New York Times, February 8, 1989: Difference between revisions
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One of the album's most arresting songs, "Tramp the Dirt Down," is an outspoken denunciation of Britain's Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher; an eerily beautiful melody bears a message of towering contempt. Mr. Costello's lyric labels England "the whore of the world" and Mrs. Thatcher "her madam." | One of the album's most arresting songs, "Tramp the Dirt Down," is an outspoken denunciation of Britain's Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher; an eerily beautiful melody bears a message of towering contempt. Mr. Costello's lyric labels England "the whore of the world" and Mrs. Thatcher "her madam." | ||
The album's finest song may be "God's Comic," the saga of a third-rate music-hall performer who dies and goes to heaven. The protagonist, who used to impersonate a drunken priest on the stage, is terrified of confronting God. But when he finally meets his Maker, God is sitting on a waterbed sipping cola, reading a paperback and listening to Andrew Lloyd Webber's Requiem. God tells him, "I've been wading though all this unbelievable junk and wondering if I should have given the world to the monkeys." | The album's finest song may be "God's Comic," the saga of a third-rate music-hall performer who dies and goes to heaven. The protagonist, who used to impersonate a drunken priest on the stage, is terrified of confronting God. But when he finally meets his Maker, God is sitting on a waterbed sipping cola, reading a paperback and listening to Andrew Lloyd Webber's ''Requiem''. God tells him, "I've been wading though all this unbelievable junk and wondering if I should have given the world to the monkeys." | ||
"I didn't know whether to spell it 'monkeys' or 'Monkees,' " Mr. Costello said, laughing. "I even considered working in an allusion to 'Last Train to Clarksville.'" | "I didn't know whether to spell it 'monkeys' or 'Monkees,' " Mr. Costello said, laughing. "I even considered working in an allusion to 'Last Train to Clarksville.'" |
Revision as of 18:06, 28 January 2015
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