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.
Doomsday
Elvis Costello Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
In the teeming Temple of the Railroad Kings
He's planting a trashy paperback book for accidental purchase
Containing all the secrets of life and other useless things
But I can't bring myself to look
Wake up, zombie, write yourself another book
You want to scream and shout, my little flaxen lout
Hurry down Doomsday, the bugs are taking over
She sleeps with the shirt of a late, great country singer
Stretched out on her poor jealous husband's pillow
In time you can turn these obsessions into careers
While the parents of those kidnapped children start the bidding for their tears
But I can't bring myself to look
Wake up, zombie, get yourself off the hook
You want to scream and shout, my little waxen lout
Hurry down Doomsday, the bugs are taking over
Forget about Beethoven, Rembrandt and rock and roll
Forget about Mickey Mouse, Marlboro and Coca Cola
Forget about Cadillac, Mercedes and Toyota
Forget about Buddha, Allah, Jesus and Jehovah
Hurry down Doomsday, the bugs are taking over
Any day now a giant insect mutation
Will swoop down and devour the white man's burden
Starting out with all of the sensitive ones
Better make like a fly if you don't want to die
Look out, there goes Gordon!
But I can't bring myself to think
Wake up zombie, kick up a big stink
You want to scream and shout, my little Saxon lout
Hurry down Doomsday, the bugs are taking over
You want to scream and shout, my little Saxon lout
Hurry down Doomsday, the bugs are taking over
The song 'Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over)' by Elvis Costello is a commentary on contemporary society's obsession with trivial and mindless things. The lyrics are critical of people who are too caught up in their own pursuits that they fail to notice the impending doom that is closing in. The opening lines of the song describe a man planting a trashy paperback book on a railway station for accidental purchase, which contains all the secrets of life and other useless things. This can be taken as a metaphor for how society is focused on consumerism, and people indulge in buying and consuming things that are of no real value. The lyrics "Wake up, zombie, write yourself another book" could be interpreted as a call for individuals to wake up from their zombie-like state and create meaningful work.
The second verse of the song describes a woman who sleeps with the shirt of a late country singer, which is stretched out on her husband's pillow. This can represent how people derive their identity from external objects or events, rather than from within themselves. The line "In time you can turn these obsessions into careers" suggests that these trivialities that people obsess over can become a career or lifestyle choice. The mention of kidnapped children and their parents bidding for their tears may represent the media's tendency to sensationalize events for viewership ratings.
The chorus of the song, "Hurry down Doomsday, the bugs are taking over," is a warning about the imminent collapse of society. The lyrics are a commentary on the environmental degradation and how the collapse of natural ecosystems and the loss of biodiversity are leading to the destruction of humanity. The mention of the giant insect mutation devouring the white man's burden is a subtle reference to the perceived male dominance in society, which is soon to be obliterated.
Line by Line Meaning
The man in the corner of this picture has a sinister purpose
There is a man in the corner of a picture who has bad intentions.
He's planting a trashy paperback book for accidental purchase
He is intentionally placing a cheap paperback book for someone to buy by mistake.
Containing all the secrets of life and other useless things
The book contains information that is both pointless and valuable.
Wake up, zombie, write yourself another book
The artist is telling someone to create another work of literature as if they were a zombie.
You want to scream and shout, my little flaxen lout
The artist is addressing someone as a weak, blonde-haired person who wants to cry out.
She sleeps with the shirt of a late, great country singer
A woman sleeps with a deceased country singer's shirt on her husband's pillow.
Stretched out on her poor jealous husband's pillow
The woman's partner is envious of the singer and therefore suffers.
While the parents of those kidnapped children start the bidding for their tears
When children are taken, their parents will pay a ransom for their return.
Wake up, zombie, get yourself off the hook
The artist tells someone to get out of trouble as if they were a zombie, unaware of their situation.
You want to scream and shout, my little waxen lout
The artist is mocking someone who is pale-skinned and emotional.
Forget about Beethoven, Rembrandt and rock and roll
The singer is urging listeners to let go of their favorite artists.
Forget about Mickey Mouse, Marlboro and Coca Cola
The artist wants people to forget about famous consumer brands.
Forget about Cadillac, Mercedes and Toyota
The singer believes people should not be attached to car brands.
Forget about Buddha, Allah, Jesus and Jehovah
The singer wants people to forget about various religious figures.
Any day now a giant insect mutation
A large insect mutation could occur at any time.
Will swoop down and devour the white man's burden
This mutation will consume the responsibilities of white people.
Starting out with all of the sensitive ones
Those who are vulnerable will be the first to be attacked.
Better make like a fly if you don't want to die
People should act like flies if they don't want to be killed.
You want to scream and shout, my little Saxon lout
The singer is addressing someone as a lazy, white person who wants to cry out.
Hurry down Doomsday, the bugs are taking over.
The artist is telling people to prepare for an upcoming insect invasion.
Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: ELVIS COSTELLO, JIM KELTNER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind