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So rock 'n' roll's most embittered cynic is supposed to have gotten happy. I'm afraid it's a line I can't possibly buy on the evidence in the actual grooves.
In fact the title is both ironic and not. In terms of the stance, the ideas, the point of view in the lyrics, there is little change ib Elvis Costello. An alternative title might have been that coined by the J. Geils band for their latest opus Love Stinks; in Get Happy, (consider this) Elvis leads us through a series of skirmishes on the bedroom floor, in and out of hotel rooms and, it seems, across America.
The songs are largely autobiographical, as Costello fiercely analyses, denounces and admits his own guilt, in relationships which inevitably prove more problematic than sustaining. The impression gleaned is of a man who finds sex hard to avoid but for whom it provides cold comfort in the harsh light of day.
There are suggestions of violence which are disturbing — not in that they necessarily reflect on Elvis Costello personally but in what they imply about human relationships generally. With a few exceptions, more of which shortly, this album is an extended battle of the sexes, with woman too often cast tn the traditional role of temptress. Both these elements crop up together in "Beaten to the Punch," a song that's hardly intended to inspire either complacency or contentment, "Your body speaks louder than your voice," Elvis accuses, "You let it do the talking so I don't have any choice." The point, however, is that he's had enough — a feeling which he states in absolutely unequivocal terms: "You'd better get out now / Cos you'll never go the distance."
The tension which runs through the album seems to relate to a lover in the States and another at 'home' in England: each is identified with their respective places of abode. On "Human Touch," Elvis makes his preferences abundantly clear. Over a pointed ska beat — it's what's happening in England after all — he refers to America: "I know I just gotta get out of this place / I just can't stand any more of that mechanical craze / though you say it's only an industrial squeeze / It looks like luxury — it feels like a disease."
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