Elvis Costello — All This Useless Beauty Chords

ALL THIS USELESS BEAUTY


         D                            D/C#
It's at times such as this she'd be tempted to spit
Bm                D7/A
If she wasn't so ladylike
      G                         D/F#
She imagines how she might have lived
                        Em    Em/F#    Em/G    A
back when legends and history collide
         D                  D/C#                    Bm
So she looks to her prince finding since he's so charmingly
               D7/A
slumped at her side
       G                         D/F#               
Those days are recalled on the gallery wall
             Bm        Bm/A        E
And she's waiting for passion or humor to strike


  A                      G 
What shall we do, what shall we do with all this useless beauty?
 G          A     D
All this useless beauty


       D                      D/C#
Good Friday arrived, the sky darkened on time
          Bm               D7/A
'Til he almost began to negotiate
G                       D/F#                  Em   Em/F#  Em/G        A
She held his head like a baby and said "It's okay  if     you cry"
          D                     D/C#
Now he wants her to dress as if you couldn't guess
     Bm                      D7/A
He desires to impress his associates
          G                   D/F#
But he's part ugly beast and Hellenic deceased
         Bm            Bm/A       E
So she finds that the mixture is hard to deny


CHORUS

             C                           D          G
She won't practice the looks from the great tragic books
           G        G/F#          Em
That were later disgraced to face celluloid
          C               D           G
It won't even make sense but you can bet
        C                      D          G
If she isn't a sweetheart or plaything or pet
     C                      A
The film turns her into an unveiled threat


  D                 D/C#
Nonsense prevails, modesty fails
            Bm                 A
Grace and virtue turn into stupidity
           G                    D/F#                Em   Em/F#   Em/G   A
While the calendar fades almost all barricades to a pale compromise
         D                         D/C#
And our leaders have feasts on the backsides of beasts
            Bm                          A
They still think they're the gods of antiquity
    G                          D/F#
If something you missed didn't even exist
        Bm     Bm/A            E
It was just an ideal —— is it such a surprise?


Chorus [x2]