Elvis Costello, Allen Toussaint - The River in Reverse lyrics

How long does a promise last?
How long can a lie be told?
What would I take in exchange for my soul?
Would I notice when it was sold?

Wake me up wake me up
Wake me up with a slap or a kiss
There must be something better than this
Because I don't see how it can get much worse
What do we have to do to send
The river in reverse

Every man a crawling kingsnake
Every girl a half a heartbreak
Every woman sold into shame
To any son without a name
Are your arms too weak to lift?
Another shovel on the graveyard shift
Here comes the flood if you catch my drift
Where the things that they promised
Are not a gift
A man falls through a mirror of a lake
We fish him out quick and
They call him a fake
Give him all the temptations he can take
Tie him up high until his bones break

Wake me up wake me up
Wake me up with a slap or a kiss
There must be something better than this
'Cause, I don't see how it can get much worse
What do we have to do to send
The river in reverse

I thought I heard somebody laugh
Look out your window
They're chasing shadows in the dark
They're counting widows
I felt a sliver of glass
Saw a cross in the splinters
I felt the truce of spring
Dig me out of the trench of winter
So count your blessings when
They ask permission
To govern with money and superstition
They tell you it's all
For your own protection
Until you fear your own reflection
But the times are passing from illumination
Like bodies falling from a constellation
An uncivil war divides the nation
So erase the tape on that
Final ape running down creation
Running down creation

Wake me up wake me up
Wake me up with a slap or a kiss
There must be something better than this
Wake me up wake me up with a slap or a kiss
There must be something better than this