Chicago Tribune, October 16, 1998

Bibliography   72 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 UK & Ireland weeklies UK & Ireland magazines UK & Ireland newspapers US newspapers US rock magazines US music magazines US magazines US alternative weeklies European magazines European newspapers Canada  •  Mexico  •  Asia Australia  •  New Zealand South America  •  Africa Blogs  •  Fanzines  •  Books Online publications Chicago Tribune   1977 December 5 1978 April 24 1979 March 12 1979 April 10 1981 January 19 1984 April 26 1985 November 15 1986 July 14 1986 October 10 1986 October 13 1988 April 3 1988 July 8 1989 February 9 1989 March 5 1989 April 21 1989 April 24 1989 May 25 1989 September 1 1989 September 3 1990 March 27 1991 May 16 1991 June 2 1991 June 10 1993 January 22 1994 March 6 1994 May 30 1995 May 18 1996 May 16 1996 May 20 1998 September 27 1998 October 16 1998 October 18 1999 June 6 1999 June 11 1999 June 14 2001 June 28 2001 September 16 2002 April 19 2002 April 24 2003 May 7 2003 July 8 2004 March 18 2004 April 25 2005 April 19 2005 July 29 2006 April 21 2006 June 12 2006 October 12 2007 May 6 2008 May 6 2008 December 3 2009 June 3 2009 December 9 2010 December 21 2011 May 16 2014 June 12 2015 October 18 2015 November 5 2016 October 31 2017 February 27 2017 March 16 2018 July 27  2020 April 13 2021 July 16 Newspapers   The Australian Belgium Soir Berliner Zeitung Cleveland Scene Columbus Dispatch Connecticut Post Correio da Manhã Corriere della Sera Le Figaro Financial Times Gazeta Wyborcza Hamburger Abendblatt Irish Examiner Irish Independent Irish Press Irish Times Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger Liverpool Echo London Daily Mail London Evening Standard London Guardian London Independent London Observer London Telegraph London Times Los Angeles Herald-Examiner Louisville Courier-Journal Mail & Guardian Marin Independent Journal Mail Tribune Melbourne Age El Mundo Neue Zürcher Zeitung New Zealand Herald Otago Daily Times El Pais Philadelphia Inquirer Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Pittsburgh Tribune-Review La Presse Providence Journal Radikal Reading Eagle la Repubblica Satakunnan Kansa South China Morning Post Der Spiegel La Stampa Der Standard St. Petersburg Independent St. Petersburg Times Süddeutschen Zeitung Svenska Dagbladet Trondheim Adresseavisen Trouw De Volkskrant La Voz de Galicia Wanganui Herald Wiener Zeitung Die Zeit — Q&A: Elvis Costello Steve Darnall Early in his career, Elvis Costello — who told one reporter that his chief motivations were "revenge and guilt" — was known to perform the Burt Bacharach-Hal David tune "I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself." Audiences who fell in love with Costello originals like "Watching The Detectives" and "Lipstick Vogue" may have been surprised, but it suggested that he was ultimately less interested in revenge and guilt than in solid songwriting. Eventually Costello began working with the illustrious Mr. Bacharach (who was one of pop's most legendary composers long before his appearance in Austin Powers). The result is the recent album Painted From Memory; touring behind that album brings Costello and Bacharach to the Chicago Theatre on Friday. Q: Burt Bacharach, like Paul McCartney, has been saddled with a bum rap as the guy who writes sappy songs you hear at weddings. Did you ever find yourself having to act as an influence? A: No, I didn't think I needed to. ... The people who would really be troubled by (the idea of my working) with Burt ... imagine he has something to do with easy listening — some of which (is) the side-effect of the current interest in him, which is inspired by this rather kitschy use of his songs in comedy films and stuff. That's no fault of his. And you couldn't make a joke about the usage (of Bacharach and David's "I Say a Little Prayer") in My Best Friend's Wedding unless you could believably propose that everybody in that room does know those songs, so you'd have to be famous to begin with. You couldn't do that with my songs! The only people who would find fault with this stuff would be people who just haven't understood anything I've been doing. Q: While both of you are capable of uptempo work, you've downplayed that on the new album in favor of slower and mid-tempo arrangements. A: I just felt that the strongest music was going to be found in these slower tempos. Then your personal clock just adjusts to that, because then a medium-tempo song sounds fast. All these songs are like stories that I recognize so clearly, either as feelings that I've had, or I've seen or have experienced, but they're mixed up in all these different stories. Heaven knows if I were living this life, it'd be pretty exhausting! (laughter) I have lived this life — just not all today! Q: The "Do your lyrics reflect your life?" question has always dogged you for some reason. When you released "I Want You" (a particularly harrowing song from 1986's Blood and Chocolate) people were seriously asking if it was about your wife. A: Yeah, it's extraordinary. I think that sort of thing has gotten worse as time's gone on. People accepted entirely that songs were SINCERE in the days of Cole Porter or Gershwin or Rodgers and Hart — or for that matter, later on. Nobody thought (Bacharach and David's) songs were INSINCERE because they didn't run around saying, "Eh, do you know the way to San Jose?" (laughter) That's a STUPID idea. Once somebody has had the courage to say something brave about something ugly, there's somebody somewhere that sees a pound note in it and says "Send out for five more like that." You end up with a trumped-up kind of authenticity. Chicago Tribune, October 16, 1998 Steve Darnall interviews EC about working with Burt Bacharach ahead of their concert, October 16, 1998, at the Chicago Theatre.

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