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Unlike the work of most of my comperes my articles don’t seem to create any controversy. In fact I have been getting the distinct impression that no one has any inkling of who the groups are that I write about. This week, I have decided to try and remedy this problem by writing on a pop star who has been so famous and influential that everyone must know about him: Declan Patrick Aloysius MacManus.
His last album had the significant title Goodbye Cruel World. Although a duet with Daryl Hall actually got airplay on commercial radio stations, the album’s success could not change Elvis Costello’s feeling of failure. Thus, he recently changed his name back to Declan MacManus.
He toured Europe without The Attractions, doing many acoustic versions of his past hits, as well as covers. King of America, the album just released by what MacManus calls the Costello Show, reveals much of the psychological conflict which prompted Declan to change his name. In the song, “Brilliant Mistake,” he sings:
- He thought he was the King of America
- But it was just a boulevard of broken dreams
- A trick they do with mirrors and with chemicals…
- I was a fine idea at the time
- Now I’m a brilliant mistake.
The pensive tone which is evident in these lines pervades most of the album. The instrumentation which accompanies these lyrics is mainly acoustic, evoking the introspection and melancholy characteristic of the state of mind now occupied by Declan.
This mind set is immediately obvious from the album cover, on which a large close up of the artist wearing a thoughtful expression and a crown, staring out at the observant consumer, who will notice these words in the middle of a love song:
- If they had a king of fools then I could wear that crown
- And you can all die laughing
- Cos I’ll wear it proudly
The album is not, however, a self-indulgent wallow in depression. The production by T-Bone Burnett gives much of the album a bluesy flavor. T-Bone plays on “Eisenhower Blues”, a song which bridges the gap between the album’s slow numbers and the typical country-influenced urban Costello type of songs such as “Glitter Gulch” and “The Big Light.” Although the change of name has not resulted in a radically new approach to his songwriting. Declan continues to write perceptive and intelligent rock. A rare find in the world of popular music, which seems to remain unaware that Jefferson is the Antichrist, birds swim underwater, and Stanley Fish is God.
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