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They were born 13 years and several thousand miles apart, one a self mythologizing Midwestern troubadour, the other a wordy Brit once dubbed rock's "angry young man," but Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello aren't all that different.
This Sunday, the two songwriting giants will perform at Bridgeport's Arena at Harbor Yard, one of a handful of stops on their brief fall tour. It may seem like an odd pairing, but Costello and Dylan are shape-shifting jacks of all genres. Over the years, both have dabbled in rock, country, reggae, jazz, and old-time song-and-dance fare, outlasting peers less willing or able to evolve.
If you crack their lyric books, the similarities are even more apparent.
Back in the '60s, when he moved from Minnesota to New York City, Dylan aligned himself with the folkies, capturing the spirit of the day with stirring anti-war anthems, like "Blowin' in the Wind" and "Masters of War."
Dylan would later downplay his connection to any "movement," saying he was simply writing what people wanted at the time. Of course, a totally detached person could have never written what he did, just as Costello, recording his 1978 cover of Nick Lowe's supposedly ironic "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding," couldn't help but betray genuine longing for a better world.
Costello has written plenty of great anti-war songs of his own, among them "Oliver's Army," which chides the government for shipping unemployed kids all over the world, and "Shipbuilding," a crisis of conscience for a town paid to make warships.
In terms of interpersonal warfare, their specialty, Dylan and Costello are responsible for some of the greatest kiss-offs in the rock canon. Dylan's most famous song, "Like a Rolling Stone," is often said to be about Joan Baez, and, pointed as it is, it's a butter knife compared to "Idiot Wind," which declares, "You're an idiot, babe / it's a wonder that you still know how to breathe."
To find like lines in Costello's catalog, just shuffle through his first few albums. This Year's Model, his sophomore effort, is especially hard on exes, opening with the assertion, "I don't want to kiss you / I don't want to touch you." Later, on "The Beat," he spits one of his most venomous and oft-quoted lines: "I don't want to be your lover / I just want to be your victim."
Dylan and Costello aren't all bluster and bile, though. They're also romantics, and when they want to, they can sing from the heart. On his 1997 Grammy-winning comeback, Time Out of Mind, Dylan offers "Make You Feel My Love," a tender plea from a man too tired to play games.
With Costello, it's hard to find something quite as blunt, but "Almost Blue," about post-breakup regret, is more honest than vindictive. "There's a girl here, and she's almost you," he sings, fully aware of what he's lost.
Look for both artists to share their many sides — idealistic, bitter, even sweet — Sunday night.
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