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.
Hand in Hand
Elvis Costello Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I won't ask you to forgive me
If I'm gonna go down, you're gonna come with me
You say, "Why don't you be a man about it
Like they do in the grown-up movies?"
But when it comes to the other way around, you say
You just want to use me
It's gonna be syndicated
You sit with your knees together
All the time your breath is bated
(Hand in hand) no, don't ask me to apologize
I won't ask you to forgive me
If I'm gonna go down, you're gonna come with me
Don't you know I got the bully boys out
Changing someone's facial design
Sitting with my toy room lout
Polishing my precious china
Don't you know I'm an animal?
But don't you know I can't stand up steady?
But you can't show me any kind of hell that I don't know already
(Hand in hand) no, don't ask me to apologize
I won't ask you to forgive me
If I'm gonna go down, you're gonna come with me
Hand in hand, hand in hand
Hand in hand
Hand in hand, hand in hand, hand in hand
Hand in hand, hand in hand, hand in hand
Hand in hand, hand in hand, hand in hand
Hand in hand, hand in hand, hand in hand
Elvis Costello's "Hand in Hand" is a song that discusses a toxic and destructive relationship. The song implies that the singer and their partner are both equally culpable for the dysfunction in their relationship. Both parties are manipulative, selfish, and willing to destroy each other. The lyrics "If I'm gonna go down, you're gonna come with me" suggest that neither the singer nor their partner will leave the relationship without taking the other down with them.
In the second verse, the singer sings about the power dynamics in their relationship, saying that their partner demands that they be masculine and in control, while their partner themselves is content with being used. The lines "You sit with your knees together, all the time your breath is bated" suggest that while their partner seems to be submissive, they are actually controlling and calculating.
Overall, the song is a commentary on relationships that are self-destructive, dysfunctional, and violent. The lyrics indicate that both parties are at fault and that they are both equally responsible for the pain they inflict on each other.
Line by Line Meaning
No, don't ask me to apologize
I refuse to apologize.
I won't ask you to forgive me
I won't seek your forgiveness.
If I'm gonna go down, you're gonna come with me
If I face consequences, so will you.
You say, "Why don't you be a man about it
You suggest I act like an adult.
Like they do in the grown-up movies?"
Like they do in films for mature audiences?
But when it comes to the other way around, you say
But when the roles are reversed, you say
You just want to use me
You only want to exploit me.
Oh, you and you wonder whether
You question whether
It's gonna be syndicated
It will become widely broadcasted.
You sit with your knees together
You maintain proper posture.
All the time your breath is bated
You are fully attentive.
(Hand in hand) no, don't ask me to apologize
I reiterate my refusal to apologize.
I won't ask you to forgive me
Again, I won't seek your forgiveness.
If I'm gonna go down, you're gonna come with me
Once again, if I face consequences, so will you.
Don't you know I got the bully boys out
You should know I have thugs at my disposal.
Changing someone's facial design
I can seriously injure someone.
Sitting with my toy room lout
I am hanging out with my childish friends.
Polishing my precious china
I am taking care of my valuable possessions.
Don't you know I'm an animal?
You should know I am a brute.
But don't you know I can't stand up steady?
However, you should know I have a weakness.
But you can't show me any kind of hell that I don't know already
But you can't inflict any punishment worse than I've already faced.
(Hand in hand) no, don't ask me to apologize
Once again, I refuse to apologize.
I won't ask you to forgive me
Again, I won't seek your forgiveness.
If I'm gonna go down, you're gonna come with me
Once again, if I face consequences, so will you.
Hand in hand, hand in hand
Together, we face the consequences.
Hand in hand
We are united in this.
Hand in hand, hand in hand, hand in hand
We are unwavering in our solidarity.
Hand in hand, hand in hand, hand in hand
We stand together, no matter what.
Hand in hand, hand in hand, hand in hand
We will face any punishment together.
Hand in hand, hand in hand, hand in hand
We will not falter in our loyalty to one another.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: ELVIS COSTELLO
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind