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.
Invasion Hit Parade
Elvis Costello Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
What are you going to do about me?
Don`t want to be treated like some poor grateful clown
I`d rather go back to the sweet underground
Where I can tell by the color of my skin
And I know my neighbor `cos he`s the one, yes he`s the one
Who always turns me in
Picking up every lost object in sight
Handbags, toupees, lost legs and fingernails
The black market eats up all your failures
Her transistor offers no salvation or regrets
No pool, no pets, no cigarettes
Just non-stop Disco Tex and the Sex-o-lettes
[Chorus:]
There`s no name, no name for the place
Or pain we`ll cause you again and again
If you do not co-operate with the invasion hit parade
The liberation forces make movies of their own
Playing their Doors records and pretending to be stoned
Drowning out a broadcast that wasn't authorized
Incidentally the revolution will be televised
With one head for business and another for good looks
Until they started arriving with their rubber aprons and their butcher`s hooks
[Chorus:]
They`re hunting us down here with Liberty`s light
A handshaking double talking procession of the mighty
Pursued by a T.V. crew and coming after them
A limousine of singing stars and their brotherhood anthem
The former dictator was impeccably behaved
They`re mopping up all the stubborn ones who just refuse to be saved
[Chorus:]
The lyrics to Elvis Costello's "Invasion Hit Parade" are a commentary on the political and social turmoil of the late 1970s. The song's speaker is addressing someone who has apparently brought about a revolution or social change, but they are questioning what will happen to them personally now that everyone has been set free. They are resistant to being treated as a grateful clown or token of some sort, and instead wish to retreat back to the "sweet underground" where they feel more comfortable. The mention of knowing their neighbor by skin color suggests a level of mistrust and division that exists in the world post-revolution. The woman in the tunnel picking up lost objects symbolizes the way in which people will consume and profit off of others' failures, while the non-stop Disco Tex and the Sex-o-lettes on the transistor symbolize an escape from reality into a world of flashy entertainment.
The chorus, "there's no name for the place or pain we'll cause you again and again if you do not co-operate with the invasion hit parade," represents the idea that the revolution or change is not without its consequences and that those who resist or don't comply will be punished. The second verse touches on the idea that those who claim to be "liberation forces" or "revolutionaries" may not have the best intentions or might be more focused on playing music and pretending to be stoned than actually bringing about change. The reference to the revolution being televised speaks to the idea that media and propaganda are often used to sway public opinion and create a false sense of reality.
The final verse brings in imagery of government and celebrity, with the former dictator being impeccably behaved and the limousine of singing stars representing the way in which fame and influence can be co-opted to push a certain agenda. The song ends on a bleak note, with the "stubborn ones who just refuse to be saved" being "mopped up" by those in power. Overall, "Invasion Hit Parade" is a commentary on the way in which revolutions and social movements can often lead to more chaos and division, rather than the desired change and unity.
Line by Line Meaning
Now that you set everybody free
Since you have freed everyone, what is your plan for me?
What are you going to do about me?
I want to know what your intentions are for me now.
Don't want to be treated like some poor grateful clown
I refuse to be treated as a fool who should be grateful for their actions.
I'd rather go back to the sweet underground
I would rather return to a familiar and comfortable environment away from this chaos.
Where I can tell by the color of my skin
I can easily identify where I belong by the color of my skin.
And I know my neighbor `cos he`s the one, yes he`s the one
My neighbor is the one who exposes me to those in power.
Who always turns me in
They are always the ones who report me to authorities.
A woman works the tunnel in the middle of the night
During nocturnal hours, a woman attends to the tunnel.
Picking up every lost object in sight
She collects any items that are misplaced.
Handbags, toupees, lost legs and fingernails
These are some of the items she collects.
The black market eats up all your failures
The black market benefits from the failures of others.
Her transistor offers no salvation or regrets
She gains no solace or remorse from her transistor radio.
No pool, no pets, no cigarettes
In her deprived life, she cannot afford luxuries like a pool, pets, or cigarettes.
Just non-stop Disco Tex and the Sex-o-lettes
She can only enjoy the constant music of Disco Tex and the Sex-o-lettes.
There's no name, no name for the place
The place where we are is not a familiar one.
Or pain we'll cause you again and again
If you do not comply, we will cause you repeated harm.
If you do not co-operate with the invasion hit parade
If you do not cooperate with the invasion, we have a parade of punishment waiting.
The liberation forces make movies of their own
The forces of liberation make their own films.
Playing their Doors records and pretending to be stoned
They listen to Doors records and feign intoxication.
Drowning out a broadcast that wasn't authorized
They are competing with a transmission that has not been approved.
Incidentally the revolution will be televised
Coincidentally, the revolution will be broadcasted.
With one head for business and another for good looks
Some people have one face for business and another for good looks.
Until they started arriving with their rubber aprons and their butcher's hooks
Their arrival marks the time when we began to experience violence and brutality.
They're hunting us down here with Liberty's light
They are pursuing us here with the light of Liberty.
A handshaking double talking procession of the mighty
They are a procession of the powerful with dubious intentions.
Pursued by a T.V. crew and coming after them
The T.V. crew is pursuing them and they pursue us.
A limousine of singing stars and their brotherhood anthem
The singing stars arrive in a limousine while singing their brotherhood song.
The former dictator was impeccably behaved
The previous dictator conducted himself in a faultless manner.
They're mopping up all the stubborn ones who just refuse to be saved
They are aggressively trying to eliminate those of us who will not submit.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: ELVIS COSTELLO
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind