butt that the guy got fed up with her. If she would just learn when to shut her mouth, things might go better for her.

But she won't learn, won't change and he sees that. He's not really angry with her, more dissapointed and disgusted. He genuinely thinks she could have been a great companion but sees now that there's no hope for her. Perhaps, she'd be better off dead.

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is she vital
03-19-2005

Rated 0 
i never realized that so many people were named after this song.
i'm one of the many.

as much as i love this song,
it gets old when after you introduce yourself,
the person does their elvis costello impression.

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ironqween
09-17-2005

Rated 0 
Am I the only Alison that wasn't named after this song? I think I was born before it was released! Yikes. Since Elvis is English, Alison is spelt with one L. That's how they spell Alison. c-dawg, I totally agree with you, beautiful song.

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lyndon
03-24-2006

Rated 0 
Is it possible he runs into her twice? The first time when he meets her she still seems conceited (she's "not impressed") and is still single:

("'cause I don't know if you've been loving somebody. I only know it isn't mine.")

The second time she is married (unhappily) and worn-down by life:

("Well I see you've got a husband now.") and:
("I can't stand to see you this way.")

Seems to me to be a song about a girl who is used to getting by on her looks when she is younger, but can no longer do that.

A Haunting song.

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