Pump It Up by Elvis Costello
Pump It Up by Elvis Costello

Pump It Up

Elvis Costello * Track #4 On This Year’s Model

Download "Pump It Up"

Pump It Up by Elvis Costello

Release Date
Fri Apr 28 1978
Performed by
Elvis Costello
Produced by
Nick Lowe
About

One of Costello’s best known songs and a prime example of his witty wordplay, “Pump It Up” is pure sexual frustration, its high octane lyrics being a pun for the speaker’s desperate pleas for both sexual release and the raising of the booming music he’s overwhelming himself in.

Allegedly, Costello...

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Pump It Up Lyrics

[Verse 1]
I've been on tenterhooks, ending in dirty looks
Listening to the Muzak, thinking 'bout this 'n' that
She said that's that, I don't wanna chitter-chat
Turn it down a little bit or turn it down flat

[Chorus]
Pump it up when you don't really need it
Pump it up until you can feel it

[Verse 2]
Down in the pleasure center, hell-bent or heaven sent
Listen to the propaganda, listen to the latest slander
There's nothing underhand that she wouldn't understand

[Chorus]
Pump it up until you can feel it
Pump it up when you don't really need it

Hey!

[Verse 3]
She's been a bad girl, she's like a chemical
Though you try to stop it, she's like a narcotic
You wanna torture her, you wanna talk to her
All the things you bought for her, could not get a temperature

[Chorus]
Pump it up until you can feel it
Pump it up when you don't really need it

[Verse 4]
Out in the fashion show, down in the bargain bin
You put your passion out under the pressure pin
Fall into submission, hit-and-run transmission
No use wishing now for any other sin

[Chorus]
Pump it up until you can feel it
Pump it up when you don't really need it
Pump it up until you can feel it
Pump it up when you don't really need it

Pump it up until you can feel it
Pump it up when you don't really need it
Don't really need it
Don't really need it
Don't really need it

Pump It Up Q&A

Who wrote Pump It Up's ?

Pump It Up was written by Elvis Costello.

Who produced Pump It Up's ?

Pump It Up was produced by Nick Lowe.

When did Elvis Costello release Pump It Up?

Elvis Costello released Pump It Up on Fri Apr 28 1978.

What did Elvis Costello say about "Pump It Up"?

In his 2015 autobiography Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink, Costello acknowledged that the song owed an inspiration to Bob Dylan:

“Pump It Up” obviously took more than a little bit from “Subterranean Homesick Blues”. One night, many years later, Bob Dylan said to me: ‘U2! How could they do tha...

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Was there any controversy surrounding this song?

In 2021 some controversy was swirled up, linking the song to plagiarism.

In a tweet from Billy Edwards, Olivia Rodrigo was called out for plagiarism on her track “Brutal”, the opening to her debut album Sour.

Edwards tweeted:

First song on the album is a pretty much direct lift from Elvis Costell...

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