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.
After the Fall
Elvis Costello Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Where the forbidden lovers repair
They`re burning down another damn candle
They`re melting the tables and chairs
Beneath them applause from the balcony
Whenever they accomplished making love
Other times they thought they heard laughter
[Chorus]
She lies to his right and she carelessly recites
All of her brand new appetites
She seems brittle and small, it don`t sound like her at all
Since she came back to him after the fall
She said "You never visit the countryside"
"So I've made you a country to order"
She put up a little tent in the bedroom
Crickets played on a tape-recorder
The ceiling was festooned with phosphorous stars
She noticed his skin turning cold
Burning all his clothes on the bonfire
"Relax" she whispered and tightened the blindfold
[Chorus]
You've changed but not for the better babe
I`d tell you why but what`s the use
`Cause it`s the same kind of pity
A drunkard gives as his excuse
You were sharp and ideal as a bobby pin
Now your eyes are deserted and quiet
We both look like those poor shattered mannequins
Thrown through the window in the riot
She lies in his arms and without any qualms
Revels in shallow delights
She seems brittle and small, it don`t sound like her at all
Since she came back to him after the fall
Elvis Costello’s song “After the Fall” tells the story of a couple who engage in a passionate, illicit affair. They meet clandestinely, and the line “Where the forbidden lovers repair” suggests that they may be doing so in a seedy or disreputable location. They are reckless and destructive, burning candles and melting furniture, and the line “She seems brittle and small” implies that the affair is taking a toll on the woman. The reference to a balcony where people may be watching adds to the sense of danger.
The chorus describes the woman’s physical transformation since she began the affair, using the metaphor of a “brittle and small” object that no longer resembles its former shape. She “carelessly recites” her new desires, suggesting that she is no longer thinking things through. The verse that follows focuses on the couple’s attempts to create a romantic atmosphere in the bedroom, which they achieve through artificial means: a tent, a tape recorder playing cricket sounds, and phosphorescent stars on the ceiling. These elements are meant to evoke a sense of nature, but they are clearly contrived.
The song’s final verse suggests that the couple’s affair has left lasting damage. The man describes the woman as having changed “for the worse,” becoming emotionless and “deserted.” He suggests that they are both like mannequins thrown through a window in a riot, which is a powerful metaphor for the sense of chaos and destruction that the affair has created. Throughout the song, Costello draws attention to the couple’s destructive tendencies and the way that their affair has set them on a path towards self-destruction.
Line by Line Meaning
In an anonymous rendezvous
In a secret meeting place
Where the forbidden lovers repair
Where the forbidden lovers go to find solace
They`re burning down another damn candle
They burn yet another candle in their passionate love-making
They`re melting the tables and chairs
Their love-making is so intense that even the furniture is affected
Beneath them applause from the balcony
The crowd above is applauding their intense love-making
Whenever they accomplished making love
After they have reached orgasm
Other times they thought they heard laughter
Sometimes they heard the crowd above laughing at them
Coming from the balcony above
Coming from the people watching them from above
She lies to his right and she carelessly recites
She lies beside him and casually talks about her desires
All of her brand new appetites
All of her new, intense desires
She seems brittle and small, it don't sound like her at all
She is no longer the confident, strong woman she used to be
Since she came back to him after the fall
Since she came back to him after their relationship fell apart
She said 'You never visit the countryside'
She accuses him of not showing her the beauty of the world
So I've made you a country to order
So she makes him a mock-up of the countryside in their bedroom
She put up a little tent in the bedroom
She sets up a tent inside the bedroom for them to 'camp'
Crickets played on a tape-recorder
She sets the mood with the sound of crickets on a recording
The ceiling was festooned with phosphorous stars
She decorated the ceiling with glowing stars
She noticed his skin turning cold
She notices that his passion for her is no longer there
Burning all his clothes on the bonfire
She tries to ignite the passion in him by burning his clothes
'Relax' she whispered and tightened the blindfold
'Relax', she says as she tries to help him reignite his passion
You've changed but not for the better babe
You have changed but not in a positive way
I'd tell you why but what's the use
I would tell you what is wrong with you, but it wouldn't matter
'Cause it's the same kind of pity
Because it is the same kind of pity a drunkard has for himself
A drunkard gives as his excuse
A drunkard uses pity as an excuse for his behavior
You were sharp and ideal as a bobby pin
You were once sharp and ideal, like a bobby pin
Now your eyes are deserted and quiet
But now, you are lifeless and disengaged
We both look like those poor shattered mannequins
We both look lifeless like broken mannequins
Thrown through the window in the riot
Thrown away in a violent explosion
She lies in his arms and without any qualms
She rests in his arms without any hesitation
Revels in shallow delights
She enjoys the little pleasures of their relationship, but nothing deeper
She seems brittle and small, it don't sound like her at all
She is not the same woman she once was, she is now vulnerable and weak
Since she came back to him after the fall
Since she stayed with him after they broke up
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: DECLAN MACMANUS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind