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.
I'm Coming Home
Elvis Costello Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Just her picture here with me
And I know I just can't stand it anymore
I'm gonna leave right now
And go back where I ought to be
Goin' home to the girl that I adore
Well it's so very hard to have
To leave the one you love
With each passing day
It's so lonely just sitting
And dreaming of
That girl thousand miles away
Well, every time I hear
Her sweet voice on the telephone
Then I know I just can't stand it another day
I'm gonna call right back
And tell her that I'm coming home and stay
Call her back and say I'm comin' home and stay
Call her back and say I'm comin' home and stay
In Elvis Costello's song "I'm Coming Home," the singer is experiencing loneliness without the girl he loves. The only thing he has to console himself is a picture of her. However, he realizes that he cannot stand being apart from her any longer, so he decides to leave and go back to her. He acknowledges that leaving the one you love is difficult and creates loneliness which only builds up as time passes.
The singer is trying to heal his lonely heart, but he is struggling with distance and the void left by his lover's absence. He is dreaming of the time when he will return home to the woman he adores. He feels complete when he hears her sweet voice on the phone, but soon after that, he misses her even more. Therefore, he makes up his mind to call her back and tell her that he is coming home to stay.
This song is an emotionally charged love song, describing the feeling of being separated from someone you love. The message is clear: love, connection, and intimacy are essential sentiments in life that should never be taken for granted.
Line by Line Meaning
Yes it's still lonely having
The singer is still lonely even though he has a picture of his beloved with him.
Just her picture here with me
The only comfort the singer has is a picture of his beloved.
And I know I just can't stand it anymore
The singer has reached a tipping point and can no longer handle the loneliness.
I'm gonna leave right now
The singer has decided to take action and leave to be with his beloved.
And go back where I ought to be
The singer believes he belongs with his beloved and is leaving to be with her.
Goin' home to the girl that I adore
The singer is going home to be with the girl he loves.
Well it's so very hard to have
Being separated from his beloved is difficult for the singer.
To leave the one you love
The singer is struggling with having to leave the one he loves to be away from her.
And you get more lonely
The more time the singer spends away from his beloved, the lonelier he becomes.
With each passing day
The loneliness the singer feels increases every day that he is away from his beloved.
It's so lonely just sitting
The singer feels lonely just sitting and daydreaming of his beloved.
And dreaming of
The singer spends his time daydreaming and imagining being with his beloved.
That girl thousand miles away
The singer's beloved is far away from him and it adds to his feeling of loneliness.
Well, every time I hear
The singer feels a strong emotional reaction every time he hears his beloved's sweet voice on the telephone.
Her sweet voice on the telephone
The singer's beloved has a sweet voice and it brings him comfort to hear it.
Then I know I just can't stand it another day
Hearing his beloved's voice makes the singer realize that he cannot handle being away from her any longer.
I'm gonna call right back
The singer is motivated to take action after hearing his beloved's voice and decides to call her back.
And tell her that I'm coming home and stay
The singer wants to make it clear to his beloved that he is coming home to stay with her.
Call her back and say I'm comin' home and stay
The singer repeats his plan to call his beloved back and tell her that he is coming home to stay with her.
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Written by: T-BONE BURNETT
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind