Elvis Costello Fan Forum

Ha! Yes, that would explain it! Listening to that song for 40 years, and had no idea the opening line was lifted from a 1963 Cliff Richard song (and movie). Still learning those British references after all this time. Still have no idea who "Betty Felon" is for example. https://www.youtube...

Opening line from "The Beat" ("We're all going on a Summer holiday") leads off this newspaper article about the importance of taking vacation time off!
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/comm ... a-holiday/

Today (July 24) is the Feast of St. Declan of Ardmore (an Irish Saint from the 5th Century). A blessed St. Declan's Day to all!

". . . and it's really just a silly fragment of paper."

1977: "Putting His Fate In Your Hands"

1993: "Taking My Life In Your Hands" appears on The Juliet Letters

Boy With A Different Finger
King Dangle
Remove This Shirt
Punishing Mouth
The Long Savage
Distorted Tart
Shabby Petals
Sleep Of The Imposter
Charm Palaces
Lipstick In The Dark
Human Worth
You Hung The Optimist

THE GREAT UNKNOWN from 1984's offers up this lovely line:

"Footprints set in sentimental cement"

the print/ment rhyme is the crowning touch!

I like the way " A Rope Leash " described the list as albums that mean the most . . . as a fan from the beginning, it's interesting to look back at what meant so much as a High-School teen-ager, vs. a young man, vs. a "middle-aged" man (assuming I live to be 100). As of today, th...

I always liked the vocal delivery on this line from "Starting To Come To Me" . . . In private she's seductive, but in public, she`s prim, porcelain and nervous.

Lovely. Thanks so much for posting. One of my favorite songs from LOOK NOW, and as presented here, the piano tune/melody would have fit beautifully with the second-half of NORTH.

Speaking of throwing ashtrays . . . I'm reminded of "And it`s all here and now, she hit him with that paper-weight Eiffel Tower." from Crimes of Paris.

"one-offs like 1993’s The Juliet Letters (a collaboration with the Kronos Quartet)"

Ugh.

Fact check?

Assuming this is the May 14, 1980 show with Martin Belmont on guitar sitting in for Steve Nieve. They made a hash of the original running order of the setlist, but man are these songs played FAST. Not to open an old can of worms, but Bruce Thomas was absolutely brilliant on every song. I especially ...

Speaking of funny put downs:

"She said that she was working for the ABC News, it was as much of the alphabet as she knew how to use."

Extra fun for the way EC pronounces Alphabet as "AlphRabet."

It's hard to beat:

I said "I'm so happy, I could die." She said, "Drop dead!" then left with another guy.

Ouch.

But FUNNY!

Perhaps inspired a lyric for the song EPISODE OF BLONDE:

So an artist drags a toothbrush across the first thing that he sees
And names the painting "Christ's Last Exit into Purgatory"

Wonderful analysis! As for Violet/Violent, on the "Lyric Video" that EC created (as " Eamon Singer ," of course!), at the 1:54 mark, the word "VIOLENT" appears on screen, so the mystery is solved! Gotta love the word-play on that line as well "In the violent strip ...

I hate this bloody big bed of mine . . . when you're not here!

: 0 )

"Secondary Modern" and "Watch Your Step" are nearly identical chord-for-chord.

I always thought "Harry Worth" from Momofuku sounded a lot like "The Long Honeymoon."

May 17th?

Surprised they forgot to mention Elvis doing 2 episodes of David Simon's TREME (in 2010) on HBO (the 3-season series about a post-Katrina New Orleans). He got quite a lot of screen time . . .

Don't curse the arithmetic, Elvis!

We bless the day that you came to us.

Cheers, then . . .

I've been reminded that today (July 24) is The Feast of St. Declan . . . a 5th Century Catholic Saint from whom EC got his name (or at least the family Priest who had the name). Devotion to St. Declan is still quite popular in Waterford. The path walked by St. Declan from Ardmore to Cashel, County T...

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No worries.

But that's the problem with setlist.fm

"All this, but no surprises!"

: 0 )

Cheers!

LOL . . .Slander and Calumny, indeed. My apologies, Dave! I'm blaming my mistake on "those daily tranquilizers." I didn't realize you were the source of the info, in which case, "there'd be no doubt." For some reason I thought the initial report about THIS YEAR'S GIRL being perfo...