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.
Running Out of Fools
Elvis Costello Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Sure it's me you want to talk to tonight
Everyone in town's got your number
Everyone in town's got you pegged just right
Is that why you got in touch with me
I guess you must be running out of fools
Your goodbye was even colder than ice
You didn't care that you left me there crying
Now you want to break my heart twice
Is that why you got in touch with me
I guess you must be running out of fools
I guess you got back to my name in your little black book
Hey guess what I bet you forgot how I even look
So go ahead with all your sweet talking
Go ahead for all the good it will do
Have yourself a dime's worth of talking
Then I'm gonna hang right up on you
Cause this time you're not getting through to me
I guess you must be running out of fools
Even fools like me
Even fools like me
I guess you're running out of fools
Even fools like me
The lyrics of the song "Running Out of Fools" by Elvis Costello tell the story of a woman who receives a call from her ex-lover. At first, she's skeptical that he really meant to call her, but when he explains that he's been trying to reach her because he's "running out of fools", she realizes that he wants to play with her emotions again. Despite the fact that he left her heartbroken before, he's now attempting to win her back. However, the woman has had enough of his games and is determined not to let him hurt her again. Even when he tries to sweet talk her, she's not buying it, and hangs up on him.
The song is a commentary on the destructive nature of unhealthy relationships. The woman realizes that her ex-boyfriend is not capable of providing her with the love and respect she deserves, and that she needs to cut ties with him in order to move on with her life. The use of the phrase "running out of fools" suggests that the man has been manipulating and mistreating women for a long time, and that he's running out of potential targets. The woman in the song refuses to become another one of his victims, and takes control of the situation.
Line by Line Meaning
Sure you haven't got the wrong number
Are you sure you meant to call me?
Sure it's me you want to talk to tonight
You specifically want to speak with me?
Everyone in town's got your number
Everyone knows who you are and what you're about
Everyone in town's got you pegged just right
Everyone knows exactly what you're like
Is that why you got in touch with me
Did you reach out to me because you're desperate?
I guess you must be running out of fools
I'm assuming you're starting to run out of people willing to put up with you
Your goodbye was even colder than ice
You didn't care at all when you left me crying
Now you want to break my heart twice
You think you can hurt me again?
I guess you got back to my name in your little black book
You had to go digging to even remember who I was
Hey guess what I bet you forgot how I even look
You probably can't even remember what I look like
So go ahead with all your sweet talking
You can try to charm me, but it won't work
Go ahead for all the good it will do
You might as well try, but it won't make any difference
Have yourself a dime's worth of talking
Say what you want, but I'm not interested
Then I'm gonna hang right up on you
I'll end the conversation as soon as possible
'Cause this time you're not getting through to me
I'm not going to let you hurt me again
Even fools like me
Even someone like me who has been hurt before
I guess you're running out of fools
You must be running out of people to manipulate
Even fools like me
But I won't let you manipulate me anymore
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Written by: ROGERS AHLERT
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind