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.
48 Too Far Gone
Elvis Costello Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You love more than me...
Someone you love more than me.
And I hate to say it
But you have a right to be free
I know that's the way it should be.
But I'm too far gone
I've loved you so much for so long
And I'm too far gone.
If ever your new love
Should hurt you or make you feel blue
Hurt you or make you feel blue
Just remember your old love
Will still be around loving you
I'll be around loving you.
'Cause I'm too far gone
Too far gone
I've loved you so much for so long
And I'm too far gone.
The lyrics of Elvis Costello's song "Too Far Gone" talk about a man, who is deeply in love with a woman, acknowledging that there might be someone else, that she loves more than him. The man tries to gracefully accept the fact that the woman he loves has the right to be with whoever she wants and that he needs to let her go. He expresses his love for her, saying that he has loved her for a long time and it has grown to be too much for him. The man resigns himself to the idea that he is too far gone - too deeply in love that he cannot choose to stop loving her.
The song showcases the pain that comes with loving someone deeply, knowing that the love might not be reciprocated. The lyrics show a mixture of sadness, acceptance, and understanding, and it gives the listener an insight into the emotional turmoil of someone who is in love. Love, which is supposed to bring happiness, has brought nothing but pain for the singer.
Line by Line Meaning
I know that somewhere there's someone
I acknowledge the possibility that you may love someone else.
You love more than me...
There may be someone else who you love more than me.
Someone you love more than me.
You may love someone else more than me.
And I hate to say it
It pains me to admit it.
But you have a right to be free
You have the right to be free and independent.
I know that's the way it should be.
I understand that is how things should be for you.
But I'm too far gone
Unfortunately, I am lost beyond recovery.
Too far gone.
I have been too deeply affected or involved with you.
I've loved you so much for so long
I have had deep affection for you for an extended period of time.
And I'm too far gone.
Unfortunately, I cannot change the depth of my feelings for you.
If ever your new love
In the event that you love someone else in the future.
Should hurt you or make you feel blue
If they cause you any harm or emotional pain.
Hurt you or make you feel blue
Cause you emotional pain and suffering.
Just remember your old love
Please recall the love I have had for you in the past.
Will still be around loving you
I will still care for you and show you affection.
I'll be around loving you.
I will always be there for you with my love and affection.
'Cause I'm too far gone
It is due to the extent of my feelings for you that I must leave.
Too far gone
My feelings for you are too intense for me to remain.
I've loved you so much for so long
My love for you has been constant for a long time, even though I must leave.
And I'm too far gone.
My love for you has grown so deep and intense that I cannot stay.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: BILLY SHERRILL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Emma Maloney
Rad! Yeah it's rad alright! Another amazing Irish murder ballad. My favourite for over 20 years
Jason Miles
Just heard this for the first time on Halloween. Pretty fuckin rad