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.
Birds Will Still Be Singing
Elvis Costello Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
He wants to kiss you, will you condescend?
Before you wake and find a chill within your bones
Under a fine canopy of lover's dust and humerus bones
Banish all dismay
Extinguish every sorrow
Eternity stinks, my darling that's no joke
Don't waste your precious time pretending you're heartbroken
Spare me lily-white lilies with the awful perfume of decay
Banish all dismay
Extinguish every sorrow
If I'm lost or I'm forgiven
The birds will still be singing
It's so hard to tear myself away
Even when you know it's over
It's too much to say
Banish all dismay
Extinguish every sorrow
If I'm lost or I'm forgiven
The birds will still be singing
Elvis Costello's song "Birds Will Still Be Singing" is a dramatic and poignant love song. The first line "Summertime withers as the sun descends" provides a foreboding sense of the end of a relationship. The second line "He wants to kiss you, will you condescend?" is an ironic question because it seems that the singer is aware that the relationship might be over, yet there is a sense of hesitation and longing. The following lines are a metaphor for the inevitability of death - "before you wake and find a chill within your bones under a fine canopy of lover's dust and humerus bones".
The next two lines, "Banish all dismay, extinguish every sorrow", seem to be a plea to the listener to live in the moment and not worry about the future. The idea that "eternity stinks" is a stark acknowledgement of the finality and unpleasantness of death. The next lines "Don't waste your precious time pretending you're heartbroken, there will be tears and candles, pretty words to say" suggest that the singer is trying to console someone who may be going through a difficult time. However, he asks to spare him "lily-white lilies with the awful perfume of decay" which can be seen as a rejection of traditional expressions of grief.
The final verse "It's so hard to tear myself away, even when you know it's over" seems to acknowledge the difficulty of leaving a relationship, even when it may be the right thing to do. The repetition of "Banish all dismay, extinguish every sorrow" reinforces the idea of living in the moment and not worrying about the future, while the final line "If I'm lost or I'm forgiven, the birds will still be singing" is a humanistic and optimistic acknowledgment that regardless of what happens, life goes on.
Line by Line Meaning
Summertime withers as the sun descends
As the sun sets in the sky, the warmth of summer fades away.
He wants to kiss you, will you condescend?
He desires your affection and wonders if you'll reciprocate.
Before you wake and find a chill within your bones
Wake up before you feel a sense of emptiness and sadness inside you.
Under a fine canopy of lover's dust and humerus bones
The remains of past lovers surround you, creating an eerie aura.
Banish all dismay
Get rid of any feelings of worry or despair.
Extinguish every sorrow
Eliminate all feelings of sadness or grief.
Eternity stinks, my darling that's no joke
Infinity is a bleak concept and not something to be taken lightly.
Don't waste your precious time pretending you're heartbroken
Don't waste your time feigning sadness for something that isn't worth it.
There will be tears and candles, pretty words to say
There will be traditional mourning rituals and comforting words spoken.
Spare me lily-white lilies with the awful perfume of decay
Don't offer me white funeral flowers that give off an unpleasant odor.
If I'm lost or I'm forgiven
Whether I'm lost and on my own, or forgiven and in someone's good graces.
The birds will still be singing
Life goes on and nature still continues, even in the face of adversity.
It's so hard to tear myself away
It's difficult to let go and move on.
Even when you know it's over
Even when you're aware that something has ended and can't be changed.
It's too much to say
Expressing everything you feel would be too much to handle.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, BMG Rights Management
Written by: ELVIS COSTELLO, IAN BELTON, JACQUELINE THOMAS, MICHAEL JAMES THOMAS, PAUL CASSIDY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind