Elvis Costello Room With No Number lyrics

Picture a hotel room
Clothes scattered across the floor
Covers pulled back from the pillow
A sign hung on the door

Two lovers locked up tight
Through the endless days and nights
Hiding something they can't show
Something no-one else must know

There's a room without a number
While the sign outside says
There's no vacancy
(As you take your key)
They smile at you so understandingly

She cried out in the night
Woke the porter from his sleep
He grinned slyly to himself
As he went to fetch his keys

Look what love has brought them to
This terrible nightmare
His or hers, he could not tell
As they were sleepin' there

There's a room without a number
While the sign outside says
There's no vacancy
(As you take your key)
They smile at you so understandingly

And I wish he could be
The man he was before he was me


A girl arrived at first light
And inquired if they'd been seen
And why the numbers ran from twelve
Missin' out thirteen?

They said, ‽Oh my darlin'
Put it down to superstition
Try to avoid a scandal
And don't arouse suspicion”

They re-arranged the furniture
They even papered over the door

There's a room without a number
While the sign outside says
There's no vacancy
(As you take your key)
They smile just so so you know

There's a room without a number
While the sign outside says
There's no vacancy
(As you take your key)
They smile just so so you know

There's a room without a number
While the sign outside says
There's no vacancy
(As you take your key)
They smile at you so understandingly