Melody Maker, May 20, 1989: Difference between revisions
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So how did you hit it off with old Bruce? | So how did you hit it off with old Bruce? | ||
"I thought Bruce wasn't too bad," Costello says, and I can only think the drinks are having an effect. "I mean, he didn't come until the day of the show. But he turned up, no entourage, no bodyguards, no manager, no roadie. Carrying his own guitar as far as I could see. And I assumed he knew the songs so well he could just busk it. But I have this nice little image of him... Where we did the show was at the Coconut Grove, in the Ambassador Hotel, where Robert Kennedy was shot. The Grove is in a kind of basement at the back, and the kitchen just behind the stage is where he got shot. Place was like something out of the f***in' ''Shining''... Anyway, all the boys were crammed into one dressing room. And you couldn't move for all these baskets of fruit. It's Hollywood, you know, so every f***er on the show gets a basket of fruit with nuts and f***in' cheese... And, anyway, we're all packed in there, and it suddenly reminded me of when I was a kid and I used to go to the Joe Loss shows with my dad... all the guys in the band, standing around in their underwear, smoking... It was great. We were really like The Orchestra... And just before we were due on, I looked around and there's Springsteen. He's got a Walkman on, and he's got his electric guitar and he's got the chart of 'Only The Lonely', and he's looking really intense and worried. And suddenly he went, 'Oh, f*** — that's how it goes.' | "I thought Bruce wasn't too bad," Costello says, and I can only think the drinks are having an effect. "I mean, he didn't come until the day of the show. But he turned up, no entourage, no bodyguards, no manager, no roadie. Carrying his own guitar as far as I could see. And I assumed he knew the songs so well he could just busk it. But I have this nice little image of him... Where we did the show was at the Coconut Grove, in the Ambassador Hotel, where Robert Kennedy was shot. The Grove is in a kind of basement at the back, and the kitchen just behind the stage is where he got shot. Place was like something out of the f***in' ''Shining''... Anyway, all the boys were crammed into one dressing room. And you couldn't move for all these baskets of fruit. It's ''Hollywood'', you know, so every f***er on the show gets a basket of fruit with nuts and f***in' cheese... And, anyway, we're all packed in there, and it suddenly reminded me of when I was a kid and I used to go to the Joe Loss shows with my dad... all the guys in the band, standing around in their underwear, smoking... It was great. We were really like The Orchestra... And just before we were due on, I looked around and there's Springsteen. He's got a Walkman on, and he's got his electric guitar and he's got the chart of 'Only The Lonely', and he's looking really intense and worried. And suddenly he went, 'Oh, f*** — that's how it goes.' | ||
"But I thought he played great on the show. He played his guitar solo, didn't he? That one guitar solo that he does. He plays with his eyebrows, have you noticed that? And there were a couple of songs where he has to trade off guitar parts with James Burton, and everybody thought he was really gonna be out of his depth. But he didn't try to outflash Burton. You can't, let's face it. So he played his one note solo and he played it very emphatically, like he really meant it. And James came back with this ridiculously fancy lick that he does and gave Springsteen this look, you know, 'Top that, boy.' And Bruce is going, 'Oooooh, shit... back to the one note solo...' I thought he was pretty cool." | "But I thought he played great on the show. He played his guitar solo, didn't he? That one guitar solo that he does. He plays with his ''eyebrows'', have you noticed that? And there were a couple of songs where he has to trade off guitar parts with James Burton, and everybody thought he was really gonna be out of his depth. But he didn't try to outflash Burton. You can't, let's face it. So he played his one note solo and he played it very emphatically, like he really meant it. And James came back with this ridiculously fancy lick that he does and gave Springsteen this look, you know, 'Top ''that'', boy.' And Bruce is going, 'Oooooh, ''shit''... back to the one note solo...' I thought he was pretty cool." | ||
Costello is by now in a pretty expansive anecdotal mood. I ask him about Van Morrison, who appeared with him the last time he played the Albert Hall. | Costello is by now in a pretty expansive anecdotal mood. I ask him about Van Morrison, who appeared with him the last time he played the Albert Hall. | ||
"I think what l really admire about him," Costello says, "apart from the fact that he makes the most incredible f***in' records, is his singlemindedness. People go on about him being difficult, but he does it his way and if you can't accept that, then go somewhere else. I don't think he's gonna cry. He's tougher than that. He really is tougher than the rest. He's in a class of one, and if you don't like it then f*** off, you know. There are only like two or three people with his kind of singular identity in rock 'n' roll. Like, Lou Reed, Dylan..." | "I think what l really admire about him," Costello says, "apart from the fact that he makes the most incredible f***in' records, is his ''singlemindedness''. People go on about him being difficult, but he does it ''his'' way and if you can't accept that, then go somewhere else. I don't think he's gonna cry. He's tougher than that. He really is tougher than the rest. He's in a class of one, and if you don't like it then f*** off, you know. There are only like two or three people with his kind of singular identity in rock 'n' roll. Like, Lou Reed, Dylan..." | ||
You met Dylan once, didn't you? | You met Dylan once, didn't you? | ||
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What do you talk to someone like Dylan about? The weather? | What do you talk to someone like Dylan about? The weather? | ||
"Actually," Costello says. "yeah. With somebody like Dylan or Van, they say they're unpredictable souls who can be rude to people. So I figure if they just accept you and you just talk in an ordinary conversation about the weather or something, it means they're giving you somehow more credit than they would to someone they don't really have time for. I mean, you hear all these horror stories about these people, but you've got to remember that there are plenty of people who want a piece of them and they make unreasonable demands on them. And there are a few people that have tried to make those demands of me, so I'm aware of the fact that if you start like getting in on them and it's like, 'C'mon, Bob, where ARE the Gates Of Eden?' you'd expect to be shown the door. I'm always mindful of what it's like when somebody gets on my case. Sometimes it's well-meaning, but you really just can't answer their questions, because you can't think like them. They've got their perspective on what you do and you just can't get into it." | "Actually," Costello says. "yeah. With somebody like Dylan or Van, they say they're unpredictable souls who can be rude to people. So I figure if they just accept you and you just talk in an ordinary conversation about the weather or something, it means they're giving you somehow more credit than they would to someone they don't really have time for. I mean, you hear all these horror stories about these people, but you've got to remember that there are plenty of people who want a piece of them and they make unreasonable demands on them. And there are a few people that have tried to make those demands of me, so I'm aware of the fact that if you start like getting in on them and it's like, 'C'mon, Bob, where ARE the Gates Of Eden?' you'd expect to be shown the door. I'm always mindful of what it's like when somebody gets on my case. Sometimes it's well-meaning, but you really just can't answer their questions, because you can't ''think'' like them. They've got their perspective on what you do and you just can't get into it." | ||
The night before the interview, Costello had appeared at the Irish Music Awards. He and Christy Moore had done a version of "Dark End Of The Street", an old Costello favourite. It was a moment of sober beauty in an otherwise unremarkable pantomime. The front rows of the audience were full of wriggling Brosettes who glared at Costello with furious indignation. Turns out later that they are howling mad with him for being less than kind to Bros on a recent radio show. After the show, some of them cornered him in a local pub. | The night before the interview, Costello had appeared at the Irish Music Awards. He and Christy Moore had done a version of "Dark End Of The Street", an old Costello favourite. It was a moment of sober beauty in an otherwise unremarkable pantomime. The front rows of the audience were full of wriggling Brosettes who glared at Costello with furious indignation. Turns out later that they are howling mad with him for being less than kind to Bros on a recent radio show. After the show, some of them cornered him in a local pub. | ||
"It was as funny as hell," he says. "They all wanted my blood for slandering Luke by suggesting that he might be something less than a Titan. I just felt a bit sad for them. Because this, you know, is the extent of their musical excitement, this rather dull group. And they were going, 'Tell us you really don't hate them.' And I'm going, 'I don't hate them, I just don't like 'em. I'm not supposed to f***in' like 'em. You're supposed to like 'em...' It was all a bit pathetic, really, because they'll all be embarrassed in four years time that they were ever Brosettes. It's like, where do you meet Bay City Rollers' fans these days... And Bros will be forgotten in the long run, because they don't represent anything particularly worthwhile. It's like Michael Jackson. He'll be forgotten in 50 years. He'll be like this person who statistically was famous, like Al Jolson or Rudy Vallee, but nobody'll really remember him. He's just a facsimile of excitement. And because there's no substance to what he does, and because he's sold his soul to a corporate identity, which is actually bigger than he is, in the long run I think he'll be swallowed by it. It's like Whitney Houston, I think it's downright sad that somebody as good as her will take a billion dollars from Pepsi to sell herself down the river. She's just turned into this cabaret singer. You look at her and it's like the light's gone from her eyes. She's just another victim of the Pepsi Vampires." | "It was as funny as hell," he says. "They all wanted my blood for slandering Luke by suggesting that he might be something less than a Titan. I just felt a bit sad for them. Because this, you know, is the extent of their musical excitement, this rather dull group. And they were going, 'Tell us you really don't hate them.' And I'm going, 'I don't ''hate'' them, I just don't ''like'' 'em. I'm not ''supposed'' to f***in' like 'em. ''You're'' supposed to like 'em...' It was all a bit pathetic, really, because they'll all be embarrassed in four years time that they were ever Brosettes. It's like, where do you meet Bay City Rollers' fans these days... And Bros will be forgotten in the long run, because they don't represent anything particularly worthwhile. It's like Michael Jackson. He'll be forgotten in 50 years. He'll be like this person who statistically was famous, like Al Jolson or Rudy Vallee, but nobody'll really remember him. He's just a facsimile of excitement. And because there's no substance to what he does, and because he's sold his soul to a corporate identity, which is actually bigger than he is, in the long run I think he'll be swallowed by it. It's like Whitney Houston, I think it's downright sad that somebody as good as her will take a billion dollars from Pepsi to sell herself down the river. She's just turned into this cabaret singer. You look at her and it's like the light's gone from her eyes. She's just another victim of the Pepsi Vampires." | ||
So who are the strong, Elvis, who's to be trusted? Who's angry any more? | So who are the strong, Elvis, who's to be trusted? Who's ''angry'' any more? | ||
"I dunno," Costello says wearily, exhaustion creeping upon him like a slow tide. "It does seem at the moment that there's no real willingness to test anything. But it's not surprising really. All the mannerisms of rebellion in music seems to have been used up. You only have to look at Guns 'N Roses to realize that. Cait got their album, you know, and it's f***in' terrible. It's like an Outlaws record or something. 'I'm goin' down the road with my geetar and I'm a baad muthaf***er... — F*** off, you little twat. It's about as rock 'n' roll as f***in' David Nixon. The thing is, you can't keep leaping out of the cupboard going boo to people. It's not frightening anymore. | "I dunno," Costello says wearily, exhaustion creeping upon him like a slow tide. "It does seem at the moment that there's no real willingness to test anything. But it's not surprising really. All the mannerisms of rebellion in music seems to have been used up. You only have to look at Guns 'N Roses to realize that. Cait got their album, you know, and it's f***in' terrible. It's like an Outlaws record or something. 'I'm goin' down the road with my geetar and I'm a baad muthaf***er... — F*** ''off'', you little twat. It's about as rock 'n' roll as f***in' David Nixon. The thing is, you can't keep leaping out of the cupboard going boo to people. It's not frightening anymore. | ||
"And the funny thing is, the real wild men are still unacceptable. I'm not talking about someone like Johnny Rotten. He's completely acceptable. He's just like Quentin Crisp. He's an English eccentric. But Jerry Lee Lewis, man. I saw Jerry Lee, and he's still f***in' unacceptable to most people. T-Bone went for a meeting with him, because he's been working on the film they're doing about him. And they went to this really chi-chi Hollywood cafe, and this little waiter comes up and goes, 'Hi, my name ith Cwithtopher and I'll be your waiter for tonight. Is there something I can get you?' | "And the funny thing is, the ''real'' wild men are still unacceptable. I'm not talking about someone like Johnny Rotten. He's completely acceptable. He's just like Quentin Crisp. He's an English eccentric. But ''Jerry Lee Lewis'', man. I saw Jerry Lee, and he's still f***in' unacceptable to most people. T-Bone went for a meeting with him, because he's been working on the film they're doing about him. And they went to this really chi-chi Hollywood cafe, and this little waiter comes up and goes, 'Hi, my name ith Cwithtopher and I'll be your waiter for tonight. Is there something I can get you?' | ||
"And Jerry Lee says 'Yeah. What about something blonde, 21 years old with big f***in' tits.' Just starts straight in, you know. Brilliant. And someone like that, they're always gonna be on the outside. He's definitely the real thing. And there's really no one else around who's that unique, that singular. I don't see anyone like that around anymore. I see a few interesting eccentrics. Morrissey. Michael Stipe. Johnny Lydon. Myself, maybe. But those heavy metal bands who think they're so f***in' outrageous. I just think, 'F*** off, pal. You don't even own the territory.' | "And Jerry Lee says 'Yeah. What about something blonde, 21 years old with big f***in' tits.' Just starts straight in, you know. Brilliant. And someone like that, they're always gonna be on the outside. He's definitely the real thing. And there's really no one else around who's that unique, that singular. I don't see anyone like that around anymore. I see a few interesting eccentrics. Morrissey. Michael Stipe. Johnny Lydon. Myself, maybe. But those heavy metal bands who think they're so f***in' outrageous. I just think, 'F*** off, pal. You don't even own the territory.' | ||
"Because I look back at some of the things we've done, and it's no f***in' contest. I mean, we've had our f***in' moments, man. And they don't even come close." | "Because I look back at some of the things we've done, and it's no f***in' contest. I mean, we've had our f***in' ''moments'', man. And they don't even come close." | ||
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Revision as of 03:56, 6 May 2014
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