When was the last time you went to Chelsea?
I saw Liverpool get beaten there a few years ago. Funnily enough, in the late '60s I used to go just to see football. Fulham one week; Chelsea the next, because I lived in Twickenham [South West London]. At Fulham you could support the away team for a laugh, Chelsea I wouldn't have tried that, there were girls there you wouldn't want to fight. But I'd go, just to see a game.
When was the last time someone called you Declan?
All my family call me that and some friends. Not my band, they've always called me EC. I don't respond when strangers walk up and use it, trying to be familiar. It's for people who knew me before I had the other identity.
When was the last time you drank R White's Lemonade?
I don't think I ever drank it actually! They didn't send it round after the advert [Costello and his dad sang on the theme tune to the R White's advert]. It's really curious how that ad keeps coming up. Only a handful of those jingles have survived, like Shake n' Vac, and I happen to sing backing vocals on one of them! My dad used to sing a lot of ads, for him it was another day in the office, but for me it was a bit of luck. I was 17 and they needed that kind of voice. To be honest, it wasn't much but the cheque was handy a few times between '73 and '78.
When was the last time you lost your glasses?
It's embarrassing but I'm always doing that. My eyesight is peculiar in that I can read without them but because I'm short-sighted I stare when I look ahead. Without them I look like I should be on a post office wall: "Have you seen this man?" I look like a murderer. Usually, I'll have been reading and they'll be on top of my head.
When was the last time you cooked a meal for someone?
It was dinner for my lads, my nine-year-olds. Salmon, I think. My wife [singer Diana Krall] is probably a better cook but she's on tour at the moment. Although it's not like there's two urchins with their noses pressed up against the glass going: "When's mum coming home?" I get by as a cook. I've never poisoned anybody... unless it was on purpose! [Laughs]
When was the last time you asked someone for their autograph?
I asked Gregory Peck for his autograph when I was about 10. He was filming in the local park. He was very nice. I think it was Arabesque with Sophia Loren.
When was the last time you went to the dentist?
I didn't go for years and I lived to regret it, but now I'm pretty good. They ask if you're going to get that new smile, but it's not going to happen! If I did that it would change the way I sound. The gap in your front teeth affects the way you sing, a lot of air goes through it. Think about [other gap-toothed singers] Ray Davies and Jane Birkin, Madonna too. When you think Madonna, you think me! [Laughs] Actually, she says she learnt to play the drums by playing along to "Pump It Up"! You didn't know that, did you?
|