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 Hiding Place
Elvis Costello Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
When everything will be free
There won't be any cute secrets
Let alone any novelty
You can say anything you want to
In your fetching cloak of anonymity
Are you feeling out of breath now?
Two lovers rocking up and down
In an elevator
15 minutes later
They'll make a killing in the market
They knew how to work it
On that close circuit
My, my, it's a terrible disgrace
You'll find these days that there's
No hiding place
How proud you are
You have the knack
You're howling in a vacuum
Whatever I said about you
I didn't say it behind your back
I paid for my immortal sins
I know the enemy within you
As it seems these days
There is no hiding place
Next time someone wants to hurt you
Or set alight your effigy
Don't call on me to help you out
Don't come crying to me sympathy
You stay there with your daubs and scratches
While I summon up the red machine
I'll be handing someone matches
And carrying a can of kerosene
Walk up to me
And say what you said
See how brave you are
When I'm about this far away
You sit in judgment and bitch
Well, baby that's rich
You're nothing but a snitch
Na, na, na ,na, na , na, na
Na, na, na ,na, na , na, na
Na, na, na ,na, na , na, na
My, my, it's a terrible disgrace (Repeat 3X)
You'll find these days that there's
No hiding place
Elvis Costello's "No Hiding Place" is a commentary on the idea of privacy and secrets disappearing in a "not very distant future" in which "everything will be free." The song suggests that with the widespread use of technology and social media, people will become increasingly transparent and their secrets will be exposed. The lyrics discuss the concept of anonymity online and how it can lead to people seeking notoriety at any cost, even if it means revealing personal information. Costello sings about the ease with which people can use technology to harm others, warning that there is "no hiding place" from those who seek to do harm.
The song also touches on the themes of capitalism and the stock market. The line "Two lovers rocking up and down / In an elevator / 15 minutes later / They'll make a killing in the market" suggests that people can easily manipulate the stock market to make a profit. The line "They knew how to work it / On that close circuit" implies that insider trading and other illicit activities are rampant and that people can get away with anything if they're clever enough.
Overall, "No Hiding Place" is a cautionary tale about the dangers of transparency and a call for individuals to take responsibility for their actions. The song suggests that people should be more mindful of what they share online and how they use technology to affect others.
Line by Line Meaning
In the not very distant future
When everything will be free
There won't be any cute secrets
Let alone any novelty
In the future, everything will be free, there won't be any secrets, especially not any charming or new ones.
You can say anything you want to
In your fetching cloak of anonymity
Are you feeling out of breath now?
In your desperate pursuit of, infamy
You can say anything you want anonymously, but are you feeling tired from trying so hard to be famous?
Two lovers rocking up and down
In an elevator
15 minutes later
They'll make a killing in the market
They knew how to work it
On that close circuit
My, my, it's a terrible disgrace
You'll find these days that there's
No hiding place
Two lovers are sexually active in an elevator and later use that experience to their advantage in the stock market; there is no hiding place for their secrets or behaviors.
How proud you are
You have the knack
You're howling in a vacuum
Whatever I said about you
I didn't say it behind your back
You are confident and skilled at something, but your confidence and talents are not being recognized positively. Elvis Costello is criticizing rumors behind your back.
I paid for my immortal sins
I know the enemy within you
As it seems these days
There is no hiding place
I have paid for my sins that will haunt me to the end; Elvis Costello understands that he has insecurities or enemies that cannot be hidden.
Next time someone wants to hurt you
Or set alight your effigy
Don't call on me to help you out
Don't come crying to me sympathy
If someone seeks to harm or destroy you, don't expect Elvis to be there to help. He doesn't want to hear about it and refuses to offer sympathy.
You stay there with your daubs and scratches
While I summon up the red machine
I'll be handing someone matches
And carrying a can of kerosene
You work on your petty projects while I bring violence to our situation. I am willing to fuel a situation and make it worse.
Walk up to me
And say what you said
See how brave you are
When I'm about this far away
Come up to me and say what you said; you will quickly lose your courage around me.
You sit in judgment and bitch
Well, baby that's rich
You're nothing but a snitch
You judge and complain, but it's ironic because you're not innocent. You are a snitch or troublemaker.
Na, na, na ,na, na , na, na
Na, na, na ,na, na , na, na
Na, na, na ,na, na , na, na
My, my, it's a terrible disgrace (Repeat 3X)
You'll find these days that there's
No hiding place
It's a disgraceful world where no one can hide from shame or secrets. Elvis repeats this to emphasize its significance.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: ELVIS COSTELLO
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind