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.
No Dancing
Elvis Costello Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Like many girls have done so many times before
Time and time again
But he's so strange, I don't know why
But somebody, somebody has to cry
There's gonna be no dancing when they get home
There's gonna be no dancing
There's gonna be no dancing when they get home
Now he's telling her every little thing he's done
Once he glanced at the jackets of some paperbacks
Now he's read every one
He's such a drag (he's such a drag)
He's not insane (he's not insane)
It's just that everybody has to feel his pain
There's gonna be no dancing when they get home
He's getting down on his knees
He finds that her brother's not so easy to please, oh, oh
After all, his nights were just a paper striptease
She's caught it like some disease
If he says "No dancing"
There's gonna be no dancing
There's gonna be no dancing on my own
She can't even speak to him, he can't face her now
He says, "Even though I want to shake your hand
All I ever do is bow
So now do you see, how can it be?
Why can't you give me anythin' but sympathy?"
There's gonna be no dancing
There's gonna be no dancing
There's gonna be no dancing
There's gonna be no dancing
There's gonna be no dancing on my own
The lyrics of No Dancing by Elvis Costello narrate the story of a man who has been played by a girl, just like many men have been played by women before him. The singer paints the picture of this man who is very strange and one no one seems to understand. The man is obsessed with the girl and wants her to feel his pain.
The song takes a shift as the man realizes that he cannot face the girl and the only thing left for him to do is to bow. Therefore, there will be no dancing when they get home. This line could be interpreted in various ways. It could mean that there will be no physical intimacy between them or that there will be no happiness in the house. Moreover, the man's strange behavior is making the girl uncomfortable around him, and she can't even speak to him.
The song is a story of love, obsession, and heartbreak. It draws parallels between the singer and the singer of the song, where we get to understand that love could lead to a lot of pain and misery.
Line by Line Meaning
Oh, I know that she has made a fool of him
I am aware that the girl has embarrassed the boy
Like many girls have done so many times before
Just like countless other girls have done in the past
Time and time again
Repeatedly
But he's so strange, I don't know why
He's odd, and I am unsure of the reason
But somebody, somebody has to cry
But inevitably, someone has to cry
There's gonna be no dancing when they get home
They won't be dancing once they arrive home
Now he's telling her every little thing he's done
He's sharing every detail of his life with her
Once he glanced at the jackets of some paperbacks
There was a time when he casually looked at book covers
Now he's read every one
Now he has read them all
He's such a drag (he's such a drag)
He's uninteresting and tedious
He's not insane (he's not insane)
He's not crazy
It's just that everybody has to feel his pain
However, he insists that others understand his pain
There's gonna be no dancing when they get home
They won't be dancing once they arrive home
He's getting down on his knees
He's kneeling
He finds that her brother's not so easy to please, oh, oh
He discovers that her brother is difficult to please
After all, his nights were just a paper striptease
His evenings were unfulfilling
She's caught it like some disease
It's as if she's caught an illness
If he says "No dancing"
If he forbids dancing
There's gonna be no dancing
There won't be any dancing
There's gonna be no dancing on my own
I won't be dancing by myself
She can't even speak to him, he can't face her now
She's unable to communicate with him, and he avoids her
He says, "Even though I want to shake your hand
He says, "Although I want to greet you
All I ever do is bow
Instead, I always bow
So now do you see, how can it be?
Do you understand now why it's impossible?
Why can't you give me anythin' but sympathy?"
Why can't you provide me with anything except pity?
There's gonna be no dancing
There won't be any dancing
There's gonna be no dancing
There won't be any dancing
There's gonna be no dancing
There won't be any dancing
There's gonna be no dancing
There won't be any dancing
There's gonna be no dancing on my own
I won't be dancing by myself
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: ELVIS COSTELLO
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind