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 Don't Want To Go Home
Elvis Costello Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
sleep my darling, don't you cry
there's too many towns that I never have met
and there's too many people to find
I sleep in a van or outside
the summer sun in my eyes
sleep my darling, don't you cry
again, again, again
I never want to go home
again, again, again
but it's easier every time
sleep my darling, don't you cry
The lyrics to Elvis Costello's song "I Don't Want To Go Home" convey a sense of restlessness and a desire to keep moving forward to new places and new people. The opening line "but it's easier every time" suggests that the singer has become accustomed to a transient lifestyle, and that the constant movement has become somewhat comforting. This is reinforced by the repeated refrain "sleep my darling, don't you cry", which creates a soothing, lullaby-like effect, as if the singer is trying to convince himself that everything will be okay, even though he is always on the move.
The second verse, with its references to "too many towns" and "too many people to find", further emphasizes the idea that the singer is searching for something, but doesn't quite know what it is or where to find it. The line "I sleep in a van or outside" suggests that this search is not necessarily glamorous, but rather a gritty, day-to-day reality of life on the road.
The final lines of the song, which repeat the phrase "I never want to go home again, again, again", drive home the sense of yearning for something just out of reach. The repetition of the word "again" suggests that the singer has tried to go home before, but has found it lacking in some way. Ultimately, the song creates a haunting portrait of someone who is always on the move, never quite satisfied, and always searching for something just beyond the horizon.
Line by Line Meaning
but it's easier every time
Although it's difficult to be constantly on the move, it becomes more manageable over time.
sleep my darling, don't you cry
Rest easy, my love. Please don't be upset about my perpetual absence.
there's too many towns that I never have met
There are countless towns that I'll never have the opportunity to visit.
and there's too many people to find
There are too many individuals to meet and connections to make, which is overwhelming.
I sleep in a van or outside
My current mode of living is non-traditional and often difficult; my sleeping arrangements are not always ideal.
the summer sun in my eyes
The intense light of the sun is constant and ever-present in my life, as I continue to travel.
I never want to go home
I'm happiest when I'm constantly on the move, never settling down anywhere, without any attachment to a specific place.
again, again, again
I'll keep repeating this pattern of nonstop movement, without any desire or intention to end it.
I never want to go home
The idea of a 'home' doesn't appeal to me, and I'm content to live life at a distance from the comforts and stability that concept represents.
again, again, again
I'll continue to choose this path, repeatedly, without any remorse or apprehension.
but it's easier every time
Living this way might be challenging, but it gets easier to accept and manage each time around.
sleep my darling, don't you cry
Please don't be upset or concerned by my lifestyle- I'm at peace with my choices, even if they're not traditional.
Contributed by Taylor S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.