Elvis Costello (born Declan Patrick MacManus on 25 August 1954) is an inter… Read Full Bio ↴Elvis Costello (born Declan Patrick MacManus on 25 August 1954) is an internationally known English singer-songwriter. Gaining prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-70s, he burst into fame with his critically acclaimed 1977 debut 'My Aim Is True', still one of the most successful debuts of all time. He soon did much work in the genres of punk rock, power pop, and New Wave after he formed Elvis Costello & The Attractions. In a long and successful career, Costello has released over thirty studio albums on his own and with the Attractions, the Imposters, and other collaborations, praised by many critics for his literate, witty songwriting.

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.

My Three Sons
Elvis Costello Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Day is dawning
Almost sounded like a warning
Wind was rushing through the trees almost falling
I never thought that I'd become
The proud father of my three sons

Years of fragment
Between the shame and the sentiment

For all the years that I might have been absent
I can't do what can't be undone
Oh no, my three songs

I love you more than I can say
What I give to one, the other cannot take away
I bless the day you came to be
With everything that is left to me
Here's your pillow
Go to sleep and I will follow
May you never have anymore sorrows
That's not something that you can count upon
Still I want it for my three sons
My, my, my three sons

Deep in the night I turn cold and sick
But I only curse arithmetic
I bless the day that you came to be
With everything that is left to me

Day is closing
Old men and infants are dosing
That's the kind of life I've chosen
To see what I've become

The humble father of my three sons
The humbled father of my three sons

Overall Meaning

The song "My Three Sons" by Elvis Costello & The Imposters may be interpreted in a variety of ways, but one of the most obvious themes is fatherhood. The singer describes himself as the "proud" and "humble" father of his three sons, and he is reflecting on his feelings about this role. He seems to be filled with conflicting emotions, including shame, sentimentality, love, and fear.

In the first verse, the singer describes a moment when he realizes the enormity of his responsibility as a parent. He hears the wind rushing through the trees and feels as though it is a warning of some kind. This may be a metaphor for the way that life changes when you become a parent, as you suddenly become responsible for the lives of other human beings. The singer may be feeling overwhelmed by this realization, but he also seems to feel a sense of pride in being a father.

The second verse deals with the emotions that the singer has experienced over the years as a father. He acknowledges that he has been absent at times, and that he cannot undo the things that he may have done wrong. However, he also expresses his love for his sons and his desire for them to be happy and free from sorrow. The line "I bless the day you came to be" suggests that the singer is grateful for his sons and their presence in his life, despite the challenges that come with being a parent.

Overall, "My Three Sons" captures the complicated feelings that many parents have about raising children. It is a song that speaks to both the joys and the difficulties of parenthood, and it does so in a way that is both tender and honest.

My Three SonsElvis Costello Lyrics

My Three Sons
Elvis Costello Lyrics