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.
...This Town...
Elvis Costello Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Like he was pawing a dirty book
He bit a hole in his big bottom lip and gave his
Very best little boy look
It was a song with a topical verse which I'm
Afraid he then proceeded to sing
Something about the moody doomed love of
The Fish-Finger King
[Chorus:]
You're nobody in this town
You're nobody in this crowd
You're nobody till everybody in this town
Thinks you're poison,
Got your number knows it must be avoided
You're nobody till everybody in this town
Thinks you're a bastard
Mr. Getgood moved up to Self-Made Man Row
Although he swears that he's the salt of the earth
He's so proud of the "kick-me-hard" sign that
They hung on his back at birth
He said "I appreciate beauty, if I have one, then
It's my fault"
"Beauty is on my pillow, beauty is there in
My vault"
[Chorus]
The girl with the eternity rock went down on
Her bookie to buy some stock
Now all her signs in the shopping arcades say
"The corporation thief is The New Jesse James"
Her clothes and her attention were scant, her
Eyes were everywhere,
Her eyes were like absinthe
The little green figures that dance on his screen
Say everything you want to hear and nothing
They mean
They made love while she was changing her dress
She wiped him off she wiped him out and then
She made him confess
A little amused by the belief in her power
You must remember this it was the fetish of
The hour
[Chorus]
Elvis Costello's song "This Town" is a commentary on the superficiality and toxicity of a small town. The lyrics describe various inhabitants of the town who are only considered valuable if they are deemed desirable by the rest of the community. The opening verse describes Charlie Sedarka, who plays the piano like he's pawing a dirty book, and sings a song about the doomed love of the Fish-Finger King. The chorus asserts that no one is considered somebody until everyone in town thinks they are desirable, and if someone is deemed undesirable, they become poison to the rest of the community.
The second verse describes Mr. Getgood, who moved up to Self-Made Man Row and likes to claim that he's the salt of the earth, despite the fact that he has a "kick-me-hard" sign hung on his back at birth. He claims to appreciate beauty, but only as a reflection of his own qualities. The third verse describes a girl with the eternity rock, who goes down on her bookie in order to buy stock. She is described as scantily clad, with absinthe-like eyes, and is the source of various signs throughout the shopping arcades that accuse her of being a corporation thief.
Line by Line Meaning
That Charlie Sedarka was a-playing the piano
Charlie Sedarka was playing the piano with such intensity, it was like he was caressing something obscene
Like he was pawing a dirty book
His playing was such that it was as if he was flicking through the pages of an illicit book
He bit a hole in his big bottom lip and gave his Very best little boy look
He played with fervor as he tried to attract attention and looked at the audience with a carefully crafted innocent look
It was a song with a topical verse which I'm Afraid he then proceeded to sing Something about the moody doomed love of The Fish-Finger King
He started to sing a new song he had written that spoke of the doomed and melancholic love life of a fictional character, the Fish-Finger King.
You're nobody in this town You're nobody in this crowd You're nobody till everybody in this town Thinks you're poison, Got your number knows it must be avoided You're nobody till everybody in this town Thinks you're a bastard
Having the acceptance and respect of the people in this town is everything; if they label you as a poisonous, malicious person, then you become insignificant and a nobody
Mr. Getgood moved up to Self-Made Man Row Although he swears that he's the salt of the earth
Mr. Getgood has recently moved to the Self-Made Man Row, although he claims to be a person of great substance
He's so proud of the 'kick-me-hard' sign that They hung on his back at birth He said 'I appreciate beauty, if I have one, then It's my fault' 'Beauty is on my pillow, beauty is there in My vault'
He takes pride in the fact that he has been adversities that have only made him stronger; he says he is a person of great beauty, and he has great wealth and material possessions.
The girl with the eternity rock went down on Her bookie to buy some stock Now, all her signs in the shopping arcades say 'The corporation thief is The New Jesse James'
The girl who used to be proud of her eternal love story ring gave in to the corruption of the stock exchange and had to exchange some of her values to buy shares. She protests against corporations that cheat people, and her signage in the mall criticizes them by calling them 'The New Jesse James.'
Her clothes and her attention were scant, her Eyes were everywhere, Her eyes were like absinthe
She is dressed provocatively, and she is constantly vigilant, with eyes that are piercing in their intensity.
The little green figures that dance on his screen Say everything you want to hear and nothing They mean
The flashing lights and sounds on his computer screen provide a sense of excitement and promise, but it is all an illusion and empty of real value.
They made love while she was changing her dress She wiped him off, she wiped him out, and then She made him confess
They fell into a sexual encounter when she was changing into her dress. She quickly dismissed him and then made him confess his wrongdoing.
A little amused by the belief in her power You must remember this it was the fetish of The hour
She is mildly entertained by the idea that she has some sort of power over others, but the fetish of the era was this idea of control and domination.
You're nobody in this town You're nobody in this crowd You're nobody till everybody in this town Thinks you're poison Got your number, knows it must be avoided You're nobody till everybody in this town Thinks you're a bastard
Reiterating the importance of acceptance by the people of this town - one's standing in the crowd means everything when everyone thinks of them as a malicious and toxic person.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Elvis Costello
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind