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.
Rocking Horse Road
Elvis Costello Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The engines are idle and the ship sails on dry land
I stood there stupefied, I thought I recognized
Walking down Rocking Horse Road, getting lost
Shot through Vaseline, he picks up the paper from the lawn
And tucks "The Suburban Assassin" underneath his arm
He smiles weakly and turns away
Walking down Rocking Horse Road, it`s so peaceful
It`s like a photograph
From the other side of the world
I said "I want you only"
And then I left you alone
Crying on Rocking Horse Road, or somewhere quite like it
The cemetery gardens, there are names not numbers on the gateposts
And the eyes in the curtain follow you like a smirking ghost
I know I must not look back
`Cause part of me is waiting still
There on Rocking Horse Road for you
In a little dream house made for two
Well you were the one that made your escape
In your stocking feet and your sticky tape
All the way down [repeat to fade]
The lyrics of Elvis Costello's "Rocking Horse Road" paint a picture of a nostalgic reminiscing of the past through a journey along the titular street. Costello uses vivid imagery to describe the environment that he encounters on the road, creating a sense of place and grounded-ness that many can relate to. In the first verse, he describes a feeling of being lost and unsure of what exactly he's looking for. His chain of control is broken when the reins fall from his hands, leaving him free to explore the world around him. The ship that he's on is temporarily docked, allowing him the opportunity to explore his surroundings. Despite not knowing exactly where he's headed, he feels a sense of calm and peace as he makes his way down the road.
In the second verse, Costello shifts to a more specific narrative, one that involves a person named "he." He sees this figure picking up a newspaper and tucking it under his arm. There's a sense that he's going to read this paper and perhaps find something of meaning in it. Despite his weak smile, Costello seems to know that he will be okay and that there's no danger lurking in the peaceful surroundings of Rocking Horse Road. The imagery of being shot through Vaseline adds to the dreamlike quality of the song, creating a sense that everything is happening in slow motion and that the world has been filtered through a surreal lens.
The final verse brings the song to a close with a sense of finality. The cemetery gardens serve as a reminder that life is fleeting and that time marches on, whether we want it to or not. The names on the gateposts show that the people buried there are more than just a number or statistic; they had lives and memories and hopes and dreams. The eyes in the curtain serve as a reminder of the ghostly nature of the past, something that we can never quite shake off no matter how much we may try. The dream house made for two is a symbol of lost love and missed opportunities, things that we can never quite get back. In the end, the song leaves the listener feeling both melancholy and wistful, a bittersweet combination of emotions that perfectly captures the essence of nostalgia.
Line by Line Meaning
The chains from the bridle and the reins fell from my hands
I let go of control and realized everything is out of my hands
The engines are idle and the ship sails on dry land
Things may appear to be in motion, but they are not actually moving forward
I stood there stupefied, I thought I recognized
I was confused, unsure of what I was seeing, and thought I knew what was happening
Walking down Rocking Horse Road, getting lost
Traveling down a path to nowhere, feeling disoriented and unsure of where to go next
Shot through Vaseline, he picks up the paper from the lawn
The world is seen through a blurry lens, and he goes through his daily routine
And tucks 'The Suburban Assassin' underneath his arm
He takes the newspaper, which is full of sensationalized crime stories
He smiles weakly and turns away
He tries to keep a positive attitude, but he knows deep down things aren't good
I know you'll never come to harm
Despite everything, he is confident that the person he is addressing will be okay
Walking down Rocking Horse Road, it's so peaceful
Despite the chaos of the world, the path he's on seems peaceful and serene
It's like a photograph from the other side of the world
The scene he's witnessing feels like it's from a faraway place and time
I said 'I want you only' and then I left you alone
He expressed his love for someone but then abandoned them
Crying on Rocking Horse Road, or somewhere quite like it
The person he left is upset and crying, possibly on a similar path they shared before
The cemetery gardens, there are names not numbers on the gateposts
The cemetery is personal and emotional, with individual names rather than anonymous numbers
And the eyes in the curtain follow you like a smirking ghost
He feels like he's being watched and judged by people he can't see
I know I must not look back, 'cause part of me is waiting still
He knows he can't revisit the past, but a part of him is still holding onto it
There on Rocking Horse Road for you, in a little dream house made for two
He is envisioning a life with someone, living happily on this peaceful road
Well, you were the one that made your escape in your stocking feet and your sticky tape
The person he left behind found a way to leave, using whatever they had available to them
All the way down [repeat to fade]
He continues down the path, wherever it may lead him
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: DECLAN MACMANUS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind