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.
First To Leave
Elvis Costello Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
For if you`re reading this
You must have opened up your case
And found this letter where I placed it
In between the silk and lace
There were other clues, like your walking shoes
But I still refused to believe
That you were meant to be the first to leave
Everybody here sends you their love
How can I forget you still walk above
Or
Below
Perhaps you`ll never know this purgatory
We never could agree
There`s a thought, there`s a pause
No time to repent
Eternally yours
In a permanent lent
But if I should give you up
If you`re right and life just stops
And I never see your face again
Then from unearthly pleasures, proud and plain
I shall abstain
Until you realize, my loss is your surprise
Unless you know otherwise
Then don`t grieve
You see I had to be the first to leave
Elvis Costello's song "First To Leave" is a poignant representation of a love letter, written by someone who knows they're about to pass away. The song opens with the lyrics, "I should open with a kiss, for if you're reading this, you must have opened up your case and found this letter where I placed it, in between the silk and lace." This establishes the setting of the song - the person writing the letter has left it for the recipient to find after their death. As the singer reflects on their impending absence, they realize that the recipient will have to learn to live without them, and that they will never get over the loss.
The singer expresses their love in various ways throughout the song. They acknowledge that their partner is loved by everyone, even though they won't be around to see it. They also speak of a hope that their partner will come to understand what they've lost when they're gone. Although the singer knows they will experience "eternal pleasures," they show an admirable level of selflessness; they acknowledge that they would abstain from those pleasures if it would bring their partner back.
The final lines of the song are particularly poignant: "You see I had to be the first to leave." This reveals that the singer was aware of a tragedy that would take them away from their partner, but their love for them is so strong that they crafted this letter as a final, enduring expression of their devotion. The song ultimately invites the listener to empathize with the singer's grief, which is powerful and deeply felt.
Line by Line Meaning
I should open with a kiss
I should introduce this letter to you with an affectionate gesture.
For if you're reading this
Assuming you're reading this letter right now.
You must have opened up your case
I imagine that you have recently unpacked your belongings.
And found this letter where I placed it
You may have discovered this letter in the location where I left it.
In between the silk and lace
This letter was probably nestled among your delicate garments.
There were other clues, like your walking shoes
I noticed other hints, like the shoes that you wore.
But I still refused to believe
Despite the evidence, I was in denial.
That you were meant to be the first to leave
I couldn't accept that you would be the one to depart before anyone else.
Everybody here sends you their love
All the people here want to express their affection for you.
How can I forget you still walk above
I can't help but remember that you are still alive, walking around somewhere.
Or below
It's possible that you are not living, but exist in another realm.
Perhaps you'll never know this purgatory
You might not be aware of the state of limbo that I feel.
We never could agree
We had differing opinions that we couldn't reconcile.
There's a thought, there's a pause
I am reflecting on something at this moment.
No time to repent
I don't have much time to regret my past actions.
Eternally yours
I will always belong to you.
In a permanent lent
My current state is one of permanent sacrifice.
But if I should give you up
If I were to lose you.
If you're right and life just stops
If you are correct and death is just the end of existence.
And I never see your face again
If I never get to see you again.
Then from unearthly pleasures, proud and plain
I will abstain from intangible sources of joy.
I shall abstain
I will hold back from indulging in anything that doesn't directly involve you.
Until you realize, my loss is your surprise
You will only realize how much you meant to me after I am gone.
Unless you know otherwise
Unless you are already aware of this fact.
Then don't grieve
If you already know how much I loved you, then don't mourn my departure.
You see I had to be the first to leave
It was my fate to leave this world before you.
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