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.
Sleep
Elvis Costello Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Well I thought that he was asking me to dance
In my holy coat and hat and him in his red bonnet
We'd have made a lovely couple but we never had the chance
And now you say that you've got to go
Well if you must you must
I suppose that you need the sleep of the just
Well it was a powerful day and there were black crows in the road
And I kept my strong opinions to my chest
I suppose I should have told them that I was on fire for you
When the bus burst into flames outside some place, 'The Poet's Rest'
And now you say that you've got to go
Well if you must you must
I suppose that you need the sleep of the just
A girl woke up in a naked light and said "Oh no not again"
He even looked like her brother in the army but she never mentions him
He'll be tucked up in his bed tonight with his dirty pictures girl
Saying, 'You're some mother's daughter you know or is it
Immaterial girl?'
Now she's pinned up upon the barracks wall in her home town
All the soldiers taking turns with their attentions
And as they speculate what she'd look like beneath that thin nightgown
His family pride was rising up as he cast his eyes down
And now you say that you've got to go
Well if you must you must
I suppose that you need the sleep of the just
The song "Sleep" by Elvis Costello is a complex and haunting song that deals with themes of loss, regret, and the harsh realities of life. In the song, a soldier asks the singer if he comes to this place often, but the singer misunderstands and thinks the soldier wants to dance. The singer is dressed in a holy coat and hat, and the soldier is dressed in his red bonnet. They would have made a lovely couple, but they never had the chance. The singer then describes a powerful day with black crows in the road, and the bus they were on burst into flames. The singer thinks he should have told the soldier that he was on fire for him.
The song then shifts to a girl who wakes up and says, "Oh no not again." She sees a man who looks like her brother in the army, but she never mentions him. The man will be tucked up in his bed tonight with his dirty pictures girl, saying, "You're some mother's daughter you know, or is it immaterial girl?" The girl is then pinned up on the barracks wall in her hometown, and the soldiers take turns with their attentions. As they speculate what she would look like beneath her thin nightgown, the man's family pride rises up as he cast his eyes down.
The song "Sleep" is a deeply affecting meditation on the pain and suffering caused by war and the conflict between duty and desire. The lyrics are rich with imagery and metaphor, and the music reinforces the emotional weight of the words. Costello's mournful voice delivers the lyrics with an understated intensity that draws the listener in.
Line by Line Meaning
The soldier asked my name and did I come here very often
A soldier asked for my identity and whether I visit the place frequently. Initially, I thought he is asking me to dance.
Well I thought that he was asking me to dance
I misunderstood the soldier for asking me to dance.
In my holy coat and hat and him in his red bonnet
I was wearing my religious coat and hat, and the soldier was wearing a red bonnet.
We'd have made a lovely couple but we never had the chance
I could picture us as a good couple, but we didn't get a chance to be together.
And now you say that you've got to go
You say that you have to leave.
Well if you must you must
If you have to go, I can't stop you.
I suppose that you need the sleep of the just
I guess you need to rest after an honest day's work.
Well it was a powerful day and there were black crows in the road
It was a significant day, and black crows were present on the road.
And I kept my strong opinions to my chest
I didn't reveal my firm beliefs and thoughts to others.
I suppose I should have told them that I was on fire for you
Maybe I should have expressed that I am burning in love for you.
When the bus burst into flames outside some place, 'The Poet's Rest'
The bus caught fire outside a location called 'The Poet's Rest.'
A girl woke up in a naked light and said 'Oh no not again'
A girl woke up and realized that she is exposed and vulnerable, and she expressed despair.
He even looked like her brother in the army but she never mentions him
The man was in the army, and he resembled the girl's brother, but she never talked about him.
He'll be tucked up in his bed tonight with his dirty pictures girl
Perhaps the man is with another woman, posing with indecent photographs while in bed.
Saying, 'You're some mother's daughter you know or is it Immaterial girl?'
Addressing the girl, the man said, 'You are someone's daughter, but is it a matter that you exist or not?'
Now she's pinned up upon the barracks wall in her home town
Now the girl is captured and pinned on a wall in a military building in her town.
All the soldiers taking turns with their attentions
Soldiers are continuously directing their focus on the girl, taking turns to do so.
And as they speculate what she'd look like beneath that thin nightgown
And as they guess what the girl looks like under her thin nightdress.
His family pride was rising up as he cast his eyes down
As the man bowed his head down, his family's sense of superiority and honor increased.
And now you say that you've got to go
You say that you have to leave.
Well if you must you must
If you have to go, I can't stop you.
I suppose that you need the sleep of the just
I suppose you need to rest as your conscience is clear.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: COSTELLO, ELVIS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind