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.
Human Touch
Elvis Costello Lyrics
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I can`t stand any more of that mechanical grace
Though you say it`s only industrial squeeze
It looks like luxury and feels like a disease
[Chorus]
Oh give it to me, give it to me
I don`t want to know much about much
I need, I need, I need the human touch
Left with just a house to hold
Drinking your way to drydock
It`s easy to break up a model citizen
Living in the state of shock
I just can`t believe I am responsible for this
What the makeup hides can`t be hidden with a kiss
When I`m talking in tongues I go where you lead
I don`t make you plead, oh I need you
How I`d like to fix her in a picture of rage
How I`d like to catch her when she`s acting her age
But when she`s laying stretched out on the floor
It`s no mystery to me anymore
[Chorus]
The Elvis Costello song "Human Touch" explores the idea of the need for human connection in a world that has become increasingly industrialized and mechanical. The singer of the song expresses a desire to escape from this mechanical environment and instead find comfort in the warmth and intimacy of human interaction. The lyrics suggest that while technology and industrialization may appear luxurious, they are ultimately unsatisfying and even harmful.
The chorus of the song repeats the phrase "give it to me, give it to me, I need the human touch," emphasizing the singer's longing for a more personal and emotional connection beyond the cold, sterile environment of industrial society. Even though the verses seem to describe a relationship that is strained and difficult, the singer still desires this connection with others.
Line by Line Meaning
I know I've just gotta get out of this place
I need to leave this environment as I can no longer tolerate the artificiality and lack of authenticity.
I can`t stand any more of that mechanical grace
I despise the artificial and automated quality of this place which lacks any soul.
Though you say it`s only industrial squeeze
Even though you claim it is the result of the industrialization of our world, it's still a frustrating and uninviting place.
It looks like luxury and feels like a disease
Despite its appearance of being luxurious, the place feels oppressive and suffocating.
Oh give it to me, give it to me
I yearn for the human touch.
I don`t want to know much about much
I don't care for the technicalities of everything, I just want authentic and genuine human interaction.
I need, I need, I need the human touch
I yearn for human connection.
Left with just a house to hold
I am left with nothing but a physical structure without any emotional attachments.
Drinking your way to drydock
I am numbing my pain through the consumption of alcohol.
It`s easy to break up a model citizen
It's simple to destroy the semblance of a perfect and law-abiding citizen.
Living in the state of shock
Existing in a state of constant apathy and dismay.
I just can`t believe I am responsible for this
I cannot comprehend that I am accountable for the emptiness of my life.
What the makeup hides can`t be hidden with a kiss
Superficial enhancements cannot mask the truth.
When I`m talking in tongues I go where you lead
I am willingly following you even when I struggle to understand your language.
I don`t make you plead, oh I need you
I do not want you to beg me to stay, as I need you in my life.
How I`d like to fix her in a picture of rage
I wish to capture her in a moment of fury.
How I`d like to catch her when she`s acting her age
I desire to apprehend her when she is acting maturely.
But when she`s laying stretched out on the floor
However, when she is lying vulnerable and exposed, I can see the genuine and raw human in her.
It`s no mystery to me anymore
I have come to realize that the human touch is what matters most and true connection cannot be found in the artificiality of modernity.
Oh give it to me, give it to me
Once again, I yearn for the human touch.
I need, I need, I need the human touch
My desire for connection remains unfulfilled.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: ELVIS COSTELLO
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind