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The first line of Elvis Costello's "Senior Service" is:
a) "Senior Service, it's a new dissatisfaction"
b) "Senior Service, junior dissatisfaction"
c) unintelligible
The first lines of Elvis Costello's "Goon Squad" are:
a) "Mother, Father, I'm here In the zoo"
b) "Mother, Father, I'm with a kazoo"
c) unintelligible
The first line of Elvis Costello's "New Amsterdam" is:
a) "You said then that you were mistaken for Mlles"
b) "You're sending me tulips mistaken for Wiles"
c) unintelligible
If you guessed (or intelligently answered) "unintelligible" for all of the above questions, you are 100 percent correct. But help is on the way.
Anyone who has ever bought an Elvis Costello album and really listened to his lyrics (there's no other way to listen) has inevitably faced the problem of figuring out what he's saying. There's nothing quite as irritating as figuring out some great lyrics to a song only two have a few key lines remain unintelligible.
But now, while we Elvis fans are waiting for him to finish his George Jones/Nashville collaboration, there is Elvis Costello: a singing dictionary, an oversized songbook from Warner Brothers Publications which, to the delight of EC fans everywhere, contain all the lyrics to Costello's songs through the 1980 Taking Liberties LP.
That's 70 songs in all, for those who are too busy listening to count. Songs from My Aim Is True, This Year's Model, Armed Forces, Get Happy! and Taking Liberties are featured in this volume, including not only lyrics but guitar chords and keyboard music for interested musicians.
Songbooks like this come out left and right featuring everyone from Eddie Rabbit to Elton John to the Doors. But never has one been so needed for its lyrical content.
Some of Costello's songs — "Alison," "Radio Radio," even "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes" — are quite easy to understand after a listen or two. But some of the best —"Goon Squad," "Mystery Dance," "New Amsterdam," "Opportunity" — are either in part or in whole almost impossible. The mystery is solved.
One drawback about the book — it retails for $11.95, which is a stiff price to pay for a songbook. Many may simply wish to go on through life not knowing where the line "She's my soft-touch typewriter, and I'm a great dictator" comes from. For others, It will be like the final piece to a long-unsolvable puzzle.
Oh, by the way, the first line of "Senior Service" is "Senior service, junior dissatisfaction," The first line of "Goon Squad" Is "Mother, father, I'm here in the zoo." And the first line of "New Amsterdam" is "You're sending me tulips mistaken for lillies."
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