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.
Stations Of The Cross
Elvis Costello Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Past the Cape of Bad Conscience
Into the Gulf of the Cauldron
Roars over the coastline to batter and flatten
Exposing the roots like the dyed hair of slattern
Scrapper and mauler in a rope ring this small
Outside the wind is punching
No one hears the bell ring
Except the one who comes to fear it
And they continue to brawl
He's buying his way into heaven I suppose
He weeps at the blows
But down in a location that we cannot disclose
He turns the dial slowly
Through the Stations of the Cross
Crowd done up dandy
In diamonds and finery
Baying and howling
All bloodlusty calling
Fists like pistons
Faces like meat spoiling
Haul, boys, haul, bully-boys haul
Later that evening
Molly and her gunman
Go down the stairs to a dive like a dungeon
Meanwhile in the backroom there's a girl like a sponge
Saying, "Bring him in long as a constable's truncheon"
The gunman wants Molly to kingdom come
Then blows them all to the hereafter
Who's scuttling away now and hidden from our view?
Who tightened the tourniquet, turning her blue?
They're hurling themselves into heaven I suppose
Before the gates are closed
But down in a location that we cannot disclose
They'll turn the dial slowly through the Stations of the Cross
The gale of hale laughter
Scales up the ivory
The black keys of her fine whine descend into the minor
Die away breathless
Diminishing behind her
Haul boys haul, bully-boys haul
The water came up to the eaves
You'd think someone had opened a valve
It's too soon to stay now and too late to leave
So spare your remorse all the way up to Calvary
They're hurling themselves into heaven I suppose
Before the gates are closed
But down in a location that we cannot disclose
Turning the dial slowly through the Stations of the Cross
Through the Stations of the Cross
Through the Stations of the Cross
The lyrics of Elvis Costello's song "Stations Of The Cross" suggest a narrative of violence, corruption, and moral ambiguity, set against a backdrop of turbulent weather and societal decay. The first stanza sets the scene, with the tempest blowing up and battering the coastline, exposing the roots of society's rot. The second stanza introduces a scrapper and mauler in a small rope ring, fighting while the wind punches outside - a metaphor for the brutality and senselessness of violence. The third stanza introduces the character of a man who weeps at the blows but is buying his way into heaven through a series of religious stations. The fourth stanza describes a crowd baying and howling in a bloodlusty frenzy, and a gunman who blows them all away. In the final stanza, the storm floods the area and it becomes too late to leave, leaving the characters to face their fate.
The song's lyrics are open to interpretation, but some have suggested that it is a commentary on the corrupting influence of power and the futility of seeking redemption through religion. The Stations of the Cross are a series of events in the life of Jesus that are traditionally commemorated by Catholics, and the idea of turning a dial through them suggests a superficial, mechanical approach to faith that contrasts with the violent and chaotic events of the song.
Line by Line Meaning
The tempest blows up from a squall
The storm begins suddenly and violently.
Past the Cape of Bad Conscience
It passes by a place of guilt and regret.
Into the Gulf of the Cauldron
It enters a place of danger and turmoil.
Roars over the coastline to batter and flatten
It rages fiercely, wreaking havoc on everything in its path.
Exposing the roots like the dyed hair of slattern
It uncovers something hidden and shameful, like the roots of poorly dyed hair.
Scrapper and mauler in a rope ring this small
Two fighters are in a small arena, fighting fiercely.
Outside the wind is punching
The wind is strong and forceful.
There's no one to hear it
No one is there to witness the wind's strength.
No one hears the bell ring
The fighters' struggle goes unnoticed.
Except the one who comes to fear it
Only the one who is frightened by the wind's power takes notice.
And they continue to brawl
The fighters keep battling, despite the lack of an audience.
He's buying his way into heaven I suppose
He thinks he can secure a place in heaven through his actions.
He weeps at the blows
He is emotional and distraught about the pain he is inflicting and experiencing.
But down in a location that we cannot disclose
There is a secretive place where something important is happening.
He turns the dial slowly
He takes a gradual, deliberate approach to something important.
Through the Stations of the Cross
He is following the path of Jesus' crucifixion and death, seeking redemption.
Crowd done up dandy
The audience is dressed flamboyantly.
In diamonds and finery
They are wearing expensive jewelry and clothing.
Baying and howling
The spectators are shouting with excitement and anticipation.
All bloodlusty calling
They are eager to see a violent and bloody confrontation.
Fists like pistons
The fighters are punching rapidly and powerfully.
Faces like meat spoiling
Their faces are bruised and beaten, looking like decaying meat.
Haul, boys, haul, bully-boys haul
The audience is urging the fighters on, excited by their brutality.
Later that evening
At a later time that day.
Molly and her gunman
Molly and her associate armed with firearms.
Go down the stairs to a dive like a dungeon
They descend into a seedy, dark place.
Meanwhile in the backroom there's a girl like a sponge
In another part of the establishment, there is a girl who is absorbing all that is happening around her.
Saying, 'Bring him in long as a constable's truncheon'
She is requesting someone to come to her violently and forcefully.
The gunman wants Molly to kingdom come
Molly's associate wants her to die violently.
Then blows them all to the hereafter
The associate kills everyone in the establishment.
Who's scuttling away now and hidden from our view?
Someone is running away and hiding, out of sight.
Who tightened the tourniquet, turning her blue?
Someone put a tourniquet on her, causing her skin to turn blue from lack of blood flow.
The gale of hale laughter
Laughter that is strong and forceful.
Scales up the ivory
It rises up the piano keys.
The black keys of her fine whine descend into the minor
The sad, sorrowful notes of her voice accompany the laughter.
Die away breathless
The laughter fades away, leaving a somber silence.
Diminishing behind her
The sound becomes quieter, receding as a background to the sadness in her voice.
The water came up to the eaves
The level of water rose high, almost reaching the roof.
You'd think someone had opened a valve
It seems as though a large amount of water was released suddenly.
It's too soon to stay now and too late to leave
It is a difficult decision to make: whether to stay or go.
So spare your remorse all the way up to Calvary
Put aside your feelings of guilt and regret until the very end, like Jesus on his way to his crucifixion.
Turning the dial slowly through the Stations of the Cross
Following the path of Jesus' crucifixion and death, seeking redemption gradually and deliberately.
Through the Stations of the Cross
Continuing on this path of redemption and salvation.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: ELVIS COSTELLO
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind