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.
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.
Roadette Song
Elvis Costello Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Shaken on her shoulder, shaking on her arse
Ain't no doubt about it she's a gamey lass
Jerking with her elbow, clever with her knee
Way she move it over, that's the place to please
Diction very bad, friction double rich
Brazen little hussy, rock 'n' rolling bitch
When it come to business takes off like a jet
Rocking's her vocation
She's a very high roadette
Young man
There ain't no need to hustle
Young man
Slow down your hustle bustle
You can take your time, young man
Some of this is muscle
all right
Lightning in her legs
Spitfire on her hip
Rock 'n' roll's a habit
Guitar wrote the script
Messed up on her history
Won the schooling prize
Does her heavy thinking
Bristols and her thighs
Never had a teacher
Messing with her brain
You should see her pupils
Music's in her veins
Shifting her transmission
Chevrolet, Corvette
Rock 'n' roll relations
With a very high roadette
Young man
There ain't no need to hustle
Young man
Slow down your hustle bustle
You can take your time, young man
Some of this is muscle
guitar
Shaken on her shoulder
Shaking on her arse
Ain't no doubt about it
She's a gamey lass
Jerking with her elbow
Clever with her knee
Way she move it over
That's the place to please
Diction very bad
Friction double rich
Brazen little hussy
Rock 'n' rolling bitch
When it come to business
Take off like a jet
Rocking's her vocation
She's a very high roadette
Young man
There ain't no need to hustle
Young man
Slow down your hustle bustle
You can take your time, young man
Some of this is muscle, all right
1,2, 1-2-3-4, 1
Ain't no doubt about it she's a gamey lass
Jerking with her elbow, clever with her knee
Way she move it over, that's the place to please
Diction very bad, friction double rich
Brazen little hussy, rock 'n' rolling bitch
When it come to business takes off like a jet
Rocking's her vocation
Young man
There ain't no need to hustle
Young man
Slow down your hustle bustle
You can take your time, young man
Some of this is muscle
all right
Lightning in her legs
Spitfire on her hip
Rock 'n' roll's a habit
Guitar wrote the script
Messed up on her history
Won the schooling prize
Does her heavy thinking
Bristols and her thighs
Never had a teacher
Messing with her brain
You should see her pupils
Music's in her veins
Shifting her transmission
Chevrolet, Corvette
Rock 'n' roll relations
With a very high roadette
Young man
There ain't no need to hustle
Young man
Slow down your hustle bustle
You can take your time, young man
Some of this is muscle
guitar
Shaken on her shoulder
Shaking on her arse
Ain't no doubt about it
She's a gamey lass
Jerking with her elbow
Clever with her knee
Way she move it over
That's the place to please
Diction very bad
Friction double rich
Brazen little hussy
Rock 'n' rolling bitch
When it come to business
Take off like a jet
Rocking's her vocation
She's a very high roadette
Young man
There ain't no need to hustle
Young man
Slow down your hustle bustle
You can take your time, young man
Some of this is muscle, all right
1,2, 1-2-3-4, 1
In Elvis Costello's "Roadette Song", the lyrics detail the life of a woman who is confident in her sexuality and is a rock and roller at heart. The first stanza describes her physical movements on stage and her ability to please her audience with her specific style. The second stanza touches on her past and how she did not conform to traditional education and was always meant to pursue music. The chorus, which repeats twice throughout the song, reminds the listener that there is no need to rush in life, specifically directed towards young men. The lyrics make it clear that the roadette is a force to be reckoned with and should not be underestimated.
Line by Line Meaning
Shaken on her shoulder, shaking on her arse
She moves fiercely and energetically, emphasizing the movements of her shoulder and rear end.
Ain't no doubt about it she's a gamey lass
There's no denying that she's a provocative woman who knows how to play the game.
Jerking with her elbow, clever with her knee
She has mastered the art of movement, using her elbow and knee to jerk and cleverly execute her moves.
Way she move it over, that's the place to please
She moves her body in a way that pleases the audience, and she knows it.
Diction very bad, friction double rich
Her speech may not be eloquent, but her energy and passion for performing is rich and palpable.
Brazen little hussy, rock 'n' rolling bitch
She's confident and bold, unapologetic about who she is and what she does. She's a rockstar.
When it come to business takes off like a jet
She's focused and driven when it comes to her art, and she takes off with a force like a jet.
Rocking's her vocation, She's a very high roadette
Music is her calling; she's an expert in her field - a top-notch roadie.
Lyrics © DOMINO PUBLISHING COMPANY, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: IAN ROBINS DURY, RUSSELL GODFREY HARDY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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