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.
Black Sails In The Sunset
Elvis Costello Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
So let the punishment fit the crime
It`s under the table
Under your skin
Into the cable
Is this the death of the glory you`re in?
[Chorus:]
White noise going yakety-yak
All the money in the world will never bring your body back
Is it some mysterious dance nobody can do?
Thought I knew all the steps quite clearly
I don`t have a clue
Oooh
You`re Cinderella with a ball and chain
And the shoe seems to fit you
You tell the truth sometimes but
You wouldn't know it if it hit you
Is this some new trick
Wired up in your head?
Do you make me sick
Or was I just force fed?
[Chorus]
In "Black Sails In The Sunset," Elvis Costello is addressing people who are too proud to accept the consequences of their actions, saying that they must take responsibility for their mistakes. He refers to something that is being kept secret "under the table" and a feeling that is "into the cable," suggesting that this dishonesty is ingrained in their character. He asks if this is the end of the "glory" that they are used to, implying that they have been living in a false sense of power and success.
The chorus of the song features the image of "black sails in the sunset," which could represent the end of something significant, such as a large empire or a way of life. The "white noise going yakety-yak" suggests that there is a lot of meaningless noise being made, perhaps by those in power, that is overshadowing the important issues. Costello then poses the question: is all of this chaos just a "mysterious dance" that nobody can do, indicating that people may not understand what is happening or how to address it.
He concludes the song with a nod to the classic fairy tale, Cinderella, but with a darker twist. The ball and chain that Cinderella is now wearing demonstrates how quickly a person can go from being celebrated to being punished, and how easy it is to be trapped in one’s own dishonesty.
Line by Line Meaning
Vain boys are gonna have to swallow their pride this time
Self-centered people will have to humble themselves in this situation
So let the punishment fit the crime
The consequences should match the offense committed
It's under the table
This situation is secretive and not easily discovered
Under your skin
This situation is affecting you personally
Into the cable
This situation is connected to a larger system or network
Is this the death of the glory you're in?
Is this the end of the success and recognition you are used to?
Black sails in the sunset
A symbol of impending doom or danger
White noise going yakety-yak
Meaningless chatter or noise that is distracting
All the money in the world will never bring your body back
No amount of wealth can bring back someone who has died
Is it some mysterious dance nobody can do?
Is this situation unpredictable and impossible to navigate?
Thought I knew all the steps quite clearly
I thought I had a good understanding of how to handle this
I don't have a clue
I am confused and unsure of what to do next
You're Cinderella with a ball and chain
You are trapped in a difficult situation like Cinderella with a heavy burden
And the shoe seems to fit you
This problem seems to be uniquely tailored to you
You tell the truth sometimes but
You are not always honest
You wouldn't know it if it hit you
You are unable to recognize the truth when it is presented to you
Is this some new trick
Is this a new method or deception?
Wired up in your head?
Is this mindset or behavior ingrained in you?
Do you make me sick
Your actions are causing me to feel disgusted
Or was I just force fed?
Did someone else influence my negative feelings towards you?
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: ELVIS COSTELLO
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind