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Song Lyrics by Elvis Costello



No Title Album
1 Alison My Aim Is True
2 Blame It On Cain My Aim Is True
3 I'm Not Angry My Aim Is True
4 Miracle Man My Aim Is True
5 Pay It Back My Aim Is True
6 Sneaky Feelings My Aim Is True
7 Waiting For The End Of The World My Aim Is True

Who is Elvis Costello


Most of the songs on This Year's Model were written while Costello was still working a full-time office job, before his first album was released.[166] Among them was "(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea",[182] which was released as the album's first single in early March 1978, reaching number 16 on the UK Singles Chart.[183] The second single, "Pump It Up", which reached number 24, was written later, while Costello was on tour with other Stiff acts, in reaction to what he later called his "first exposure to idiotic rock and roll decadence."[184][166][185] Upon release in March, This Year's Model entered the UK Albums Chart at number 4.[186] The US version of the album dropped "(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea" and "Night Rally", a song written in response to the rise of the British National Front,[187] and replaced them with "Radio Radio".[166] The US release reached number 30 on the Billboard chart but spent fewer weeks on the chart than My Aim Is True.[169] "Radio Radio" was released as a non-album single in the UK in October 1978, where it reached number 29.[188] This Year's Model was highly praised by critics in Britain and the US. Melody Maker called it an "achievement so comprehensive, so inspired, that it exhausts superlatives."[189] The NME review read similarly, saying the album was "so ridiculously good that one's immediate inclinations are to clamber effusively over the top, superlative peaking superlative."[190] The Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics' poll voted it the best album of 1978.[191] Rolling Stone named it among the best five albums of 1978.[192] For the seven months following the completion of This Year's Model, Costello and the Attractions continued touring Britain, Europe and North America, playing larger venues and debuting new songs that Costello was writing for his next album.[193] In July 1978, Costello performed at the Danish Roskilde Festival, topping the bill with three other artists,[194] premiering the song "Oliver's Army" that would become his biggest hit in the UK.[195][196] Armed Forces[edit] Costello and the Attractions recorded his third album, Armed Forces, at Eden Studios in six weeks from August and September 1978.[197][198] It was again produced by Nick Lowe, but Costello himself provided greater creative control.[199] Like This Year's Model, the album's influences came from the music Costello and the Attractions listened to while touring, from the Berlin-era records of David Bowie and Iggy Pop to ABBA and Kraftwerk.[198][200] Costello later said that Armed Forces was his first album of songs he wrote with an awareness of having an audience. The album's lyrics reflected his experiences on the road in the US, as well his continued concern over the rise of far-right political groups in the UK;[198][201] the album was originally to be called Emotional Fascism.[198] Just before the album's completion in late September, Costello and the Attractions played to an audience of 150,000 in Brockwell Park, south London, as part of the second Rock Against Racism music festival.[202] A few weeks later, they began six months of touring that included, for the first time, Japan and Australia, as well as the UK, Europe, Canada and the US.[203] Released in early January 1979, Armed Forces debuted at number 2 on the UK Albums Chart, and spent 28 weeks on the chart.[204] In the US, it spent 25 weeks on the Billboard chart, peaking at number 10 in mid-March.[169] The US release replaced "Sunday's Best" with Costello's cover of Lowe's "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding".[205][206] Costello's best-selling single, "Oliver's Army", was released in Britain in February.[207] Costello has said he wrote the song after his first visit to Northern Ireland and was inspired by seeing young British soldiers on the streets of Belfast as a part of the Troubles.[208] The song reached number 2 on the UK Singles Chart.[209] It was also his biggest hit single in Ireland, reaching number 4 on the Irish singles chart.[210] The second single, "Accidents Will Happen", was released in early May.[211] According to Costello, the song was written in response to his own marital infidelities. The song reached number 28 in the UK.[212] In the US, it reached number 101, missing the Billboard Hot 100 but charting higher than any previous Costello single.[213] The concert tour promoting Armed Forces was marked by bad publicity.[214] Costello and the Attractions played some shows that audiences considered too brief and refused to return for encores.[215] Audiences in Sydney, Australia, and Berkeley, California, responded by vandalising the concert venues.[215] After a concert in Columbus, Ohio, on 15 March, Costello got into a drunken argument at a hotel bar with members of the Stephen Stills band and entourage. The argument culminated in Costello disparaging James Brown and Ray Charles with racially charged insults, in comments he would later call "the exact opposite of my true feelings".[216] When Costello's comments were reported in the press a few weeks later, the bad publicity was sufficiently severe and widespread to be regarded, including by Costello himself, as the reason he never achieved the top-level commercial success in the US that had been predicted for him.[217][218][219] In June, Costello had a hit as a songwriter when Dave Edmunds released his recording of "Girls Talk", a song Costello had written but not yet recorded.[220] Edmunds' version reached number 4 on the UK Singles Chart and number 65 on Billboard Hot 100.[221][222] 1980s[edit] Costello's 1980 Get Happy!! album featured a sound based on vintage American soul music.[223] Some songs marked a distinct change in mood from the angry, frustrated tone of his first three albums to a more upbeat, happy manner.[224] The single, "I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down", was a rendition of a Sam and Dave song.[225] Lyrically, the songs are full of Costello's signature wordplay. His only 1980 appearance in North America was at the Heatwave festival in August near Toronto. In January 1981, Costello released Trust amidst growing tensions within the Attractions.[224] The single "Watch Your Step" was released in the US only and played live on Tom Snyder's Tomorrow show, and received airplay on FM rock radio.[226] In the UK, the single "Clubland" scraped the lower reaches of the UK Singles Chart; follow-up single "From a Whisper to a Scream" (a duet with Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze) became the first Costello single in over four years to completely miss the chart.[224][227] Costello also co-produced Squeeze's 1981 album East Side Story (with Roger Béchirian) and performed backing vocals on the group's hit "Tempted".[224] October saw the release of Almost Blue, a cover album of country music including songs written by Hank Williams ("Why Don't You Love Me (Like You Used to Do?)"), Merle Haggard ("Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down"), Gram Parsons ("How Much I Lied") and George Jones ("Brown to Blue"). The album received mixed reviews.[228] The first pressings of the record in the UK bore a sticker with the message: "WARNING: This album contains country & western music and may cause a radical reaction in narrow minded listeners".[229][230] Almost Blue did spawn a surprise UK hit single with a version of Jerry Chesnut's "Good Year for the Roses", which reached number 6.[231][232] Costello had long been an avid country music fan and has cited George Jones as his favourite country singer. He had appeared on Jones' duet album My Very Special Guests, contributing "Stranger in the House", which they later performed together on a 1981 HBO special dedicated to Jones.[233] Imperial Bedroom (1982) featured lavish production by Geoff Emerick, engineer of several Beatles records.[234] It remains one of his most critically acclaimed records, but again it failed to produce any hit singles—"You Little Fool" and the critically acclaimed "Man Out of Time" both failed to reach the Top 40 in the UK.[235][236][237] Costello collaborated with Chris Difford, also of Squeeze, to write the song "Boy With a Problem". Costello has said he disliked the marketing pitch for the album. Imperial Bedroom also featured Costello's song "Almost Blue", inspired by the music of jazz singer and trumpeter Chet Baker.[234] Baker later recorded his own version of the song.[238] Imperial Bedroom placed first on the Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop poll.[239] In 1983, he released Punch the Clock, featuring female backing vocal duo (Afrodiziak) and a four-piece horn section (the TKO Horns), alongside the Attractions. Clive Langer (who co-produced with Alan Winstanley), provided Costello with a melody which eventually became "Shipbuilding", which featured a trumpet solo by Baker. Prior to the release of Costello's own version, a version of the song was a minor UK hit for Soft Machine founder Robert Wyatt.[234][235][240] Under the pseudonym The Imposter, Costello released "Pills and Soap", an attack on the changes in British society brought on by Thatcherism, released to coincide with the run-up to the 1983 UK general election.[234][240][235] Punch the Clock also generated an international hit in the single "Everyday I Write the Book", aided by a music video featuring lookalikes of Prince Charles and Princess Diana undergoing domestic strife in a suburban home. The song became Costello's first Top 40 hit single in the U.S.[234][240][235] Also in the same year, Costello provided vocals on a version of the Madness song "Tomorrow's Just Another Day" released as a B-side. Tensions within the band – notably between Costello and bassist Bruce Thomas – were beginning to tell, and Costello announced his retirement and the break-up of the group shortly before they were to record Goodbye Cruel World (1984).[241][242] Costello later expressed disappointment with the final album's production, describing it as "probably the worst record that I could have made of a decent bunch of songs.".[243] The record was poorly received upon its initial release; the liner notes to the 1995 Rykodisc re-release, penned by Costello, begin with the words "Congratulations! You've just purchased our worst album".[244] Costello's retirement, although short-lived, was accompanied by two compilations, Elvis Costello: The Man in the UK, Europe and Australia, and The Best of Elvis Costello & The Attractions in the U.S. Daryl Hall provided backing vocals on the song "The Only Flame in Town" on Goodbye Cruel World. In 1985, he appeared in the Live Aid benefit concert in England, singing the Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" as a solo artist. Costello introduced the song as an "old northern English folk song", and the audience was invited to sing the chorus. In the same year Costello teamed up with friend T-Bone Burnett for the single "The People's Limousine" under the moniker of The Coward Brothers. That year, Costello also produced Rum Sodomy & the Lash for the Irish punk/folk band the Pogues and he sang with Annie Lennox on the song "Adrian" from the Eurythmics record Be Yourself Tonight. Growing antipathy between Costello and Bruce Thomas contributed to the Attractions' first split in 1986 when Costello was preparing to make a comeback. Working in the U.S. with Burnett, a band containing a number of Elvis Presley's sidemen (including James Burton and Jerry Scheff), and minor input from the Attractions, he produced King of America, an acoustic guitar-driven album with a country sound. It was billed as performed by "The Costello Show featuring the Attractions and Confederates" in the UK and Europe and "The Costello Show featuring Elvis Costello" in North America. Around this time he legally changed his name back to Declan MacManus, adding Aloysius as an extra middle name.[20] Costello retooled his upcoming tour to allow for multiple nights in each city, playing one night with the Confederates, one night with the Attractions, and one night solo acoustic. In May 1986, he performed at Self Aid, a benefit concert held in Dublin that focused on the chronic unemployment which was widespread in Ireland at that time. Later that year, Costello returned to the studio with the Attractions and recorded Blood & Chocolate, which was lauded for a post-punk fervour not heard since 1978's This Year's Model. It also marked the return of producer Nick Lowe, who had produced Costello's first five albums. While Blood & Chocolate failed to chart a hit single of any significance, it did produce what has since become one of Costello's signature concert songs, "I Want You". On this album, Costello adopted the alias Napoleon Dynamite, the name he later attributed to the character of the emcee that he played during the vaudeville-style tour to support Blood & Chocolate. (The pseudonym had previously been used in 1982, when the B-side single "Imperial Bedroom" was credited to Napoleon Dynamite & the Royal Guard; whether the title of the 2004 film Napoleon Dynamite was inspired by Costello is disputed). After the tour for Blood & Chocolate, Costello split from the Attractions, due mostly to lingering tensions between him and Bruce Thomas. Costello continued to work with another Attraction, Pete Thomas, as a session musician for future releases. Costello's recording contract with Columbia Records ended after Blood & Chocolate. In 1987, he released a compilation album, Out of Our Idiot, on his UK label, Demon Records consisting of B-sides, side projects, and unreleased songs from recording sessions from 1980 to 1987. He signed a new contract with Warner Bros. and in early 1989 released Spike, which spawned his biggest single in the U.S., the Top 20 hit (it reached number 19) "Veronica",[245] one of several songs Costello co-wrote with Paul McCartney. At the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards on 6 September in Los Angeles, "Veronica" won the MTV Award for Best Male Video.[246] Costello and McCartney wrote several songs together over a short period, which were released over a number of years: "Back On My Feet", the B-side of McCartney's 1987 single "Once Upon a Long Ago", later added as a bonus track on the 1993 re-issue of McCartney's Flowers in the Dirt Costello's "Veronica" and "Pads, Paws and Claws" from his album Spike (1989) McCartney's "My Brave Face", "Don't Be Careless Love", "That Day Is Done" and the McCartney/Costello duet "You Want Her Too", all from McCartney's Flowers in the Dirt (1989) "So Like Candy" and "Playboy to a Man" from Costello's Mighty Like a Rose (1991) "The Lovers That Never Were" and "Mistress and Maid" from McCartney's Off the Ground (1993). "Shallow Grave" from Costello's All This Useless Beauty (1996). Costello has also issued solo demo recordings of "Veronica", "Pads, Paws and Claws" and "Mistress and Maid" (a song he did not otherwise record). Two other McCartney/Costello compositions remained officially unissued, while existing as widely bootlegged demos ("Tommy's Coming Home" and "Twenty Fine Fingers"). These two tracks, along with demos of other songs from their collaboration, did eventually see release on the Paul McCartney Archive edition of Flowers in the Dirt. In 1987, Costello appeared on the HBO special Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night, a tribute to his long-time idol Roy Orbison.[citation needed] Costello co-wrote "The Other End (Of the Telescope)" with the American singer-songwriter Aimee Mann. It appears on the 1988 album Everything's Different Now by Mann's band Til Tuesday.[247] 1990s[edit] In 1991, Costello released Mighty Like a Rose, which featured the single "The Other Side of Summer". He also co-composed and co-produced, with Richard Harvey, the title and incidental music for the mini-series G.B.H. by Alan Bleasdale. This entirely instrumental, and largely orchestral, soundtrack garnered a BAFTA, for Best Music for a TV Series for the pair. In 1993, Costello experimented with classical music with a critically acclaimed collaboration with the Brodsky Quartet[248] on The Juliet Letters. During this period, he wrote a full album's worth of material for Wendy James, and these songs became the tracks on her 1993 solo album Now Ain't the Time for Your Tears. Costello returned to rock and roll the following year with a project that reunited him with the Attractions, Brutal Youth. In 1995, he released Kojak Variety, an album of cover songs recorded five years earlier, and followed in 1996 with an album of songs originally written for other artists, All This Useless Beauty. This was the final album of original material that he issued under his Warner Bros. contract, and also his final album with the Attractions. In 1994, he sang "They Can't Take That Away from Me" with Tony Bennett for MTV Unplugged, appearing on the album released from the broadcast. In the spring of 1996, Costello played a series of intimate club dates, backed only by Steve Nieve on the piano, in support of All This Useless Beauty. An ensuing mid-year tour with the Attractions proved to be the death knell, with relations between Costello and bassist Bruce Thomas at a breaking point, Costello announced that the current tour would be the Attractions' last. The quartet performed their final U.S. show in Seattle, Washington on 1 September 1996, before wrapping up their tour in Japan. Costello continued to work frequently with Attractions Steve Nieve and Pete Thomas; eventually, both became members of Costello's new back-up band, The Imposters. To fulfill his contractual obligations to Warner Bros., Costello released a greatest hits album titled Extreme Honey (1997). It contained an original track titled "The Bridge I Burned", featuring Costello's son, Matt, on bass. In the intervening period, Costello had served as artistic chair for the 1995 Meltdown Festival, which gave him the opportunity to explore his increasingly eclectic musical interests. His involvement in the festival yielded a one-off live EP with jazz guitarist Bill Frisell, which featured both cover material and a few of his own songs. In 1998, Costello signed a multi-label contract with Polygram Records, sold by its parent company the same year to become part of the Universal Music Group. Costello released his new work on what he deemed the suitable imprimatur within the family of labels. His first new release as part of this contract involved a collaboration with Burt Bacharach. Their work had commenced earlier, in 1996, on "God Give Me Strength" for the movie Grace of My Heart. This led the pair to write and record the critically acclaimed album Painted From Memory,[249] released under his new contract in 1998, on the Mercury Records label, featuring songs that were largely inspired by the dissolution of his relationship with Cait O'Riordan. Costello and Bacharach performed several concerts with full orchestral backing, and also recorded an updated version of Bacharach's "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" for the soundtrack to Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, with both appearing in the film to perform the song. He also wrote "I Throw My Toys Around" for The Rugrats Movie and performed it with No Doubt. The same year, he collaborated with Paddy Moloney of The Chieftains on "The Long Journey Home" on the soundtrack of the PBS/Disney The Irish in America: Long Journey Home miniseries. The soundtrack won a Grammy Award in 1999.[250] In 1999, Costello contributed a version of "She", released in 1974 by Charles Aznavour and Herbert Kretzmer, for the soundtrack of the film Notting Hill, with Trevor Jones producing. Costello's version of the song reached number 19 on the UK singles chart.[251] For the 25th anniversary of Saturday Night Live, Costello was invited to the programme, where he re-enacted his abrupt song-switch: This time, however, he interrupted the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage", and they acted as his backing group for "Radio Radio".[252] He also co-wrote another song with Aimee Mann, "The Fall of the World's Own Optimist", for her 2000 album Bachelor No. 2.[253] 2000s[edit] Costello performing at Glastonbury, 2005 Costello performing in 2006 From 2001 to 2005, Costello re-issued his back catalogue in the U.S., from My Aim Is True (1977) to All This Useless Beauty (1996), on double-disc collections on the Rhino Records label. These releases, which each contained second discs of bonus material, ultimately fell out of print by 2007 after Universal Music acquired the rights to Costello's catalogue. Universal subsequently released new deluxe editions of My Aim Is True and This Year's Model with new bonus material of full-length concerts from the time of each album's release. These deluxe editions also fell out of print and Universal has reverted to re-releasing Costello's pre-1987 albums in their original context without bonus material.[citation needed] In 2000, Costello wrote lyrics to "Green Song", a solo cello piece by Svante Henryson; this song appears on the Anne Sofie von Otter album For the Stars. In 2000, Costello appeared at the Town Hall, New York, in Steve Nieve's opera Welcome to the Voice, alongside Ron Sexsmith and John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants. In 2001, Costello was artist-in-residence at UCLA and wrote the music for a new ballet. He produced and appeared on an album of pop songs for the classical singer Anne Sofie von Otter. He released the album When I Was Cruel in 2002 on Island Records, and toured with a new band, the Imposters (essentially the Attractions but with a different bass player, Davey Faragher, formerly of Cracker). On 23 February 2003, Costello, along with Bruce Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt and Dave Grohl, performed a version of The Clash's "London Calling" at the 45th Grammy Awards ceremony, in honour of Clash frontman Joe Strummer, who had died the previous December.[254] In March, Elvis Costello & the Attractions were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[255] In May, he announced his engagement to Canadian jazz singer and pianist Diana Krall, whom he had seen in concert and then met backstage at the Sydney Opera House in Australia. That September, he released North, an album of piano-based ballads concerning the breakdown of his former marriage, and his falling in love with Krall. The song "Scarlet Tide" (co-written by Costello and T-Bone Burnett and used in the film Cold Mountain) was nominated for a 2004 Academy Award; he performed it at the awards ceremony with Alison Krauss, who sang the song on the official soundtrack. Costello co-wrote many songs on Krall's 2004 CD, The Girl in the Other Room, the first of hers to feature several original compositions. In July 2004, Costello's first full-scale orchestral work, Il Sogno, was performed in New York. The work, a ballet based on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, was commissioned by Italian dance troupe Aterballeto, and received critical acclaim from classical music critics. Performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, the recording was released on CD in September by Deutsche Grammophon. In September 2004, Costello released the album The Delivery Man, recorded in Oxford, Mississippi, on Lost Highway Records, and it was hailed as one of his best. Costello's hand prints on the European Walk of Fame, Rotterdam A CD recording of a collaboration with Marian McPartland on her show Piano Jazz was released in 2005. It featured Costello singing six jazz standards and two of his own songs, accompanied by McPartland on piano. A 2005 tour included a gig at Glastonbury that Costello considered so dreadful that he said "I don't care if I ever play England again. That gig made up my mind I wouldn't come back. I don't get along with it. We lost touch. It's 25 years since I lived there. I don't dig it, they don't dig me....British music fans don't have the same attitude to age as they do in America, where young people come to check out, say Willie Nelson. They feel some connection with him and find a role for that music in their lives".[256] In 2005, Costello performed with Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong. They played both Costello and Green Day songs together, including "Alison", "No Action", "Basket Case" and "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)". In November, Costello started recording a new album with Allen Toussaint and producer Joe Henry. Costello had a collaborative history with Toussaint, beginning with a couple of scattered album tracks in the 1980s.[257] In September 2006, Costello and Allen Toussaint performed in New York at a series of benefit concerts for victims of Hurricane Katrina.[257] By week's end, Costello had written The River in Reverse, performed it with Toussaint and discussed plans for an album with Verve Records executives. Costello turned to older songs to reflect the national malaise at the time.[257] In a studio recording of Nieve's opera Welcome to the Voice (2006, Deutsche Grammophon), Costello interpreted the character of Chief of Police, with Barbara Bonney, Robert Wyatt, Sting and Amanda Roocroft, and the album reached No. 2 in the Billboard classical charts. Costello later reprised the piece on the stage of the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris in 2008, with Sting, Joe Sumner (Sting's son) and Sylvia Schwartz. Also released in 2006 was a live recording of a concert with the Metropole Orkest at the North Sea Jazz Festival, entitled My Flame Burns Blue. The soundtrack for House, M.D. featured Costello's interpretation of "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera, with the song appearing in the second episode of Season 2. Costello was commissioned to write a chamber opera by the Danish Royal Opera, Copenhagen, on the subject of Hans Christian Andersen's infatuation with Swedish soprano Jenny Lind. Called The Secret Songs, it remained unfinished.[258] In a performance in 2007 directed by Kasper Bech Holten at the Opera's studio theatre (Takelloftet), finished songs were interspersed with pieces from Costello's 1993 collaborative classical album The Juliet Letters, featuring Danish soprano Sine Bundgaard as Lind. The 2009 album Secret, Profane & Sugarcane includes material from Secret Songs. On 22 April 2008, Momofuku was released on Lost Highway Records, the same imprint that released The Delivery Man, his previous studio album. The album was, at least initially, released exclusively on vinyl (with a code to download a digital copy). That summer, in support of the album, Costello toured with the Police on the final leg of their 2007/2008 Reunion Tour. Costello played a homecoming gig at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall on 25 June 2006.[259] and, that month, gave his first performance in Poland, appearing with The Imposters for the closing gig of the Malta theatre festival in Poznań. In 2006, Costello performed with Fiona Apple in the Decades Rock TV special. Apple performed two Costello songs and Costello performed two Apple songs.[260] In 2007, Costello collaborated with the Argentinean/Uruguayan electro-tango band Bajofondo on the song "Fairly Right" from the album Mar Dulce. In 2008, Costello collaborated with Fall Out Boy on the track "What a Catch, Donnie" from their album Folie a Deux. In Jenny Lewis' 2008 release, Acid Tongue, Costello provided vocals for the song "Carpetbaggers". In November 2009, Costello appeared live with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at Madison Square Garden and performed the Jackie Wilson song "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher".[261] In July 2008, Costello (as Declan McManus) appeared in his home city Liverpool where he was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Music from the University of Liverpool.[262] Costello was featured on Fall Out Boy's 2008 album Folie à Deux, providing vocals on the track "What a Catch, Donnie", along with other artists who are friends with the band. Costello appeared in Stephen Colbert's television special A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All. In the program, he was eaten by a bear, but later saved by Santa Claus; he also sang a duet with Colbert. The special was first aired on 23 November 2008.[263] Costello released Secret, Profane & Sugarcane, a collaboration with T-Bone Burnett, on 9 June 2009. It was his first on the Starbucks Hear Music label and a return to country music in the manner of "Good Year for the Roses". Costello performing in tribute to music legends Chuck Berry and Leonard Cohen, who were the recipients of the first annual PEN Awards for songwriting excellence, at the JFK Presidential Library, in Boston, Massachusetts on 26 February 2012 In May 2009, Costello made a surprise cameo appearance on-stage at the Beacon Theatre in New York as part of Spinal Tap's Unwigged and Unplugged show, singing their fictional 1965 hit "Gimme Some Money" with the band backing him up. In December 2009, Costello portrayed The Shape on the album Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, a collaboration between rock singer John Mellencamp and novelist Stephen King. In February 2010, Costello appeared in the live cinecast of Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion, singing some of his own songs, and participating in many of the show's other musical and acting performances. On 30 April 2011, he played the song "Pump it Up" with the Odds before the start of a Vancouver Canucks playoff game at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia.[264] 2010–present[edit] Costello released the album National Ransom in autumn of 2010.[265] On 26 February 2012, Costello paid tribute to music legends Chuck Berry and Leonard Cohen, who were the recipients of the first annual PEN Awards for songwriting excellence, at the JFK Presidential Library, in Boston, Massachusetts, on 26 February 2012.[266] In September 2013 Costello released Wise Up Ghost, a collaboration with the Roots. On 25 October 2013, Costello was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from the New England Conservatory.[267] In 2012, he played ukulele, mandolin, guitar and added backing vocals on Diana Krall's 11th studio album, Glad Rag Doll (as "Howard Coward").[268] On 10 September 2013, he played during the Apple September 2013 Event after the introduction of iTunes Radio, iPhone 5C and 5S at Town Hall, at the Apple campus.[269] On Gov't Mule's album Shout!, released in September 2013, he sang on the track "Funny Little Tragedy". In March 2014, Costello recorded Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes with Rhiannon Giddens, Taylor Goldsmith, Jim James and Marcus Mumford.[270] During the 2016 Detour, he performs with Larkin Poe. On 12 October 2018, Costello released his first studio album in five years, Look Now, recorded with The Imposters. The album features three songs co-written with Burt Bacharach, and one song co-written with Carole King. Costello wrote and produced a large majority of the album himself, with help from producer Sebastian Krys. On 26 January 2020, Look Now won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album at the 62nd Grammy Awards. Costello was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to music.[271] In 2021, Costello released Spanish Model, a remix of 1978's This Year's Model with Spanish lyrics. Singers from Spanish-speaking parts of the world, with help from Spanish-speaking songwriters, translated all 16 songs of the album into Spanish, with the new vocals set to the original recording and instrumentation by the Attractions. The singers included Juanes, Jorge Drexler, Luis Fonsi, Francisca Valenzuela, Fuego, Draco Rosa, and Fito Páez.[272][273] In 2021, Costello appeared at the Royal Variety Performance playing two songs with the Imposters. He was introduced by the MC Alan Carr as a man who has achieved everything except appearing at the Royal Variety Performance. Between songs Costello informed the audience that he was the second McManus to appear. His father Ross appeared in the 1960s singing "If I Had a Hammer".[274][275] In January 2022, he performed on The Graham Norton Show.[276] That same month he released the LP The Boy Named If, recorded with the Imposters.[277] The Resurrection of Rust by a reformed Rusty followed later that year.[278] In April 2023, Costello collaborated with Slovenian band Joker Out on their single, "New Wave".[279] The compilation The Songs of Bacharach & Costello was also released at this time.[280] In August 2023, he made a three-dates mini-tour together with Italian singer-songwriter Carmen Consoli, a project the two had originally planned in 2012 but that at the time had been shelved due to Consoli's pregnancy.[281][282][283] In November 2024, Costello and T Bone Burnett will release a scripted comedy audio series on Audible, directed by Christopher Guest, as the Coward Brothers, characters the two created in the 1980s. The series features guest appearances by Harry Shearer as the radio host interviewing the two, along with Rhea Seehorn, Edward Hibbert, Stephen Root and Kathreen Khavari. An accompanying soundtrack album will be released via New West Records.[284] Writing[edit] Since the early 1980s, Costello has written about music for publications including Hot Press,[285][286] Details,[287] Mojo,[l] Musician,[296][297] NME,[298] Rolling Stone,[55] and Vanity Fair.[299][300][62] He has also written several articles about football (soccer), as an avid and knowledgeable fan, for the Times of London.[301][302][303] A Vanity Fair editor who worked with Costello said, "His copy was clean, elegant, and ready to run."[304] Costello has written liner notes for releases by artists including Gram Parsons,[305] the Fairfield Four,[306] Dusty Springfield,[307] Booker T. & the M.G.'s,[308] Burt Bacharach,[309] and Bill Frisell.[310] He has written forewords to books by Geoff Emerick,[311] Loretta Lynn,[312] and Wanda Jackson.[313] In 1993, Costello began reissuing his catalog of albums from 1977 through 1986, on Rykodisc, and wrote detailed liner notes for each reissued album. Reviewers praised these liner notes as frank and charming.[314][315] In 2001, he began a second round of reissues, this time of his catalog from 1977 through 1996, on Rhino Entertainment, and wrote even more detailed liner notes. Goldmine said the Rhino liner notes brought "a wealth of insight into the songs and the creative process itself" and that "liner notes simply don't get any better than this."[316] Pitchfork called them "truly fascinating."[317] Several journalists noted that, at a total of 60,000 words, the Rhino liner notes amounted to a serialised memoir.[318][218][319] In 2012, Slate magazine published a book review of the Rhino liner notes in which it called them "one of the best rock-star memoirs of the last decade."[319] In 2015, Costello published Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink, a memoir that had little overlap with his reissue liner notes.[320] In this book, Costello recounted his life in music and traced parallels between his own experiences and those of his father and grandfather, both of whom were musicians.[321] The book received enthusiastic positive reviews from prominent publications. The New York Times said it contained "some of the best writing – funny, strange, spiteful, anguished – we've ever had from an important musician."[322] The Washington Post praised it as having more in common with Frank McCourt's memoir Angela's Ashes than Mötley Crüe's The Dirt and said it was more enjoyable than Keith Richards' Life and Bob Dylan's Chronicles: Volume One.[323] However, some positive reviews noted that the quality of the writing in the book was uneven and that the book might have been improved by being shorter, more focused thematically, or both.[322][321] The few negative reviews the book received criticised its nonlinear structure, its relative lack of emphasis on Costello's pop-star period, and its lack of details about his romantic relationships.[324] The book reached number 7 on the New York Times Best Seller list.[325] It was shortlisted for the Penderyn Music Book Prize, a British award for excellence in writing about music.[326] The audiobook, narrated by Costello, was nominated for a Grammy Award.[327] Acting and television presenting[edit] Costello has played himself or fictional characters very similar to himself in movies and television shows including Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999),[328] The Simpsons (2002),[329] Frasier (2003),[330] Two and a Half Men (2004),[331] 30 Rock (2009),[332] Treme (2010),[333] and Sesame Street (2011).[334] He has also played more character-based roles, such as the title character's eccentric brother in screenwriter Alan Bleasdale's television series Scully (1984), an inept magician in Bleasdale's movie No Surrender (1985), a teacher at an impoverished school in the movie Prison Song (2001), and the title character's father in the children's animated series The Adventures of Pete the Cat (2017).[335] In 1995, he appeared as a guest pundit on the British football commentary television show Football Italia.[303][336] In 2003, Costello substituted for an ailing David Letterman as the host of Late Show with David Letterman'', making him the only musical guest of the show to have served as guest host.[337] Costello's performance on that show led to interest in developing a music-oriented talk show with him as the host, which came to fruition a few years later.[338][339] In 2008, Costello began production on Spectacle: Elvis Costello with..., a show on which he interviewed and performed songs with other musicians.[340] Guests included Tony Bennett, Bruce Springsteen, Smokey Robinson, Bono and the Edge of U2, opera singer Renée Fleming, and former president (and accomplished saxophonist) Bill Clinton.[341] The series ran for 20 episodes over two seasons from 2008 through 2010.[342] It aired on Sundance Channel in the US, CTV in Canada, and Channel 4 in the UK.[343] The show received favourable reviews in the US, with reviewers praising Costello's ability to get his guests to reveal insights into their creative processes and calling him a "deeply knowledgeable, erudite and witty host."[344][345][341] In Canada, the show won a Gemini Award for Best Talk Series.[346] In Britain, however, it was aired in an overnight time slot and largely ignored.[22][338] Public image and controversies[edit] Costello revealed little about his background and gave few interviews in the first five years of his career, so the few widely published interviews he gave played a large role in forming his early public image.[218] In a widely quoted August 1977 interview with Nick Kent, Costello said the only things that mattered to him were "revenge and guilt".[58][347] This phrase would be associated with him throughout his career.[218] 1977 Saturday Night Live appearance[edit] On 17 December 1977, Costello and the Attractions appeared on Saturday Night Live as last-minute replacements for the Sex Pistols.[171][348] One of the songs Costello was scheduled to perform, at the request of his record company, was "Less Than Zero", a song Costello wrote in reaction to seeing British fascist Oswald Mosley being treated with what Costello felt was undeserved deference during an interview on British television.[348][58] Costello did not want to play the song because he thought the subject was too obscure for American audiences and the song was too low-key to make a strong impression.[108][349] Instead, he wanted to play the then-unrecorded song, "Radio Radio". During the live broadcast, Costello played a few bars of "Less Than Zero" and then told the Attractions to play "Radio Radio", which they played in its entirety.[174] This angered the show's producer, Lorne Michaels, because Michaels was not prepared for the change and because "Radio Radio" had not been cleared by NBC's censors.[350][351][m] When asked about the incident on NBC's Tomorrow Show three years later, Costello said he was told he would never appear on American television again.[352] He appeared as musical guest on Saturday Night Live again in 1989 and 1991.[171] Although the incident provoked little comment at the time, by 1999 it had become so well known that Saturday Night Live invited Costello to perform a parody of it with the Beastie Boys on the show 25th-anniversary special.[353][354] 1979 Columbus, Ohio, incident[edit] In March 1979, during a drunken argument with Bonnie Bramlett and other members of the Stephen Stills band, at a Holiday Inn bar in Columbus, Ohio, the singer referred to James Brown as a "jive-ass nigger,"[citation needed] then upped the ante by pronouncing Ray Charles a "blind, ignorant nigger."[355] Costello addressed the controversy at a New York City press conference a few days later, stating that he had been drunk and had been attempting to be obnoxious to bring the conversation to a swift conclusion, not anticipating that Bramlett would bring his comments to the press. According to Costello, "it became necessary for me to outrage these people with about the most obnoxious and offensive remarks that I could muster". In his liner notes for the expanded version of Get Happy!! Costello writes that some time after the incident he had declined an offer to meet Charles out of guilt and embarrassment, although Charles himself had forgiven Costello, saying "Drunken talk isn't meant to be printed in the paper." Costello worked extensively in Britain's Rock Against Racism campaign both before and after the incident. In an interview with Questlove (drummer for the Roots, with whom Costello collaborated in 2013), he stated: "It's upsetting because I can't explain how I even got to think you could be funny about something like that," and further elaborating with, "I'm sorry. You know? It's about time I said it out loud."[356] 2010 cancelled Tel Aviv concerts[edit] In early 2010, Costello was invited to play his first concert in Israel, on 30 June of that year, at the Caesarea Amphitheater north of Tel Aviv.[357] Due to high demand for tickets, a second concert was added for 1 July.[358] At first, Costello seemed resolved to resist political pressure on artists to refrain from performing in Israel due to the country's controversial treatment of Palestinians. In early May, Costello told Israel's largest daily newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, "As soon as you play you are going to get criticised." Costello told the newspaper he did not agree with organisations that "think that they need to boycott Israel to pressure it," saying he thought "culture is the only way in which humanity shares experiences, and that is why I need to come and perform here."[359] Two weeks later, he announced on his website that he had cancelled the concerts because of what he called the "grave and complex" sensitivities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.[360] He told The Jerusalem Post his decision was part of a "30-year conundrum" that he had been dealing with regarding playing in Israel. He also told the Post that he had not been threatened or coerced, but that he "woke up one day and realised [he] couldn't go on with the shows." The promoters of the concerts expressed shock. Israeli Culture Minister Limor Livnat, a member of right-wing Likud Party, denounced the decision. The organisation Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel praised it.[361] Personal life[edit] Costello and Diana Krall in 2009 Costello has no full siblings.[22] He has four half-brothers from his father's second marriage, all of whom are musicians.[32] In November 1974, Costello married Mary Burgoyne.[362] Costello has said he had hoped to marry Burgoyne since he was 14 years old and they were at school together in London, although they did not begin dating until four years later, when Costello moved back to London after living with his mother in Liverpool for two and a half years.[363][364] They have one child, Matthew MacManus, born in early 1975.[99] Costello's rapid rise to fame put a strain on their marriage almost immediately.[365] The couple separated in early 1978 but reconciled the following year.[366][367] They separated permanently in mid-1984 and finalised their divorce in 1988.[368][369] Costello has said that his inability to remain faithful in his first marriage, and the emotional turmoil it caused him, has been a major inspiration for his songs.[22][370] In early 1985, Costello began a romantic relationship with Cait O'Riordan, then bass player for the Pogues, whom he met in October 1984 while their respective bands were on tour together.[371] In May 1986, they exchanged wedding rings and thereafter presented themselves, and were regarded, as husband and wife. They were never legally married.[372][369] In September 2002, Costello ended the relationship.[373] O'Riordan said that she was never married, that there was "no piece of paper with marriage on it". They have no children. Since their split, both Costello and O'Riordan have described the union as unhappy.[374][375] In early 2003, Costello became engaged to marry singer and pianist Diana Krall, whom he met at the Grammy Awards ceremony the year before.[376][377] They married in December 2003.[378] The couple has twin sons, born in December 2006.[379] Health[edit] In July 2018, Costello announced that he had been successfully treated for a cancerous growth six weeks earlier, but needed to cancel the remaining six dates of his European tour to continue recovering from the surgery. Costello said he had underestimated how much time he would need to recover.[380] He resumed performing in September 2018.[381] Humanitarian causes[edit] In 2017, Costello helped establish the Musician Treatment Foundation as a member of its board of directors. The foundation, which is based in Austin, Texas, helps under- and uninsured professional musicians receive free orthopedic care for upper limb injuries.[382] He performed concerts for the foundation's benefit in October 2017 and December 2022.[383][384] Costello sits on the advisory board of the board of directors of the Jazz Foundation of America, which provides emergency financial support and other services to working and retired musicians.[385] Vegetarianism[edit] A pescatarian since the early 1980s, Costello says he was moved to reject meat after seeing the documentary The Animals Film (1982), which also helped inspire his song "Pills and Soap" from 1983's Punch the Clock.[386] In January 2013, Costello teamed up with Paul McCartney to create an advertisement campaign backing vegetarian foods produced by the Linda McCartney Foods brand.[387] Legacy[edit] Costello is considered by experts in pop and rock music to be one of the best songwriters of his generation. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic summarised Costello as, "The most evocative, innovative, and gifted songwriter since Bob Dylan, with songs that offer highly personal takes on love and politics."[388] In 2015, Rolling Stone ranked him 24th their list of the greatest songwriters of all time, calling him a songwriter of "almost unparalleled versatility."[389] When he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2016, the induction announcement said the impact of Costello's songs "far out-distanced their commercial performance."[390] Costello's debut album, My Aim Is True, is widely considered one of the best debut albums in the history of rock music.[391][392] On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the album's release, Billboard called it "one of the most influential albums in the history of rock and punk" and "one of the strongest debut albums in history".[393] Although Costello never applied the term "new wave" to his music,[56] Costello's early records helped defined the new wave music genre. AllMusic said, "Costello's early albums changed the face of pop music by harnessing punk's energy to a leaner, more incisive aesthetic that included pop hooks, virtually inventing new wave in the process."[394] In their 2013 list of greatest albums of all time, the NME described This Year's Model as "defining the British new wave."[395] In their 2009 list of greatest albums of all time, Rolling Stone said "the keyboard-driven sound of [Costello's 1979 song] 'Accidents Will Happen' helped define New Wave."[396] Musical artists with little connection to new wave have also claimed influence by Costello. Bruce Springsteen has said that comments Costello made in the press criticising Springsteen's early songs as overly romantic led Springsteen to write darker songs for his 1978 album Darkness on the Edge of Town.[397] Thom Yorke called Blood & Chocolate "the album that made me change the way I thought about recording and writing music [and] lyrics" and named it as an important influence on his band Radiohead's album OK Computer.[398] Liz Phair, in her appreciation of Costello for Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, wrote: "I'd pay a great amount of money to audit a course taught by him."[399] Suzanne Vega has called Costello one of the "melodic geniuses" whose music she listens to in order to "stretch my sense of melody."[400] Prominent artists in other fields have claimed influence or inspiration from Costello. Filmmaker and comedian Judd Apatow has called Costello "a gigantic inspiration to me" and has suggested that he and other comedians are "fanatical" about Costello's music because of the "spirit of standing up for what you believe in and the humor" in it.[401] Satirist and television host Stephen Colbert has described Costello as "probably my favourite rock artist" and said he sees parallels between his own humor and Costello's "wry, sardonic" songs.[402] Novelist Bret Easton Ellis titled his 1985 novel Less Than Zero after a Costello song and its 2010 sequel Imperial Bedrooms after a Costello album. Ellis has said Costello was once his "idol".[403][404] Visual artist Peter Blake featured Costello prominently in his 2012 reworking of the artwork he created for the cover of the Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Blake said he included people he admired and who had contributed to British culture since he created the original work.[405] Awards and honours[edit] Entertainment industry awards[edit] United States: ASCAP Founders Award (2003)[406] Grammy Award, Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, "I Still Have That Other Girl" (1998)[407] Grammy Award, Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, Look Now (2019)[408] Grammy Hall of Fame, My Aim Is True (2007)[409] MTV Video Music Award, Best Male Video, "Veronica" (1989)[410] Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with the Attractions (2003)[255] Songwriters Hall of Fame (2016)[411] United Kingdom: BAFTA, Best Original Television Music, G.B.H. (1992)[412] Ivor Novello Award, Outstanding Contemporary Song Collection (1995)[413] Ivor Novello Award, PRS Outstanding Contribution to British Music Award (1997)[414] Netherlands: Edison Award, Pop category, My Aim Is True (1978)[415] Edison Award, singer-songwriter, Spike (1989)[416] Edison Award, Extra/special production, innovative, The Juliet Letters (1993)[417] Edison Award, International singer, Painted from Memory (1999)[418] Canada: Gemini Award, Best Talk Series, Spectacle: Elvis Costello with... (2010)[346] Critics' best-of lists and music press awards[edit] Best of year: NME Awards Best Songwriter (1978)[419] NME Awards Best Songwriter (1983)[420] NME Awards Best Album, Punch the Clock (1983)[420] Village Voice Pazz and Jop critics' poll, number 1 album of the year, This Years Model (1978)[191] Village Voice Pazz and Jop critics' poll, number 1 album of the year, Imperial Bedroom (1982)[421] Best of all time: Five albums on NME's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2013):[422] This Year's Model (#256)[395] My Aim is True (#281)[395] Imperial Bedroom (#316)[395] Punch the Clock (#345)[395] Blood and Chocolate (#483)[395] Four albums on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2009):[423] This Years Model (#98)[424] Imperial Bedroom (#166)[425] My Aim Is True (#168)[426] Armed Forces (#475)[396] Number 24 on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time (2015)[389] Number 80 on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Artists of All Time (2010)[399] Honorary degrees[edit] Doctor of Music, University of Liverpool (2008)[427] Doctor of Music, New England Conservatory of Music (2013)[428] Discography[edit] Main article: Elvis Costello discography Albums as solo artist and bandleader[edit] My Aim Is True (1977) This Year's Model (1978) Armed Forces (1979) Get Happy!! (1980) Trust (1981) Almost Blue (1981) Imperial Bedroom (1982) Punch the Clock (1983) Goodbye Cruel World (1984) King of America (1986) Blood & Chocolate (1986) Spike (1989) Mighty Like a Rose (1991) Brutal Youth (1994) Kojak Variety (1995) All This Useless Beauty (1996) When I Was Cruel (2002) North (2003) The Delivery Man (2004) Momofuku (2008) Secret, Profane & Sugarcane (2009) National Ransom (2010) Look Now (2018) Hey Clockface (2020) The Boy Named If (2022) Collaborative albums[edit] The Juliet Letters, with the Brodsky Quartet (1993) Painted from Memory, with Burt Bacharach (1998) For the Stars, with Anne Sofie von Otter (2001) Piano Jazz, with Marian McPartland (2005) My Flame Burns Blue, with the Metropole Orkest (2006) The River in Reverse, with Allen Toussaint (2006) Wise Up Ghost, with the Roots (2013) Lost on the River, as member of The New Basement Tapes (2014) The Resurrection of Rust, with Allan Mayes (2022) Composer, soundtracks and scores[edit] G.B.H., with Richard Harvey (1991) Jake's Progress, with Richard Harvey (1995) Il Sogno (2004) Producer for others[edit] The Specials – Specials (1979) East Side Story – Squeeze (1981, with Roger Béchirian) "Free Nelson Mandela" – the Special A.K.A (1984) Rum Sodomy & the Lash – the Pogues (1985) Filmography[edit] .mw-parser-output .ambox{border:1px solid #a2a9b1;border-left:10px solid #36c;background-color:#fbfbfb;box-sizing:border-box}.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+link+.ambox{margin-top:-1px}html body.mediawiki .mw-parser-output .ambox.mbox-small-left{margin:4px 1em 4px 0;overflow:hidden;width:238px;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em}.mw-parser-output .ambox-speedy{border-left:10px solid #b32424;background-color:#fee7e6}.mw-parser-output .ambox-delete{border-left:10px solid #b32424}.mw-parser-output .ambox-content{border-left:10px solid #f28500}.mw-parser-output .ambox-style{border-left:10px solid #fc3}.mw-parser-output .ambox-move{border-left:10px solid #9932cc}.mw-parser-output .ambox-protection{border-left:10px solid #a2a9b1}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-text{border:none;padding:0.25em 0.5em;width:100%}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image{border:none;padding:2px 0 2px 0.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-imageright{border:none;padding:2px 0.5em 2px 0;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-empty-cell{border:none;padding:0;width:1px}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image-div{width:52px}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .ambox{margin:0 10%}}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .ambox{display:none!important}}This section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous.Find sources: "Elvis Costello" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message) As actor[edit] 1979 film debut as "The Earl of Manchester" in Americathon. Costello and the Attractions mime the song "Crawling to the U.S.A." in the film, which also appears on its soundtrack album. 1984 as "Henry Scully" in the UK TV series, Scully 1984 as "Stone Deaf A&R Man" in The Bullshitters, a movie made by members of the comedy troupe The Comic Strip, first aired on Channel 4 1985 as inept magician "Rosco de Ville" in the Alan Bleasdale film, No Surrender 1987 as "Hives the Butler" in the Alex Cox film, Straight to Hell, starring Joe Strummer and Courtney Love. Costello's "Big Nothing" (AKA "Town Called Big Nothing") appears in the film and on its soundtrack album. 1994 as himself on The Larry Sanders Show in the episode "People's Choice" 1996 as himself on The Larry Sanders Show in the episode "Everybody Loves Larry" 1997 as a barman in Spice World 1999 as himself in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, performing Burt Bacharach's "I'll Never Fall In Love Again" (with Bacharach), which also appears on its soundtrack album. 1999 as a younger version of himself in 200 Cigarettes 2000 as himself, filling his car with petrol in the full-length feature Sans plomb, whose soundtrack includes several of his songs 2001 as himself performing "Fly Me to the Moon" on the series finale of 3rd Rock from the Sun 2002 as himself on the episode "How I Spent My Strummer Vacation" of The Simpsons 2003 as Ben on Frasier, in the season 10 episode "Farewell Nervosa" 2003 as himself in I Love Your Work 2004 as himself in the UK TV Dead Ringers New Year Special, apparently and reportedly having serendipitously entered a filming venue.[429] 2004 as himself in Two and a Half Men – Season 2, Episode 1 2004 as himself in De-Lovely 2006 as himself in Delirious 2006 as himself in Before the Music Dies 2006 as himself in Putting the River in Reverse 2006 as himself in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby[430] 2008 as himself in A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All! 2009 as himself on the 30 Rock episode "Kidney Now!" 2010 as himself on Treme 2017 as himself in Ex Libris – The New York Public Library 2017–2019 as Pete's Dad (voice) in Pete the Cat (Season 1) As part of soundtracks[edit] 1983, "Party Party" appears in the film of the same name and on its soundtrack album. 1991, "Days" (a cover of the Kinks song) appears in the film Until the end of the World and on its soundtrack album. 1995, "My Dark Life," a collaboration with Brian Eno, appears on the album Songs in the Key of X. 1996, "God Give Me Strength," a collaboration with Burt Bacharach, appears in the film Grace of My Heart and on its soundtrack album. Nominated for Satellite Award for Best Original Song. 1998, "My Mood Swings" appears in the film The Big Lebowski and on its soundtrack album. 1998, "I Throw My Toys Around," a collaboration with No Doubt, appears in the film The Rugrats Movie and on its soundtrack album. 1999, "She" (a cover of the Charles Aznavour song) appears in the film Notting Hill and on its soundtrack album. The song peaked at No. 19 on the UK Singles Chart. 2003, "The Scarlet Tide," written by Costello and T-Bone Burnett and performed by Alison Krauss, appears in the film Cold Mountain and on its soundtrack album. Nominated for Academy Award for Best Original Song and Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media. 2019, "I Want You" appears twice in the critically acclaimed British film Only You. Bibliography[edit] 1980: A Singing Dictionary sheet music 1983: .mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}Costello, Elvis (1983). Everyday I Write the Song. Plangent Visions Music. ISBN 978-0-7119-1842-9. sheet music 2016: Costello, Elvis (2016). Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink. New York: Blue Rider Press. ISBN 978-0-399-18576-2. memoir Notes[edit] .mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman} ^ Costello's albums have appeared at these ranks on the Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics' poll: My Aim Is True (1977), number 2;[6] This Years Model (1978), number 1;[7] Armed Forces (1979), number 5;[8] Get Happy!! (1980), number 7;[9] Trust (1981), number 3;[10] Imperial Bedroom (1982), number 1;[11] Punch the Clock (1983), number 11;[12] King of America (1986), number 2; Blood and Chocolate (1986), number 9;[13] Spike (1989), number 7;[14] Brutal Youth (1994), number 31;[15] Painted From Memory (1998), number 18;[16] When I Was Cruel (2002), number 13;[17] The River in Reverse (2006), number 32.[18] ^ Costello was born Declan Patrick MacManus. He changed his legal name to Elvis Costello after he became successful under that stage name, according to him, to rebut the insinuations of "smartarse customs officials" and "obnoxious journalists who accused me of being a novelty act."[19] In 1985, he changed his legal name to Declan Patrick Aloysius MacManus.[20] The extra middle name is a reference to a character played by the comedian Tony Hancock.[21] ^ Some sources incorrectly state Costello's mother is of Irish descent and Catholic, apparently taking Costello's comments in some interviews that he is of Irish descent to mean he comes from an exclusively Irish and Catholic background. However, in Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink, Costello writes that his maternal grandparents "were unusual for a Merseyside couple in not having any Irish, Scottish, or Welsh blood between them" [25] and that his mother was raised Congregationalist.[26] ^ Some sources incorrectly state that Ross is the actor seen singing the jingle in the television ads, the writer of the jingle, or both. The onscreen actor is Julian Chagrin.[40] The jingle was written by Rod Allen, the jingle-writing member for the advertising agency Allen, Brady, and Marsh.[41] ^ Ross changed the spelling of his surname to MacManus early in his career as a musician. [43][44] ^ Some sources incorrectly state that Costello attended the grammar school St Francis Xavier's College, Liverpool. He did not. He attended Campion Catholic High School in Everton, Liverpool a comprehensive school that had previously shared a campus with St Francis Xavier's College when the combined schools were known as St Francis Xavier Bi-Lateral School.[68][69] ^ Britain had no national minimum wage in 1972, but £20 a week, when adjusted for inflation, is approximately equal to 75% of the 2023 national minimum wage for 18- to 20-year-olds.[73][74] ^ Rusty's version of the song was co-written by Mayes and Costello, but by the time Costello recorded it as "Ghost Train", nothing remained of Mayes's contribution, so "Ghost Train" is credited to Costello alone.[35] ^ In a little-seen version of the television commercial, in which the lemonade drinker fantasises that he is a singer in a nightclub, Costello and his father mimed instruments as members of the singer's band.[42] ^ Sources prior to 2015 state that Costello sent the six songs he sent to Charlie Gillett, often referred to as The Honky Tonk Demos, to everyone he sent demos to during this period, including Stiff Records. However, in his 2015 memoir, Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink, Costello states that his notebooks from this period indicate he was sending a different set of songs to each recipient. The deluxe ebook edition reproduces handwritten notebook pages illustrating this.[112] ^ After Costello became successful, the six songs he sent to Gillett were widely bootlegged.[120] They received an official release as bonus tracks on the 1993 and 2001 reissues of My Aim Is True.[107][108] ^ Costello wrote articles for Mojo in 1994,[288] 1998 (three articles),[289][290][291] 1999,[292] 2002 (two articles),[293][294] and 2014.[295] ^ Many sources assert without evidence that Lorne Michaels or others associated with Saturday Night Live, rather than Costello's record company, had told Costello not to play "Radio Radio", or that the supposedly anti-corporate nature of the song's lyrics was the reason he was told not to play it, or both. This is not supported by Costello's account, nor by Micheals' account, nor the accounts of others directly involved with the show.[349][350][351] References[edit] ^ Upchurch, Michael (17 April 2014). "Diana Krall takes fresh twist on forgotten tunes | Concert review". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on 10 May 2020. Retrieved 10 May 2020. ^ Michael Uslan; Bruce Solomon (November 1981). Dick Clark's First 25 Years of Rock and Roll. Dell Books. p. 433. ISBN 978-0-440-51763-4. Archived from the original on 21 July 2020. Retrieved 28 May 2017. ^ Barsky, Alice (11 September 2015). "Elvis Costello to Release Soundtrack Album to His Upcoming Memoir". Paste. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 19 December 2015. ^ Carr, Roy. "Pub Rock" Archived 9 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine. NME. 29 October 1977. ^ The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll. p. 213. ^ Christgau, Robert (23 January 1978). "The 1977 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". Village Voice. ^ Christgau, Robert (22 January 1979). "The 1979 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". Village Voice. ^ Christgau, Robert (28 January 1980). "The 1977 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". Village Voice. ^ Christgau, Robert (4 February 1981). "The 1980 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". Village Voice. ^ Christgau, Robert (1 February 1982). "The 1981 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". Village Voice. ^ Christgau, Robert (22 February 1983). "The 1982 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". Village Voice. ^ Christgau, Robert (28 February 1984). "The 1983 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". Village Voice. ^ Christgau, Robert (3 March 1987). "The 1986 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". Village Voice. ^ Christgau, Robert (27 February 1990). "The 1989 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". Village Voice. ^ Christgau, Robert (28 February 1995). "The 1994 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". Village Voice. ^ Christgau, Robert (2 March 1999). "The 1998 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". Village Voice. ^ Christgau, Robert (18 February 2003). "The 2002 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". Village Voice. ^ Christgau, Robert (6 February 2007). "The 20062 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". Village Voice. ^ Costello, Elvis (2005). King of America liner notes (booklet). Rhino Records. ^ a b Levin, Eric (6 June 1986). "Elvis Costello". People. Vol. 25, no. 23. ^ Kent, Nick (March 1986). "The happy death of Elvis Costello". The Face. London. ^ a b c d e f g h i Chalmers, Robert (October 2009). "Men of the year, 2009; Elvis Costello, outstanding acheivement". British GQ. Retrieved 28 June 2018. ^ Thomson 2004, p. 12. ^ Thomson 2004, p. 10-11. ^ a b Costello 2015, p. 137. ^ a b c Costello 2015, p. 537. ^ Costello 2015, pp. 136–137. ^ Clayton-Lea, Tony (15 January 2022). "Elvis Costello: 'What you get is this face and this voice that has changed'". The Irish Times. ^ a b Costello 2015, p. 405. ^ a b Rowland, Mark (March 1989). "Elvis Costello in love and war". Musician. ^ Thomson 2004, p. 17. ^ a b c d e f Laing, Dave (21 December 2011). "Ross MacManus obituary". The Guardian. 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London. ^ Ouellette, Dan (November 2003). "Northern exposure". Downbeat. ^ Kidel 2014, at 7 minutes. ^ Costello 2015, pp. 40–42. ^ Kidel 2014, at 10 minutes. ^ a b Costello, Elvis (2 December 2010). "100 greatest artists:The Beatles". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 28 June 2018. ^ a b c d e f g h i Doggett, Peter (September 1995). "Elvis Costello [interview]". Record Collector. United Kingdom. ^ Costello 2015, pp. 201–202, 504–505. ^ a b c d e f g h i Marcus, Greil (2 September 1982). "Elvis Costello explains himself". Rolling Stone. New York. Retrieved 28 June 2018. ^ Doggett, Peter (2008). "I stand accused". Mojo Classic. pp. Vol. 2, No. 5. ^ White, Timothy (3 August 1989). "Give Thanks and Praises". The Beat. Glendale, CA. ^ Costello 2015, p. 106. ^ a b Costello, Elvis (November 2004). "Joni's last waltz?". Vanity Fair. Conde Nast. ^ Mahoney, Michael (27 August 2009). "Elvis Costello and the Sugarcanes". Dallas Observer. ^ Graham, Jane (7–13 May 2018). "Letter to my younger self". The Big Issue. Retrieved 6 June 2018. ^ Thomson 2004, pp. 14–15, 17–18, 29. ^ Kidel 2014, at 11 minutes and 13 minutes. ^ a b Cumber, Robert (20 January 2010). "Elvis Costello's school celebrates anniversary". My London. ^ Thomson 2004, p. 23. ^ Costello 2015, pp. 16–17. ^ Thomson 2004, pp. 17–18, 23, 29. ^ Costello 2015, pp. 23–24. ^ Costello 2015, pp. 13–15, 23. ^ "Inflation". Bank of England. Retrieved 23 July 2023. ^ "National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates". UK.gov. Retrieved 26 May 2018. ^ a b Costello 2015, p. 142. ^ Costello 2015, pp. 142–143. ^ a b Thomson 2004, p. 91. ^ Costello 2015, p. 104. ^ a b c Irwin, Colin (July 1989). "Floor singer's revenge". Folk Roots. Vol. 73. ^ a b c Jones, Allan (25 June 1977). "The Elvis (Costello, that is) interview". Melody Maker. ^ Thomson 2004, p. 25. ^ a b Thomson 2004, p. 27. ^ Thomson 2004, pp. 27–28. ^ Mayes, Allan (October 1995). "Brinsley Schwarz, Silver Pistol". Q. Vol. 109. ^ Greene, Andy (30 May 2022). "Elvis Costello Reunites With Teenage Bandmate for Nostalgic LP 'Rusty: The Resurrection of Rust'". Rolling Stone. ^ Costello 2015, pp. 151–152. ^ Costello 2015, pp. 154 [illustration], in deluxe ebook photo gallery, reproduction of "Folk Forum" from Melody Maker, 14 April 1973. ^ Thomson 2004, pp. 38–39. ^ a b Thomson 2004, p. 41. ^ Costello 2015, pp. 163–164. ^ Thomson 2004, pp. 42, 55, 57–58. ^ Costello 2015, pp. 174–175. ^ Thomson 2004, p. 44. ^ a b St. Michael 1986, p. 12. ^ St. Michael 1986, p. 14. ^ Thomson 2004, p. 56. ^ Costello 2015, pp. 152–153. ^ Costello 2015, pp. 142–143, 180. ^ a b Thomson 2004, pp. 49–50. ^ Costello 2015, pp. 147, 180–181. ^ St. Michael 1986, p. 11. ^ Thomson 2004, pp. 55, 56–57. ^ Thomson 2004, pp. 50–52. ^ Thomson 2004, pp. 50–51, 53–55. ^ Thomson 2004, pp. 52, 55. ^ St. Michael 1986, p. 28. ^ a b Costello, Elvis (1993). My Aim Is True liner notes (inset). Rykodisc. ^ a b c d e f g h i Costello, Elvis (2001). My Aim Is True liner notes (booklet). Rhino Records. ^ Thomson 2004, p. 46. ^ Costello 2015, p. 224. ^ a b Costello 2015, p. 183. ^ a b Costello 2015, pp. 183, in the photo gallery of deluxe ebook edition, "List of demos sent to record labels" and "Songs sent to Honky Tonk, BBC Radio London". ^ Gimarc 1994, p. 24. ^ Norris, Chris (December 2008). "[Elvis Costello] The Spin Interview". 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"Royal Variety Performance 2021: Full line up and when you can see it". WalesOnline. Archived from the original on 10 January 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2022. ^ "Elvis Costello's Musician Father (and Doppelgänger) Performing in 1963". Open Culture. 2 November 2021. Archived from the original on 10 January 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2022. ^ "Series 29: Episode 14". The Graham Norton Show. 14 January 2022. BBC. Archived from the original on 15 January 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2022. ^ Legaspi, Althea (27 October 2021). "Elvis Costello & the Imposters Preview 'The Boy Named If' LP With New Song". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 14 January 2022. ^ Greene, Andy (30 May 2022). "Elvis Costello Reunites With Teenage Bandmate for Nostalgic LP 'Rusty: The Resurrection of Rust'". Rolling Stone. ISSN 0035-791X. Retrieved 26 June 2023. ^ "Joker Out releases duet with Elvis Costello after successful Eurovision tour". ESCBubble. 21 April 2023. Retrieved 23 May 2023. ^ Deusner, Stephen M. (7 March 2023). 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Hot Press. Dublin, Ireland. ^ Costello, Elvis (October 1998). "What the World need now". Details. Conde Nast. ^ Costello, Elvis (June 1994). "Music in the movies". Mojo. London. ^ Costello, Elvis (January 1998). "The best thing I've heard all year". Mojo. London. ^ Costello, Elvis (February 1998). "Unafraid". Mojo. London. ^ Costello, Elvis (July 1998). "Frank Sinatra". Mojo. London. ^ Costello, Elvis (October 1999). "Attack of the killer organ". Mojo. London. ^ Costello, Elvis (March 2002). "Hero: Leslie Vinyl". Mojo. London. ^ Costello, Elvis (August 2002). "Paul McCartney". Mojo. London. ^ Costello, Elvis (January 2014). "The best thing I've heard all year". Mojo. London. ^ Costello, Elvis (March 1988). "Talking Animals, T Bone Burnett [review]". Musician. ^ Costello, Elvis (January 1995). "Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley, Peter Guralnick [review]". Musician. ^ Costello, Elvis (2 May 1998). "Goodbye...And Hello, Jeff Buckley Remembered [contributor]". NME. London. ^ Costello, Elvis (November 2000). "Costello's 500". Vanity Fair. Conde Nast. ^ Costello, Elvis (November 2002). "Rocking around the clock". Vanity Fair. Conde Nast. ^ Costello, Elvis (11 May 2001). "My red-hot love affair". The Times. London. ^ Costello, Elvis (12 May 2001). "Voice of the Kop". The Times. London. ^ a b Costello, Elvis (30 May 2005). "Fretting while the scarlet tide make history". The Times. London. Retrieved 28 June 2018. ^ Windolf, Jim (November 2008). "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Colbert and Costello?". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 28 June 2018. ^ Costello, Elvis (1982). Gram Parsons liner notes (inset). Warner Bros. ^ Costello, Elvis (1997). I Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray liner notes (inset). Warner Bros. ^ Costello, Elvis (2002). Dusty in Memphis liner notes (inset). Philips Records. ^ Costello, Elvis (2006). Booker T and the M.G.'s Stax Profiles liner notes (booklet). Stax Records. ^ Costello, Elvis (2008). Magic Moments –- The Definitive Burt Bacharach Collection liner notes (booklet). Rhino Records. ^ Costello, Elvis (2009). The Best Of Bill Frisell, Vol. 1: Folk Songs liner notes (inset). Nonesuch Records. ^ Costello, Elvis (2006). Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles (foreword). United States: Gotham Books. pp. ix–xi. ISBN 978-1-59240-179-6. ^ Costello, Elvis (2012). Honky Tonk Girl: My Life In Lyrics, Loretta Lynn (foreword). United States: Alfred A. Knopf. pp. vii–ix. ISBN 978-0-307-59489-1. ^ Costello, Elvis (2014). Every Night Is Saturday Night: A Country Girl's Journey To The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Wanda Jackson (foreword). United States: BMG Books. pp. v–vi. ISBN 978-1-947026-01-8. ^ Okamoto, David (1 September 1995). "1986 Costello album reissued". Daily Oklahoman. ^ Catlin, Roger (11 May 1995). "Costello's latest is basic pleasure". Hartford Courant. ^ Smith, Tierney (4 February 2005). "Almost Blue, Goodbye Cruel World, Kojak Variety". Goldmine. ^ LeMay, Matt (1 October 2007). "Elvis Costello, My Aim Is True [Deluxe Edition]". Pitchfork. Retrieved 11 June 2018. ^ Willman, Chris (17 May 2002). "2002 E.C." Entertainment Weekly. ^ a b Lingan, John (3 August 2012). "Everyday I Hide the Book". Slate. Retrieved 11 June 2018. ^
Data taken from WikiPedia.


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