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.
Hora Decubitus
Elvis Costello Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Sun is breaking through and the storm is coming
The score is obscure, the melody fractured
It went by my window, refused to be captured
I hope that I wake up in time
Good King Neptune came flipping up my street
Friends and relations are laughing at my head
Gathered like crows at the end of my bed
I hope that I wake up in time
If you can't or can't quite
Think again, you can't fight
That you might not be smite
If it's wrong, it's not right
I say it once and I'll say it again
Now and forever and ever, amen
Siren is bending, the radio is humming,
Who do you love now and who are you damning?
The score is obscure and the melody fractured
The bird by my window refused to be captured
I hope I wake up in time
If you can or can't quite
Think again, you can't fight
That you might not be smite
If it's wrong, it's not right
I'll say it once and I'll say it again
Life is a beautiful thing
I've said it before
I can't say it much more
Life is a beautiful thing
The song “Hora Decubitus” by Elvis Costello is a complex and introspective piece that touches on themes of mortality, time, and the beauty of life. The song features a disjointed melody that reflects the fractured nature of our understanding of time and our place in the world. The lyrics paint a vivid image of a world that is constantly changing and evolving, with the siren bending and the radio humming, while the sun breaks through and the storm approaches.
The line “the score is obscure, the melody fractured” is particularly poignant in its representation of the unpredictability of life. The singer expresses a desire to capture the elusive nature of life and make sense of its many contradictions. The imagery of “Good King Neptune” flipping up the street and tripping up the staircase, while friends and relations laugh at the singer’s head, is a metaphor for the chaos and unpredictability of the world.
Despite the confusion and struggle, the singer declares that “life is a beautiful thing” and that it is worth fighting for. Ultimately, the song is a reminder to live fully in the present moment and to appreciate the beauty of life, even in the midst of its many challenges and uncertainties.
Line by Line Meaning
Siren is bending, the radio humming
The sound of a siren is echoing through the airwaves as a radio hums in the background.
Sun is breaking through and the storm is coming
The sun is shining through despite the impending storm on the horizon.
The score is obscure, the melody fractured
The musical composition is hard to follow, and the tune lacks cohesion.
It went by my window, refused to be captured
A mysterious and fleeting phenomenon passed by and could not be captured or understood.
I hope that I wake up in time
The artist hopes to be aware and alert enough to face whatever comes their way.
Good King Neptune came flipping up my street
A mythical figure appeared out of nowhere and made their presence known.
He was a sad case tripping up the staircase
The appearance of the mythical figure was not what the singer expected, and they seemed to be in a state of distress.
Friends and relations are laughing at my head
People who are close to the artist seem to be making fun of them for some reason.
Gathered like crows at the end of my bed
The people who are laughing are all gathered together and resemble a group of crows perched on the artist's bed frame.
If you can't or can't quite / Think again, you can't fight / That you might not be smite / If it's wrong, it's not right / I say it once and I'll say it again / Now and forever and ever, amen
The artist is reinforcing the idea that if something is not right, there is no fighting against it, and it is important to re-evaluate any situation before making a move.
Who do you love now and who are you damning?
The singer challenges the listener to think about who they care about and who they have ill feelings towards.
Life is a beautiful thing / I've said it before / I can't say it much more / Life is a beautiful thing
The artist is repeating their belief that life is something to be appreciated and valued, even though they have expressed some negative experiences and emotions in the rest of the song.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: DECLAN ELVIS COSTELLO MACMANUS, CHARLES MINGUS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Pete Hammer
My dad Bob Hammer wrote the arrangement of this for Mingus based on E's flat Ah's flat too for the Mingus mingus mingus mingus mingus album from 1963. This is interesting.
mistercapnjoe
"If it's wrong, it's not right!" His aim is true....
Carter Young
The immortal Mingus requires no lyrics. I mean, come on, just because everyday he wrote the book about Allison while watching the girl detectives talk about pumping it up doesn't mean he should write lyrics for the immortal Mingus.
deborahsuewho
It was Mingus' widow who asked him to do this. The songs you mentioned are from over 30 years ago - I encourage you to listen to later stuff. Anyway, he said the same thing, but it turned out quite well. See if you can find any of his work with the Mingus orchestra - it's pretty interesting. :)
Peter Owen
Elvis' take on this kind of stuff is predictable and understandable. You get asked to do stuff like this, you do it. When you get to the end and look back on your life, do you want to think 'I wrote a lyric for a Charles Mingus tune because his widow asked me to'? Or do you want to think 'I had the opportunity to write a lyric for a Charles Mingus tune because his widow asked me to, but I didn't, in case someone on the internet thought I was being pretentious'? No-brainer, surely?
marta lobos
In the album Mingus, Joni Mitchell wrote and sang to different Charles Mingus songs. And the album was a collaboration between Joni Mitchell and Charles Mingus.
deborahsuewho
@Peter Owen Nicely stated.
How to Play the Drums by Tim Rowe
Peanut butter and chocolate this isn't.