Elly by Paul Kelly and the Messengers Lyrics
Elly wrapped her nineteen years
In a coat from ’41
Had the looks that’d make a grown man sigh
From the Diamantina River country
She crossed the dry mid west
From her childhood schemes and sheltered dreams
She broke the ties
The commercial man made blunt demands
As they travelled south by east
Elly turned into a woman over night
He set her down in the heart of town
The millionaires retreat
She gazed up at the tall glass and concrete walls
At Main St. Surfers Paradise
If the decks been marked before the deal
You learn to compromise
Or you get to know the cool hand with the dice
You learn to live off losers, for they make the mistakes twice
You’re living in high society but you’re street wise
Just to survive, just to survive
With those centrefold looks
And bay-blue eyes
Man she stacked them in
All the senators and doctors called her Madam
With her fifteen girls she built a world
A pleasured paradise
On what a man of God would call the wages of sin
If the decks been marked before the deal
You learn to compromise
Or you get to know the cool hand with the dice
You learn to live off losers, for they make the mistakes twice
You’re living in high society but you’re street wise
Just to survive, just to survive
A wealthy woman
Drinks with diamond rings
Twenty stories high
Gazes out as the sun lifts from the sea
To make it to the top
Elly sacrificed the lot
And found that seven figure sum was far too high a fee
If the decks been marked before the deal
You learn to compromise
Or you get to know the cool hand with the dice
You learn to live off losers, for they make the mistakes twice
You’re living in high society but you’re street wise
Just to survive, just to survive
In a coat from ’41
Had the looks that’d make a grown man sigh
From the Diamantina River country
She crossed the dry mid west
From her childhood schemes and sheltered dreams
She broke the ties
The commercial man made blunt demands
As they travelled south by east
Elly turned into a woman over night
He set her down in the heart of town
The millionaires retreat
She gazed up at the tall glass and concrete walls
At Main St. Surfers Paradise
If the decks been marked before the deal
You learn to compromise
Or you get to know the cool hand with the dice
You learn to live off losers, for they make the mistakes twice
You’re living in high society but you’re street wise
Just to survive, just to survive
With those centrefold looks
And bay-blue eyes
Man she stacked them in
All the senators and doctors called her Madam
With her fifteen girls she built a world
A pleasured paradise
On what a man of God would call the wages of sin
If the decks been marked before the deal
You learn to compromise
Or you get to know the cool hand with the dice
You learn to live off losers, for they make the mistakes twice
You’re living in high society but you’re street wise
Just to survive, just to survive
A wealthy woman
Drinks with diamond rings
Twenty stories high
Gazes out as the sun lifts from the sea
To make it to the top
Elly sacrificed the lot
And found that seven figure sum was far too high a fee
If the decks been marked before the deal
You learn to compromise
Or you get to know the cool hand with the dice
You learn to live off losers, for they make the mistakes twice
You’re living in high society but you’re street wise
Just to survive, just to survive