New Musical Express, August 27, 1977: Difference between revisions
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''"Let's talk about the future now we've put the past away". | ''"Let's talk about the future now we've put the past away". | ||
We're in a pub just round the corner from Island Records' St Peters Square building, Elvis and me, talking about the subject matter of "Less Than Zero" when [[Jake Riviera]] suddenly pipes up with the information that all the Yanks who've heard it think it's about Lee | We're in a pub just round the corner from Island Records' St Peters Square building, Elvis and me, talking about the subject matter of "Less Than Zero" when [[Jake Riviera]] suddenly pipes up with the information that all the Yanks who've heard it think it's about Lee Harvey Oswald. | ||
"Yeah right," Costello's terse gruff voice breaks in. | "Yeah right," Costello's terse gruff voice breaks in. | ||
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Costello is temporarily fulfilled though. He looks pleased with himself, pleased enough that maybe, just maybe he'll go ahead and conceive just that plot-line for a song tonight when he gets back to Whitton. | Costello is temporarily fulfilled though. He looks pleased with himself, pleased enough that maybe, just maybe he'll go ahead and conceive just that plot-line for a song tonight when he gets back to Whitton. | ||
After all, his song-vignettes — a lot of them anyway — are pretty damn weird — starting from everyday | After all, his song-vignettes — a lot of them anyway — are pretty damn weird — starting from simple everyday occurences the composer finds himself observing on the tube, or maybe on his way down to the off-licence, and then blossoming into raging chunks of perfectly matched melody and savage eloquence. | ||
Like even ''I'm'' in an Elvis Costello song. El reckons he saw me one night on a tube bound for Osterley and.... "you were obviously pretty 'out of it' 'cos you didn't even notice all the other people in the compartment staring at you. I was just amazed that one person could draw that much reaction from others. After I saw you there, I came up with 'Waiting For The World to End.' You're the guy in the opening verse." | |||
I touch my forelock at the imparting of this factoid. After all, being in a Costello song is a deal more prestigious than being a name in this little black book he carries around, and which possibly might soon be making quite a name for itself. | |||
Elvis's black book? Oh, it's just full of these names of folk who have crossed our El, who have hindered the unravelling of his true destiny these past years. Maybe they were responsible for not signing him to their label (prior to the Stiff inking this is) or maybe they referred to him as another Van Morrison sound-alike just like all those other squat, nervy types with short hair and glasses with whom such parallels appear obligatory in today's music press. | |||
Whatever the cause, they're all marked men, cows before the slaughter, names and livelihoods about to come under the thunder of Costello. | |||
Elvis is very into revenge, see. "The only two things that matter to me, the only motivation points for me writing all these songs," opines Costello with a perverse leer, "are ''revenge and guilt''. Those are the only emotions I know about, that I know I can feel. Love? I dunno what it means, really, and it doesn't exist in my songs. | |||
"Like" — he's into this discourse now — "when I played earlier in front of all those reps or whatever they're called — all those guys working for Island — did you hear me introducing Lipservice'? | |||
" 'This song is called 'Lipservice' and that's all you're gonna get from me'. That was straight from the heart, that, 'cos last year I actually went to Island with my demo tape and none of them wanted to know. Back then they wouldn't give me the time of day. But ''now''..." | |||
Revision as of 19:15, 23 August 2013
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