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.
Indoor Fireworks
Elvis Costello Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
We play at make-believe
When we get to the part where I say that I'm going to leave
Everybody loves a happy ending but we don't even try
We go straight past pretending
To the part where everybody loves to cry
Indoor fireworks
Indoor fireworks
We swore we were safe as houses
They're not so spectacular, they don't burn up in the sky
But they can dazzle or delight
Or bring a tear
When the smoke gets in your eyes
You were the spice of life
The gin in my vermouth
And though the sparks would fly
I thought our love was fireproof
Sometimes we'd fight in public, darling
With very little cause
But different kinds of sparks would fly
When we got on our own behind closed doors
Indoor fireworks
Can still burn your fingers
Indoor fireworks
We swore we were safe as houses
They're not so spectacular, they don't burn up in the sky
But they can dazzle or delight
Or bring a tear
When the smoke gets in your eyes
It's time to tell the truth
These things have to be faced
My fuse is burning out
And all that powder's gone to waste
Don't think for a moment, dear, that we'll ever be through
I'll build a bonfire of my dreams
And burn a broken effigy of me and you
Indoor fireworks
Can still burn your fingers
Indoor fireworks
We swore we were safe as houses
They're not so spectacular
They don't burn up in the sky
But they can dazzle or delight
Or bring a tear
When the smoke gets in your eyes
When the smoke gets in your eyes
When the smoke gets in your eyes
Elvis Costello’s Indoor Fireworks is a song about a couple who are on the brink of breaking up. They play “parlour games,” or games that require a small group of players and little equipment, and pretend that everything is okay. When the singer mentions leaving, however, they realize they cannot pretend anymore. They know they are heading towards a sad ending, and they cannot pretend to be happy anymore; they cannot even pretend to try. In the chorus, the phrase “indoor fireworks” is used as a metaphor for love that burns out quickly and can still hurt you, despite being less spectacular than real fireworks.
The verse “You were the spice of life, the gin in my vermouth” refers to the couple’s relationship being compared to a cocktail that has lost its sparkle. The sparks that once flew between the two have now died down, and they cannot even pretend to love each other anymore. The line “My fuse is burning out and all that powder's gone to waste” reflects the singer’s frustration and disappointment at how their relationship has ended. In the final verse, the singer decides to move on and let go of the relationship by “building a bonfire of my dreams” and burning a broken effigy of “me and you.”
Line by Line Meaning
We play these parlour games
We engage in superficial and pretend activities
We play at make-believe
We pretend and imagine things that are not true
When we get to the part where I say that I'm going to leave
When it comes to the point where I express my wish to depart
Everybody loves a happy ending but we don't even try
Most people prefer things to end well, but we don't even attempt to achieve this
We go straight past pretending
We skip the act of pretending
To the part where everybody loves to cry
To the section where everyone enjoys feeling emotional pain
Indoor fireworks
Intense emotional experiences that happen behind closed doors
Can still burn your fingers
Can still cause significant and long-lasting damage
We swore we were safe as houses
We thought we were completely secure and protected
They're not so spectacular, they don't burn up in the sky
They may not be grandiose or impressive, not drawing a lot of attention
But they can dazzle or delight
But they can still captivate or please
Or bring a tear
Or evoke a strong emotional response
When the smoke gets in your eyes
When sentiment clouds your judgment
You were the spice of life
You brought exciting variety to my existence
The gin in my vermouth
You were the extra element that made my life more interesting
And though the sparks would fly
Despite our frequent emotional outbursts
I thought our love was fireproof
I believed our love could withstand anything
Sometimes we'd fight in public, darling
Occasionally we would argue in front of others, my love
With very little cause
Without a good or apparent reason
But different kinds of sparks would fly
However, different kinds of intense emotional reactions would occur
When we got on our own behind closed doors
When we were alone together in private
It's time to tell the truth
It's time to be frank and honest
These things have to be faced
We can't avoid confronting these issues anymore
My fuse is burning out
I am reaching the end of my rope
And all that powder's gone to waste
And all the potential for a bright future between us is lost
Don't think for a moment, dear, that we'll ever be through
Don't ever believe that we will completely end our relationship, my love
I'll build a bonfire of my dreams
I'll create a vivid and fantastic scenario in my mind
And burn a broken effigy of me and you
And destroy a symbolic representation of our shattered relationship
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: ELVIS COSTELLO
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind