Elvis Costello: North

Just about all songwriters have written songs for their sweethearts—but has any songwriter written an entire album of love songs for just one person? not to mention love songs of such consistently high caliber as these? not just love songs, but love poems set to music?

These few lines I’ll devote / To a marvelous girl covered up with my coat / Pull it up to your chin / I’ll hold you until the day will begin … I want to kiss you in a rush / And whisper things to make you blush / And you say, “Darling, hush / Hush.”

Some things are too personal / Too intimate to spill / And gentlemen don’t speak of them / And this one never will … I wasn’t very conversational / Except to say that, “You’re sensational” / Friends now regard me with indulgent smiles / But when I start to sing they run for miles … Let me tell you about her / Hush now, I’ve said too much / There’s something indescribable I can’t quite catch / Let me tell you about her / The way that she makes me feel / Then draw a curtain on this scene I shan’t reveal.

You turned to me / And all at once / I knew that you had seen / How I was lost / in something quite like love / When all I did was dream / Now as evening becomes the dawn / I wonder where you’ll be / And just why you turned to me.