Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over)

The man in the corner of this picture has a sinister purpose In the teeming Temple of the Railroad Kings He's planting a trashy paperback book for accidental purchase Containing all the secrets of life and other useless things But I can't bring myself to look Wake up Zombie, write yourself another book You want to scream and shout, my little flaxen lout Hurry down Doomsday, the bugs are taking over She sleeps with the shirt of a late, great country singer Stretched out on her poor jealous husband's pillow In time you can turn these obsessions into careers While the parents of those kidnapped children start the bidding for their tears But I can't bring myself to look Wake up Zombie, get yourself off the hook You want to scream and shout, my little waxen lout Hurry down Doomsday, the bugs are taking over Forget about Beethoven, Rembrandt and rock and roll Forget about Mickey Mouse, Marlboro and Coca Cola Forget about Cadillac, Mercedes and Toyota Forget about Buddha, Allah, Jesus and Jehovah Hurry down Doomsday, the bugs are taking over Any day now a giant insect mutation Will swoop down and devour the white man's burden Starting out with all of the sensitive ones Better make like a fly if you don't want to die Look out! There goes Gordon! But I can't bring myself to think Wake up Zombie, kick up a big stink You want to scream and shout, my little Saxon lout Hurry down Doomsday, the bugs are taking over

Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over) Written by Elvis Costello & Jim Keltner Performed by Elvis Costello Produced by Mitchell Froom, Kevin Killen & D.P.A. MacManus Musicians Elvis Costello - vocals, main figure & rhythm guitar Jim Keltner - all drums loops & beaten things, Maestrodellavolta James Burton - guitar solos Nick Lowe - bass Marc Ribot - giant insect mutation & bug attack Recorded late 1990-early 1991, Ocean Way, Hollywood & Westside Studios, London Released May 10, 1991 Albums Mighty Like A Rose, 1991 Collections Extreme Honey: The Very Best Of The Warner Bros. Years, 1997 Promos Malice And Magic (US), 1995 Length 4:00 First known performance:  October 26, 1990, Mountain View, CA Last known performance:  February 19, 2023, New York, NY      (94 known performances, 7 as a snippet) Alternate versions Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over) (Unplugged Version) Performed by Elvis Costello & The Rude 5 Produced by Biff Dawes Musicians Elvis Costello - vocal, acoustic guitar Marc Ribot - guitar Jerry Scheff - bass Larry Knechtel - keyboards Pete Thomas - drums Recorded June 3, 1991, MTV Unplugged, Warner Hollywood Studios Released October 1991 Albums Mighty Like A Rose (Rhino reissue), 2002 Singles So Like Candy, 1991 Length 4:16

Covers

Erich Sellheim

home studio production, sung in German

2019

YouTube

Internal links

• Elvis Costello Home Page: Mighty Like A Rose  •  lyrics  •  chords  •  Info page
• Lyrics  •  Covers

External links

• Elvis Costello Reissues: Mighty Like A Rose