Close to You

Elvis Costello talks about his meeting of the minds with Burt Bacharach.

  In a long-ago MTV appearance, Elvis Costello praised Whitney Houston's voice while bemoaning her taste in songs; only half-jokingly, he offered to write something worthy of her instrument. With Painted from Memory, his collaboration with composing-arranging legend Burt Bacharach, he delivers. The pair, who first worked together on "God Give Me Strength" from the film Grace of My Heart, have delivered a record full of the elegance of Bacharach's classic work--not to mention Costello's best, most affecting album in a decade. Costello spoke with Amazon.com's Rickey Wright about the making of this masterpiece.

 Amazon.com: Was it easy for the two of you to decide to continue after "God Give Me Strength"?

Elvis Costello: I think it was essential [laughs]! I think after we finished writing the songs, we handed it over to the production and they performed it in the film and then, like all films, they take a while to actually finish them. So one minute we had a real tight deadline to write the song in, and then we had a while to sort of wait until the film emerged. And we got a second call saying would we consider recording "God Give Me Strength" together for the end titles. I hoped that the song would go on--you know, would have a life of its own--but the minute we made the record of it together, it was absolutely essential.

Once we got that rapport going in the room, then it seemed like, "Well, if we can work this well on a song that we wrote over the phone, and make a record this good, what kind of song can we write if we get in the room together?" And I think it's been worthwhile. I wouldn't return to the phone method now. I think it's been very productive to get in the room and be able to look in each other's eye when you're, say, proposing something and when you're disagreeing about something. We don't just agree about everything instantly. We fight for what we believe is the right way a passage of the music should go--and we're talking about minute details of the placement of one note in the bar or exactly the way something is phrased or where the harmony changes--in a lot more detail than I'd ever written with anybody else before, and I have to say probably examining the music in more detail than I've ever done independently.

Amazon.com: When the two of you write, do you think about arrangement ideas at the same time?

Costello: They sort of come very naturally out of the song. It's self-evident where a song is going to need support, and so by the time we got to the end of the writing process, Burt had sort of a sketch-out of the orchestrations, and it was just a question of which actual instrumental colors we would use, so we would credit each other.

For "In the Darkest Place," he said bass flute. I'm going, wow! I know an alto flute, but I don't think I've ever even heard a bass flute. I know they exist, but they're something that's in the back pages of your orchestration book that they never write about. But sure enough, it's a really mysterious and intriguing sound. I mean, it's a perfect way to introduce that song and this record.

But at the same time, with the song "Long Division," I remember saying to Burt that maybe his first notion, which was an alto sax, was something people had heard a few times before. Maybe if we used an oboe, that would be a bit more unusual. But the notes that the oboe plays are the ones that Burt had originally written, and now he says, "I can't imagine it being a sax."

So it's very interesting how we sort of sometimes even crossed over in our position in this. We would sometimes change roles, where he'd be looking for more words--"Give me more words"--and I'm looking maybe at some ideas to do with the orchestration. Just colors, now; I couldn't take any credit for the actual notes that were played. Obviously, my share of the music is in the composition of the songs, not so much in the orchestration. But it came out of the composition, so in a way, there weren't too many different ways to go. I think sometimes Burt weaves a line of strings through a melody in a very interesting and unusual way, as in a song like "What's Her Name Today," one of the songs that's in the latter part of the record. Other times he'll be inclined to just support the crescendo of the song, as he does in "God Give Me Strength" and "I Still Have That Other Girl," and he's always looking to use less and less.

You know, he isn't looking to swamp the whole record with lots of strings or instrumental details. He was always very, very careful that the voice would be supported but that it wouldn't be challenged in an unpleasant way. Just give me the real proper support for those big, dramatic crescendos.

He's very, very austere, and he's always trying to hold back the surprise. He's always delaying the thrilling moment. He's never, never giving it away; he's always saying, "Sing quieter. Give yourself somewhere to go. Don't tell the whole story, don't give the whole story away in the first four bars." It's where I have to really try to be resourceful in the singing to match it. And obviously I'm not a smooth pop singer, and I don't think anybody'd want to hear me suddenly turn into a smooth singer.

Amazon.com: Did you feel challenged as a singer by doing this?

Costello: Obviously. We knew that when we were writing the songs. I mean, some of these songs are nearly two-octave range, a couple of them are over two-octave range, and the key has to be arranged so that the lowest part isn't too low and the highest part is attainable, even if I have to reach for it. I think that's an exciting sound.

A lot of people really respond to the excitement in my words when I get up there. Some people find it too harsh. But they're people that want to listen to a different record; I can't help them! They are the ones that really want easy-listening records. We're not making an easy-listening record. We're making a passionate, emotional record the way we always intended to.