Born in St Mary's Hospital, Paddington in London, Costello is the son of trumpeter, vocalist and band-leader Ronald (“Ross”) MacManus and record store manager Lillian Costello. His family had roots in Merseyside and he moved to Birkenhead at age 16, with his mother, when his parents separated. While he is better known as 'Elvis Costello', a stage name referring to the legendary Elvis Presley suggested by Stiff Records manager Jake Riviera, he has used many other aliases, including 'The Imposter' and 'Napoleon Dynamite'.
In the early 1970s Costello was a participant in London's pub rock scene with the group Flip City. Then in 1977 along with fellow Pub-Rockers Nick Lowe and Ian Dury he made his first releases on the independent label Stiff, tailoring his work towards the burgeoning punk, power pop, and new wave scenes. From 1980's Armed Forces onwards, however, other influences including soul, country, 1960s pop, and classical music began to re-emerge, and he soon became established as a unique and original voice. His output has been wildly diverse: one critic has written that "Costello, the pop encyclopedia, can reinvent the past in his own image".
His prolific and varied 30-year career has been marked by two constants: sharp songwriting and musical restlessness. The latter has seen him dabble in almost every musical form, from country to jazz to orchestral. This stems from the fact that, at heart, Costello is a fan. His desire to work with his musical heroes has attracted collaborators as diverse as Burt Bacharach and Paul McCartney, Anne Sofie von Otter, Allen Toussaint, Aimee Mann, Bill Frisell, and Brian Eno.
But his most successful partners were his long-term band The Attractions. They comprised Steve Nieve (keyboards), Pete Thomas (drums) and Bruce Thomas (bass). Between 1978 and 1983, this outfit produced a peerless series of albums: This Year's Model; Armed Forces; Get Happy!!; Almost Blue; Trust; Imperial Bedroom and Punch the Clock.
These recordings drew on styles spanning soul, country and western and commercial pop. It was only with 1984's Goodbye Cruel World that Costello started to stumble. An album he concedes was one of his worst, it ushered in a period which produced interesting music but lacked the consistent quality of his halcyon days. Interestingly, although he enlisted the other Elvis's band for King of America in 1986, it was a reunion with The Attractions and former producer Nick Lowe that produced his best album of the late 1980s in the form of the scabrous Blood and Chocolate.
The following albums, Spike and Mighty Like a Rose were uncompromising and difficult solo works, as was the string quartet collaboration The Juliet Letters in 1993. It was only reconvening the Attractions for Brutal Youth the following year that gave his fans another glimpse of what first attracted them to him: punchy, angry pop songs, tightly played by an impeccably taut ensemble.
Since then, Costello has become a career dilettante, true to his inner musical quest, but never again returning to heights he scaled in the early 1980s. Maybe the best work of this latter period was 1998's Painted from Memory. This joint effort with Burt Bacharach matched restrained writing from Costello with stately Bacharach arrangements.
Subsequent career nadirs such as the tune-free North (2003), and instrumental orchestral works such as Il Sogno (2004) led many long-term admirers to conclude that Costello had retained his integrity at the expense of his real musical strengths. However, he has given occasional evidence of his former fire. The ballsy bar-room atmosphere of the collaborative The Delivery Man (2004), suggests that he is still capable of giving his fans what they want, in between his more esoteric experiments.
Elvis is married to jazz vocalist Diana Krall and they have twin sons.
*Upon the film's release, it was noted that the name "Napoleon Dynamite" had originally been used by musician Elvis Costello, most visibly on his 1986 album Blood and Chocolate, although he had used the pseudonym on a single B-side as early as 1982. Filmmaker Jared Hess claims that he was not aware of Costello's use of the name until two days before the end of shooting, when he was informed by a teenage extra. He later said, "Had I known that name was used by anybody else prior to shooting the whole film, it definitely would have been changed ... I listen to hip-hop, dude. It's a pretty embarrassing coincidence." Hess claims that "Napoleon Dynamite" was the name of a man he met around the year 2000 on the streets of Cicero, Illinois while doing missionary work for the Mormon Church.
Costello believes that Hess stole the name: "The guy just denies completely that I made the name up... but I invented it. Maybe somebody told him the name and he truly feels that he came about it by chance. But it's two words that you're never going to hear together." To date, Costello has taken no legal action against the film.
Elvis Costello and Elton John to Make a Television 'Spectacle'
Two of the most respected musicians in the world will collaborate on an extraordinary new television series.
"Spectacle: Elvis Costello with..." is hosted by its namesake and produced in conjunction with Sir Elton John's Rocket Pictures. Elton John will be one of the program's Executive Producers.
The series begain airing in 2008 on CTV in Canada, Channel 4 in the UK and Sundance Channel in the US. FremantleMedia Enterprises, will handle sales of the show to the rest of the world.
Conceived to provide a forum for in-depth discussion and performance with the most interesting and influential artists and personalities of our time, the show fuses the best of talk and music television.
"Spectacle: Elvis Costello with..." is an unpredictable and unprecedented television experience. The series of 13 one-hour programs features everything from intimate one-on-ones with legendary performers and notable newcomers to thematic panel discussions, with a variety of performance elements including unique collaborations, acoustic and impromptu "illustrative" demonstrations of the creative process, and some original interpretations of others' songs by Costello.
...Dust
Elvis Costello Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
What would we hear it say?
Before it's brushed aside
Just as it's swept away
It's just the evidence
It's of no consequence
It's only flesh and bone
If dust could only gather into lines of chalk
Around a silhouette detective fiction walks
For it's the only witness that can testify
Can I spit out the truth or would you rather just swallow a lie?
Why did they dam the land?
How did they flood the plain?
Did they erase the name
And wipe away the stain?
You kept your mouth well shut
Appeared to turn your coat
Now there's a name for you but it's stuck in my throat
If dust could only mutter
Or in laughter trill
If it could warn and whisper from the windowsill
For it's the only witness that can testify
Can I spit out the truth or would you rather just swallow a lie?
Here comes the juggernaut
Here come The Poisoners
They choke the life and land
And rob the joy from us
Why do they taste of sugar
When they are made of money?
Here come the Lamb of God
And the butcher's boy, Sonny
If dust could only gather in a needle track
Then it would skip a beat and it would jump right back
If dust could only gather in a needle track
Then it would skip a beat
And all the sense I lack
Elvis Costello's song "Dust" delves into the idea of the passage of time and how dust, as the physical manifestation of time, holds the secrets of the past. The opening lines of the song ask a hypothetical question about what dust would say if it were able to talk. Perhaps it would contain evidence of events that have been forgotten, only to be swept away and forgotten.
As the song progresses, Costello argues that dust could provide important information if it were given a voice. He suggests that if dust formed chalk outlines around victims, as in detective fiction, it would be a key witness in criminal investigations.
The lyrics explore topics such as power, corruption, and suppression of truth. It accuses the powerful of robbing the common people of their joy, while hiding their actions behind a façade of sugar-coated language. The song asks questions about secrets that were never revealed because people chose to stay silent or turn a blind eye to injustice.
The final lines of the song suggest that dust might be a representation of something more profound – a metaphor for the things we don't understand or can't comprehend. The lyrics suggest that the dust gathering in a needle track might be a symbol of how, even when we're lost, we can rediscover our sense of purpose.
Line by Line Meaning
If dust could only talk
What if the dust we see around us could talk and tell us of all the things it has witnessed?
What would we hear it say?
If it spoke, what secrets and stories would the dust reveal?
Before it's brushed aside
The dust is always transient, and is easily brushed or swept away.
Just as it's swept away
Like the dust, many things and people are too easily discarded and forgotten.
It's just the evidence
Dust is only the remnants of what has passed.
It's of no consequence
Despite being proof of what existed, dust is often considered unimportant or meaningless.
It's only flesh and bone
Humans too are made of mere flesh and bone, and are therefore not as invincible as we may believe.
Why don't we leave it alone?
Why do we often ignore or dismiss the evidence of what has happened?
If dust could only gather into lines of chalk
What if the dust were to form into something more concrete, like lines of chalk at a crime scene?
Around a silhouette detective fiction walks
That dust would then become a crucial witness in a story, like in a detective novel.
For it's the only witness that can testify
The dust holds all the secrets of the past and is, therefore, the only witness that can truly testify to what happened.
Can I spit out the truth or would you rather just swallow a lie?
If the dust could talk, would we be willing to hear the truth or would we prefer to live in ignorance and accept the lies?
Why did they dam the land?
The singer questions the decisions made by those in power that affect the environment.
How did they flood the plain?
The singer wonders about the process that led to flooding of the land.
Did they erase the name
This line speaks to the idea that those in power often hide or erase the truth of what they have done.
And wipe away the stain?
They do this to cover up the damage they have caused and to avoid responsibility.
You kept your mouth well shut
The singer accuses someone of not speaking up against wrongdoings, possibly indicating their complicity.
Appeared to turn your coat
The person betrayed others by changing sides or their beliefs.
Now there's a name for you but it's stuck in my throat
The person's actions have been so disgraceful that the singer cannot even find the words to express their contempt.
If dust could only mutter
The singer imagines the dust as a living entity that could speak in a low mumble.
Or in laughter trill
Alternatively, the dust could reveal the secrets of the past in a joyous trill or chuckle.
If it could warn and whisper from the windowsill
The dust could serve as a warning to humanity or share its secrets with anyone who would listen.
Here comes the juggernaut
The singer alludes to the power of the people in charge who cannot be stopped.
Here come The Poisoners
These powerful people inject poison into the world with their actions.
They choke the life and land
Their actions suffocate and kill the environment, taking away the joy from people's lives.
And rob the joy from us
The 'criminals' in power take away the life and soul of the earth, leaving us with nothing but emptiness.
Why do they taste of sugar
The 'Poisoners' appear to be sweet and innocent, but their actions and intentions are far from that.
When they are made of money?
Their greed and selfishness is the driving force behind their actions, at the expense of the environment and the people who live in it.
Here come the Lamb of God
A reference to religious figures, who represent purity and righteousness.
And the butcher's boy, Sonny
In contrast, this character represents violence and death, and is a symbol of the destruction caused by humans towards the environment.
If dust could only gather in a needle track
This imagery implies that the dust accumulates in the tracks made by drug users, indicating the loss of focus and disorientation.
Then it would skip a beat and it would jump right back
The dust, just like human beings, has the power to spring back from the brink and start anew.
And all the sense I lack
The artist struggles to understand the world around them, leading them to seek answers in the dust.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: ELVIS COSTELLO
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind