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.
Radio Sweetheart
Elvis Costello Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Goose step dancing, can`t hear myself speak
Hope in the eyes of the ugly girls
That settle for the lies of the last chancers
When slow motion drunks pick wallflower dancers
You come here looking for the ride to glory
Go back home with a hard luck story
Play one more for my radio sweetheart
Hide your love, hide your love
Though we are so far apart
You've got to hide your love
`Cause that`s the way the whole thing started
I wish we had never parted
When it`s late and the night gets colder
Don`t lay your head on any other shoulder
Some hire themselves out for a good time
But you and I, we have been sold
So I keep on saying...
Play one more for my radio sweetheart
Hide your love, hide your love
Though we are so far apart
You've got to hide your love
`Cause that`s the way the whole thing started
I wish we had never parted
Play one more for my radio sweetheart
At first glance, Elvis Costello's "Radio Sweetheart" appears to be a simple love song about a radio DJ dedicating a song to his far-off love. However, upon closer examination, the lyrics evoke a sense of melancholy and hopelessness. The first few lines paint a picture of disorientation and an inability to communicate ("My head is spinning and my legs are weak/ Goose step dancing, can`t hear myself speak"). This is followed by a description of "ugly girls" settling for lies and drunkards picking "wallflower dancers" in slow motion.
The song then shifts to the radio DJ's plea for his love, with the repeated phrase "play one more for my radio sweetheart." However, even within this plea, there is a sense of hiding and secrecy ("hide your love, hide your love"). The lines "some hire themselves out for a good time/ but you and I, we have been sold" suggest a world of transactional relationships where love is scarce and hard to come by.
Ultimately, "Radio Sweetheart" is about the longing for connection and the ways in which life can be limiting and disappointing. The repeated refrain of "play one more for my radio sweetheart" takes on a haunting quality, as if the DJ knows that even the power of music may not be enough to bridge the distance between him and his love.
Line by Line Meaning
My head is spinning and my legs are weak
I am feeling dizzy and weak from all the dancing and excitement
Goose step dancing, can`t hear myself speak
I am dancing so vigorously that I can barely hear myself
Hope in the eyes of the ugly girls
The girls who may not be considered beautiful still have hope for love
That settle for the lies of the last chancers
They are willing to accept the lies of those who are not serious about love
When slow-motion drunks pick wallflower dancers
Drunk people are left to choose from those who are not dancing, creating a disconnect
You come here looking for the ride to glory
You are looking for excitement and adventure
Go back home with a hard luck story
After seeking adventure, you return home with tales of misfortune
I can hardly wait around until the weekend comes to town
I am eagerly anticipating the arrival of the weekend
Play one more for my radio sweetheart
Please play another song for my distant love who I listen to on the radio
Hide your love, hide your love
Keep your affections hidden
Though we are so far apart
Even though we are separated
You've got to hide your love
It is necessary to conceal your love
`Cause that`s the way the whole thing started
Hiding love was how our relationship began
I wish we had never parted
I regret that we are no longer together
When it`s late and the night gets colder
Late at night, when it is chilly outside
Don`t lay your head on any other shoulder
Don't look for comfort from someone else
Some hire themselves out for a good time
Some people are willing to sell themselves for temporary pleasure
But you and I, we have been sold
We have both been deceived and taken advantage of
So I keep on saying...
I continue to express my wishes and desires
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: ELVIS COSTELLO
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind