Elvis Costello: Difference between revisions

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Costello was initially associated in the public mind with [[Punk Rock]], and in terms of attitude there was a resemblance. (He had enjoyed seeing the [[Sex Pistols]] go head to head with morning TV host Bill Grundy.) Musically his closest kinship was to classic [[The Sixties|sixties]] pop: [[The Kinks]], [[Bob Dylan]], early [[The Who|Who]] and especially [[The Beatles (band)|The Beatles]]. While he had a [[Creative Differences|troubled relationship]] with his backup band the Attractions, they were fully able to keep up with his musical vision.

He also hosted [[Too Good to Last|two seasons]] of a music/interview show called ''Spectacle: Elvis Costello with...'' which aired on the Sundance Channel in the US and [[Channel 4]] in the UK.

 

* [[Album Title Drop]] - ''My Aim Is True'' (from a line in "Alison"), ''Punch the Clock'' (from "The Greatest Thing"), ''King of America'' (from "Brilliant Mistake"), ''Blood and Chocolate'' (from "Uncomplicated"), and ''Brutal Youth'' (from "Favourite Hour"). And played with on ''This Year's Model'' (a line in "(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea" refers to "''last'' year's model", and another song on the album is titled "This Year's Girl").

* [[Answer Song]] - Costello has said that "This Year's Girl" is more or less an answer song to the song "Stupid Girl" by [[The Rolling Stones]].

* [[Artifact Title]] - The albums ''Almost Blue'' and ''Imperial Bedroom'' were each titled after one of their intended tracks. Costello then dropped the songs in question from their respective albums, but left the album titles unchanged.

* [[The Band Minus the Face]] - The Attractions released ''Mad About the Wrong Boy'', a "solo" album without Costello, in 1980. Costello later covered one of its songs, "Sad About Girls".

* [[Careful with That Axe]] - "ALMOST BEATEN TO THE PUNCH!"

* [[Checkpoint Charlie]] - Costello uses the phrase in "Oliver's Army".

* [[Lyrical Dissonance]] - The upbeat music that Costello tends to employ often masks how dark the lyrics are. One example is "Veronica", whose tune is so happy and poppy that you have to pay close attention to the lyrics to get that the song is about an elderly woman with Alzheimer's Disease.

** Those twinkling keyboard riffs in "Green Shirt", which accompany such lyrics as:

there's a shorthand typist taking seconds over minutes }}

** An even more well-known example of this trope is "Oliver's Army", an upbeat [[ABBA]]-inspired song (no, really) that sounds quite cheerful until you realise it's about sending young working-class men, barely out of school, off to fight (and die) in foreign wars.

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Musicians]]

[[Category:Elvis Costello]]

[[Category:Music]]