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.
Romeo's Seance
Elvis Costello Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Give us a sign if you're with me
Can't you see that I'm dying to hear you
Everyone else has lost interest
And I'm all alone in this dream house
Though you're gone
I don't feel like crying
Knock once or twice if you're out there
Send me a message my sweetheart
When I'm out and about I'll be coming to see you
It isn't easy to live with this matronly face
At the window
Try to contact me, if you can see how I'm suffering
Romeo is calling you
Scatter the paper and thimbles
You can take care of the candles
An unplugged radio plays. she is close now
Me and my hand-holding baby walking the floor and the
Ceiling
This is the song she dictated this evening.
Romeo is calling you
Romeo is calling you
The lyrics of Elvis Costello & The Brodsky Quartet's song Romeo's Seance depicts a person in desperate search for communication with the spirit world. The singer of the song is seemingly talking to a deceased lover, Romeo, requesting a sign from him to confirm his presence. The singer is struggling to deal with Romeo's death, and even though everyone else seems to have moved on, he/she is still trying to reach out to him. The character is seeking validation from the spirit world, trying to establish a longed-for connection with Romeo. The lyrics are very emotional and create a poignant atmosphere that underscores the character's sense of loss and longing.
The song's title Romeo's Seance is a reference to a seance, an attempt to communicate with the dead. The song's lyrics seem to express the belief in spiritualism, which was popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Moreover, the song's structure is unique, as it combines classical and rock elements, creating a perfect balance between the two. The Brodsky Quartet provides an energetic and dynamic instrumentation that perfectly complements Elvis Costello's emotive vocal performance.
Line by Line Meaning
Is anyone there I can talk to?
I'm looking for someone who I can confide in and have a conversation with.
Give us a sign if you're with me
If you're present and listening to me, please give me some indication to let me know.
Can't you see that I'm dying to hear you
I'm really eager to hear from you and have a connection with you.
Everyone else has lost interest
No one else seems to be interested in what I'm saying or doing.
And I'm all alone in this dream house
I'm feeling very isolated and lonely in this house that I thought would bring me happiness.
Though you're gone
Even though you're no longer physically here with me,
I don't feel like crying
I'm not sad enough to cry even though I miss you a lot.
Romeo is calling you
I'm reaching out to you, hoping that you'll hear and respond to me.
Knock once or twice if you're out there
If you can hear me, please give me some kind of signal or indication that you're there.
Send me a message my sweetheart
If it's possible, please communicate with me in some way that only we can understand.
When I'm out and about I'll be coming to see you
If I'm able to find you, I'll come to wherever you are.
It isn't easy to live with this matronly face
I don't find it easy to live my current life as I feel like I have the face of an older woman and I'm not content with it.
At the window
I'm watching and waiting for any sign of you.
Try to contact me, if you can see how I'm suffering
If it's possible, please try to contact me as I'm going through a lot of emotional pain and difficulties.
Romeo is calling you
I'm still desperately hoping that you'll hear my calls and respond.
Scatter the paper and thimbles
I'm trying different ways to connect with you, including using items that might be significant to us.
You can take care of the candles
If you're present, please help to take care of the candles that I've lit as a symbol of my yearning for you.
An unplugged radio plays. she is close now
I'm sensing that you might be nearby, possibly manifesting in the form of an entity or spirit.
Me and my hand-holding baby walking the floor and the Ceiling
I feel like I'm going crazy and seeing strange things, including a baby floating in the air while I walk on the floor and ceiling.
This is the song she dictated this evening.
This is a song that I feel like you've been guiding me to create and sing, and it's all about my love and longing for you.
Romeo is calling you
I'm still hoping for a response, still desperate to make a connection with you.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: MICHAEL HENRY THOMAS, ELVIS COSTELLO, MARINA DEL MAR THOMAS-PEDRAZA, IAN DEREK BELTON, PAUL MARTIN CASSIDY, JACQUELINE LUCY KATHERINE THOMAS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind