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.
But Not For Me
Elvis Costello Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Never tell me dreams come true
Just try it and I'll start a riot
Beatrice Fairfax don't you dare
Ever tell me he will care
I'm certain it's the final curtain
I never want to hear from any cheerful Pollyannas
Who tell you fate supplies a mate
They're writing songs of love but not for me
A lucky star's above but not for me
With love to lead the way I've found more clouds of gray
Than any Russian play could guarantee
I was a fool to fall and get that way
Hi-ho, alas, and also lack-a-day
Although I can't dismiss the memory of his kiss
I guess he's not for me
I was a fool to fall and get that way
Hi-ho, alas, and also lack-a-day
Although I can't dismiss the memory of his kiss
The lyrics to Elvis Costello's "But Not For Me" are a reflection on the theme of unrequited love. The song is addressed to two characters - Old Man Sunshine and Beatrice Fairfax - who are seen as symbols of false optimism and hope, respectively. The singer, who is experiencing a failed romance, resents any attempts to console him with unrealistic platitudes. He sees the world in cynical and bleak terms, convinced that love and happiness are elusive ideals that are out of reach for him. He rejects the notion that fate, luck, or divine intervention can bring him together with his beloved, dismissing such ideas as ridiculous and irrational.
Costello's lyrics convey a sense of irony and humor, as well as a deep sense of melancholy. The contrast between the upbeat melody and the melancholic lyrics underlines the singer's sense of disillusionment and disappointment. The song's final lines are particularly poignant, as the singer admits that he was a fool to fall in love, but also acknowledges the power of the memory of his lover's kiss. The song can be seen as a critique of the romantic ideals that dominate popular culture, and as a reflection on the theme of unfulfilled longing.
Line by Line Meaning
Old man sunshine listen you
I am addressing Old Man Sunshine and telling him to listen up
Never tell me dreams come true
I don't believe in the idea that dreams always come true
Just try it and I'll start a riot
If anyone tries to convince me that dreams come true, I will get very angry
Beatrice Fairfax don't you dare
I am warning Beatrice Fairfax not to do something
Ever tell me he will care
I don't want to hear from Beatrice Fairfax that he will care about me
I'm certain it's the final curtain
I believe that it's over between us and there's no hope for reconciliation
I never want to hear from any cheerful Pollyannas
I don't like hearing from overly optimistic people who always see the good in everything
Who tell you fate supplies a mate
These people believe that destiny will bring you the perfect partner
It's all bananas
I think it's all nonsense
They're writing songs of love but not for me
People are writing songs about love, but they don't apply to me
A lucky star's above but not for me
Others may be lucky in love, but I am not
With love to lead the way I've found more clouds of gray
Despite my efforts to find love, I've only encountered disappointment
Than any Russian play could guarantee
I've had more bad luck in love than any tragic Russian play could predict
I was a fool to fall and get that way
I acknowledge that I was foolish to fall in love despite knowing the risks
Hi-ho, alas, and also lack-a-day
I'm expressing my sadness and regret
Although I can't dismiss the memory of his kiss
I can't forget the feeling of his kiss, even though we can't be together
I guess he's not for me
I accept that he's not the person I'm meant to be with
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
jennylustforlife1
Love it, one of my favourite versions of this song. Love Gershwin.
Michael Pope
EC seems more genuine at this age, singing standards than he ever did as a younger man singing all that other stuff. quite charming now.
Ethan Hill
COLTRANE*s instrumental version introduced me to the song; indeed, the version concludes his album My Favorite Things and puncuates the this is Coltrane for anyone and everyone aura of the four song set. COSTELLO's version does well as an introduction to the several vocal incantations of this classic. I championed the singer's best selling songs decades ago. I love what he does here. The orchestration and arrangement work well rather than overwhelm, unlike every so called great song by Sinatra.
Vee Cee
Mr. M. Just listened again, sigh, so sweet.
Mr. M.
Dreamy indeed.
Vee Cee
Mr. M. As morals go, yours is one to practice. I too was surprised at how lovely this version is. Really rather dreamy.
Mr. M.
I allowed my friends opinions to jaundice my view of his talent and had never listened to him until I purchased The Glory Of Gershwin CD. I'd heard it sung by Ella Fitzgerald, Nat Cole, Frank Sinatra, Elton John among others, but Elvis Costello, as touches this song, blows the others away. His interpretation has the perfect tempo, most are too fast, and his phrasing surpasses even the late, great, Chairman of the Board himself, an opinion, until I heard this, I never thought to hold, much less, express. The moral, in as much as my rumination has one, is it pays to break away from the pack and the group-think mentality, for you might discover treasure off the beaten path.
Gregory Fraizer
This is the best version of this song I have ever heard! A long time ago I looked up the lyrics and this is the only version that includes the first part.
Lewis Sanders
I did it BETTER. Never got that many Views , THE TASTELESS PUBLIC.
Vee Cee
Gregory Fraizer Also Linda Ronstadt.