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.
Every Day I Write The Book
Elvis Costello Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
When you're old enough to know better
When you find strange hands in your sweater
When your dreamboat turns out to be a footnote
I'm a man with a mission on two or three editions.
And I'm giving you a longing look
Everyday
Everyday I write the book.
Chapter One: We didn't really get along.
Chapter Two: I think I fell in love with you.
You said you'd stand by me in the middle of Chapter Three
But you were up to your old tricks in Chapters Four
Five and Six.
And I'm giving you a longing look...
The way you walk
The way you talk and try to kiss me
And laugh in four or five paragraphs.
All your compliments and your cutting remarks
Are captured here in my quotation marks.
And I'm giving you a longing look...
Everyday I write the book.
Don't tell me you don't know the difference
Between a lover and a fighter.
With my pen and my electric typewriter
Even in a perfect world where everyone was equal
I'd still own the film rights and be working on the sequel.
And I'm giving you a longing look...
Everyday
Everyday
Everyday I write the book.
Everyday
Everyday
Everyday
Everyday I write the book...
The song "Every Day I Write The Book" by Elvis Costello & The Attractions is a commentary on the complexities of love and relationships. The lyrics describe a situation where the singer is trying to navigate a romance that is plagued by uncertainty and inconsistencies. The opening lines indicate that the singer is frustrated with his lover's lack of understanding of what love is, despite their age indicating that they should know better.
The mention of finding "strange hands in your sweater" and the realization that the dreamboat they had been pursuing turns out to be a "footnote" implies a betrayal or disappointment in the relationship. The singer is "a man with a mission on two or three editions," suggesting that he is determined to make this relationship work despite the difficulties he has encountered.
The references to different chapters in the book reflect the changing nature of the relationship. The first chapter describes a rocky start, while the second chapter refers to the singer falling in love. The third chapter suggests that the lover had promised to stand by the singer, but chapters four through six show that they did not follow through on this promise. The song's chorus repeats, emphasizing the singer's frustration.
The lyrics also suggest that the singer is trying to document their experiences through writing. Descriptions of the lover's qualities, both positive and negative, are captured in "paragraphs" and "quotation marks." Furthermore, the reference to owning the film rights and working on a sequel imply that the singer sees the relationship as a story worth sharing with others.
Overall, "Every Day I Write The Book" conveys a sense of uncertainty and complexity that is often associated with romantic relationships. The singer wants the relationship to work but is struggling to navigate the difficulties encountered.
Line by Line Meaning
Don't tell me you don't know what love is
I find it hard to believe that you don't understand the concept of love.
When you're old enough to know better
By the time you reach a certain age, you should be able to differentiate between what is right and what is wrong.
When you find strange hands in your sweater
When another person is being intimate with your significant other in your absence.
When your dreamboat turns out to be a footnote
When the person you believed to be perfect turned out to be insignificant or not good enough.
I'm a man with a mission on two or three editions.
I'm someone who's working on a task that has to be completed multiple times in order to achieve the desired result.
And I'm giving you a longing look
I'm looking at you with an intense desire or yearning.
Chapter One: We didn't really get along.
When we first met, we didn't have a good relationship.
Chapter Two: I think I fell in love with you.
Eventually, I developed romantic feelings for you.
You said you'd stand by me in the middle of Chapter Three
At a certain point, you promised to support me and be there for me.
But you were up to your old tricks in Chapters Four, Five and Six.
However, in later stages, you reverted to your old ways and acted in ways that hurt our relationship.
The way you walk
The style or manner in which you move forward.
The way you talk and try to kiss me
The method or approach you take in communicating with me and making physical advances.
And laugh in four or five paragraphs.
You find humor in various situations and express it in lengthy conversations or written passages.
All your compliments and your cutting remarks
Both the positive statements and the negative criticisms you make.
Are captured here in my quotation marks.
I've noted down every word you've said, both good and bad.
Don't tell me you don't know the difference
I don't accept that you're unaware of the contrast or distinction between two things, in this case, a lover and a fighter.
Between a lover and a fighter.
Differentiating between someone who loves and someone who is combative.
With my pen and my electric typewriter
With my writing tools, I express my thoughts and ideas.
Even in a perfect world where everyone was equal
In an ideal or perfect world where everyone's worth was the same.
I'd still own the film rights and be working on the sequel.
Despite equality, I would still aim to have control over the outcome and continue to work on improving it.
Everyday I write the book.
I document my thoughts and experiences every day.
Everyday
Each day.
Everyday
Each day.
Everyday I write the book.
I document my thoughts and experiences every day.
Everyday
Each day.
Everyday
Each day.
Everyday
Each day.
Everyday I write the book...
I document my thoughts and experiences every day.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: ELVIS COSTELLO
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@shawnmcvey7789
Saw him do this song with Allen Toussaint live, it was a really cool version.
Actually accosted Elvis Costello after the show on his way back to his hotel.
He was surprisingly nice to me even though I was a sweaty teenager and all I wanted to do was tell him how much all the extra material on his Rhino reissues inspired me to become a wildly versatile musician that could play anything in any style.
...in the middle another sweaty teenager ran up, asked him to sign a This Year's Model LP, and then ran away screaming about it once it was signed.
After that Elvis offered to sign something for me, I said I didn't have anything and he said "How about the ticket to the show?"
I still have that ticket, and I actually got it signed by Steve Nieve and Pete Thomas not long after that night.
@richsackett3423
Let's take a minute to salute the quality of the Charles and Diana impersonators.
@davidharrison7014
I'D be interested to know how the one who impersonated Princess Diana looks today; she undoubtedly would look very similar to the REAL Diana now, (had she lived).
@donreed
Quite so. They are perfect!
@therealgaragegirls
100% <3
@lisairis4842
They make you nostalgic for simpler times. If only the real Diana and Charles had a happy ending.
@davidharrison7014
@@lisairis4842 Both were alive when this video was made.
@leilanistillwell8661
Wow.. I was 21 years old in 1983. 60 now. What beautiful memories this song brings back to me.
It’s so amazing to me, how music can take you back to a place of complete peace. While listening to this song in particular and remembering some of the best moments and memories of my life. Amazing.
💕 🌬 Thanks Elvis.
@pjhey947
I was 22 in 1983….The 80s were a great time to spend most of our 20s!!
@vincentskinner3250
Same mate
I’m I that old? 😂
@escapemac
Back when I thought my life and career were going to turn out awesome. If I knew then what I know now.