She maybe the reason I survive/
The why and wherefore I’m alive.

Elvis Costello’s “She” is a great song about the mysteries of women and the mysterious ways that a woman can make a man feel. The narrator is awed, grateful and feels blessed to have this woman in his life. It is truly a celebration of woman as “other”.  The narrator recognizes that this woman brings a unique set of characteristics that compliments him, which will suit him well for the rest of his life.

Elvis Costello made his reputation as a singer/songwriter, but his best song by far is “She”, a song that you may not know is actually a cover. “She” is a song that was written for a TV show overseas. The original is underwhelming, if only because of the heavy accent of the original singer is a bit distracting. Costello delivers the song passionately, though it is slightly overproduced with the string arrangement.

She Lyrics

She may be the face I can’t forget,
The trace of pleasure or regret,
May be my treasure or the price I have to pay.
She may be the song that summer sings,
Maybe the chill that autumn brings,
Maybe a hundred different things,
Within the measure of a day.

She may be the beauty or the beast,
May be the famine or the feast,
May turn each day into a Heaven or a Hell.
She may be the mirror of my dreams,
A smile reflected in a stream,
She may not be what she may seem
Inside her shell.

She, who always seems so happy in a crowd,
Whose eyes can be so private and so proud.
No one’s allowed to see them when they cry.
She may be the love that cannot hope to last,
May come to me from shadows in the past,
That I remember ’till the day I die.

She maybe the reason I survive,
The why and wherefore I’m alive,
The one I’ll care for through the rough in many years.

Me, I’ll take her laughter her tears,
And make them all my souvenirs.
And where she goes I’ve got to be,
The meaning of my life is
She.
She!
Oh, she.

Songwriters: Charles Aznavour and Herbert Kretzmer