Incredible new, exciting game!!

Copenhagen Fan · Post by **Copenhagen Fan** » Wed Sep 10, 2003 7:20 am

jesus..I love Coal Train Robberies...one of my favorite tunes...especially the intro with the slashing guitar and the zany keyboard thing....

I could not help but notice the symbolism of the text, as Elvis rags on "sympathatic" hypocritical whiteys, who act politically correct but are racist in their hearts...which brings to mind the potential double meaning of hypocracy in music with the white man stealing black music and claiming it as his own...hence Coltrane Robberies.........maybe?????? Am I crazy and reaching or do I possibly have a point?

Gilbert · Post by **Gilbert** » Wed Sep 10, 2003 9:02 am

Blue Chair
The version of this on Blood and Chocolate is great, but then Elvis tantalised us by saying that a version had been recorded during the King of America sessions that would have been an American No 1 if they would only release it.

Perhaps that was being a bit optimistic, but it did eventually appear on a 12 inch b-side and then through the variety of re-releases we've had. It's a great version, with a lot more life than the original. Just brilliant pop music.

Wave A White Flag

Goody2Shoes · Post by **Goody2Shoes** » Wed Sep 10, 2003 11:52 am

Always reminded me of my parents' old Tom Lehrer records. Thought for a long time that the line was "Meet me in the kitchen and I'll meet you in the hall.". Beat makes more sense. Sort of a happy White Knuckles.

Just About Glad

girl out of time · Post by **girl out of time** » Wed Sep 10, 2003 12:18 pm

....wicked lyrics.....among my faves.....altough i prefer the acoustic version over the studio take.......

.......i leave you with.....the other end of the telescope

oily slick · Post by **oily slick** » Wed Sep 10, 2003 12:25 pm

diversion again. yes copenhagen fan you are crazy and i don't know if you have a point or not, but i too rather like coal train robberies. it lends much needed spunk to the deterioration of spike that follows satellite and perhaps seems better than it is for that reason. last boat leaving is a nice song too that should also be longer. maybe all elvis songs should be longer? well, you know, except pad, paws and claws...

pip_52 · Post by **pip_52** » Wed Sep 10, 2003 12:45 pm

The first time I heard "The Other End of the Telescope" was the acoustic version on the I Did Talk to Bob Dylan bootleg. This version featured slightly different lyrics than the ones on the actual album. One of my favorite verses from the song:

And in time I could only remember one thing
the sky was just phosphorus stars hung on strings
And you swore they would always be mine
Well, you can pull them down anytime

didnt make it into ECs version, which always made me kind of sad. But I think overall, while I like the lyrics for the EC version better, I still prefer the acoustic version to the studio one.

next: Girls Talk

laughingcrow · Post by **laughingcrow** » Wed Sep 10, 2003 12:51 pm

Great song, with a composition that shows how much EC was influenced by Nick Lowe. Lyrics are great, all men can relate to them. But...heresy...the Dave Edmunds version is the best version.

Next Song: I Turn Around

the poisoner · Post by **the poisoner** » Wed Sep 10, 2003 7:25 pm

love 'i turn around'.
this song is soooo simple but the lyrics deliver.
my daughter loves it, too.
my brother used to work for a college radio station and made me a cassette of extras just as the ryko's were coming out. neat to get the first listen to cheap reward, psycho, live motel matches. and my then 7 year old daughter would ask to listen to i turn around every day on the way to elementary school. that or 20%amnesia.
(hate to be the hog but i gotta ask....
isn't it great in just about glad how elvis is singing with all these sour grapes and you can h e a r just in the last 'is that a tear in your eye?' that she really is sorry. now. and elvis is lapping it up?)

next up tears before bedtime

PlaythingOrPet · Post by **PlaythingOrPet** » Sun Sep 14, 2003 7:22 am

Come on guys, don't give up yet. I love hearing people's opinions, especially on EC's songs.

A rope leash · Post by **A rope leash** » Mon Sep 15, 2003 9:59 am

Tears Before Bedtime is one of those songs I can actually sing. The coolest part is this:

...for the tears that you boo-hoo-hoo
there can be no defense
though we say we'll forgive and forget
it's only a pretense...

and...

...darling your suspiciousness
bothers me at night
but I can't excuse the cruel words
that I use whenever we fight...

Now Dust2...dust

pip_52 · Post by **pip_52** » Mon Sep 15, 2003 10:54 am

Dust 2 . . . 2 is probably my favorite song(s) from WIWC. Though I actually prefer Dust 2 to Dust mostly because of that little part right before he launches into "here comes the juggernaut, here come the Poisoners . . ." And also because I really like the last line, which seems like such a perfect way to end things.

"Well I believe we just become a speck of dust."

Next: Almost Blue

Goody2Shoes · Post by **Goody2Shoes** » Mon Sep 15, 2003 1:41 pm

A song I almost can't think of without Man Out Of Time. The disillusion of love, the disappointment of unhappy endings, the hopelessness of repeating mistakes. The ennui of affairs that don't stir sufficient passion to even be sad when they end.

Favoriite line: "Almost all the things that your eyes once promised, I see in hers, too".

A particularly beautiful vocal performance. I think he said it was his most covered song.

How about God's Comic next?

Post by **spooky girlfriend** » Mon Sep 15, 2003 1:46 pm

God's Comic: I love this song. It sounded almost creepy the first time I heard it. My brother had died just a few months before and I didn't like to think about death. But I kept listening to this song and I loved what EC was saying - especially how God wasn't taking the whole thing so seriously - laying on a waterbed and drinking cola of a mystery brand. And how people tried to use God like Santa Clause - just asking for things whenever they wanted them and expecting to get their wishes granted. This is a very deep song with a lot of perspective. I also like the harmony on the chorus. This is one of my favorites.

Next: Suit of Lights

the poisoner · Post by **the poisoner** » Mon Sep 15, 2003 2:04 pm

suit of lights.

this song connects. i do not remember which disc it is on in the costello/nieve set but i love elvis' introduction.
that is when a lot of it fell in place for me.

i like in when how he sings it you can feel his empathy. it's like a haughty ' that'll never be me' with an underlying ' i hope'.
the upbeat tempo is also perfect for this song. this was not done with the attractions but the confederates, no?

howzabout a little... glitter gulch
(almost said 'two little hitlers' but the last thing needed is another start up of nazi symbolism)

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Mon Sep 15, 2003 3:08 pm

laughing crow -- I agree with your heresy about the Dave Edmunds version of "Girls Talk." Maybe it's because I heard Dave's (who shares my birth date -- we're both April 15 babies) version first, but Elvis's always seemed a little too cool to me. Much prefer the DE's version energy.

Speaking of heresy, I've always had mixed feelings about KOA -- it ranks high on most EC pantheons and I have a hard time arguing with the accolades, but it just doesn't grab me as much as other EC albums. Maybe it's because, though I love country and folk music, they're not my absolute favorite genres and I get impatient with the album's lack of genre-jumping. (One of my favorite EC habits.)

Nevertheless, gotta love "Glitter Gulch".

Don't know for a fact that it's based on/inspired by the common nickname for Downtown Las Vegas -- the tackier, more neon lit, smaller part of Vegas you always see in rap videos, not the glitzier Las Vegas strip where the big and high end hotels are. There is actually a really tacky slots-only casino there with that name. Since I'm strictly a tables guy, I never go in. Still, I think about that place whenever I hear the song. And, though I haven't been to Vegas for awhile, I always think of EC when I go downtown. I do think he captured something about this KIND of place in that song, if not that specific place.

Next, try the first song on the first album, "Welcome to the Working Week."

HolyCoatAndHat · Post by **HolyCoatAndHat** » Tue Sep 16, 2003 12:58 am

I have always looked at Welcome to the Working Week as Elvis welcoming us to his album and his career. This song is a straight forward rockin little tune that sometimes requires repeating on the CD player because it is over so fast! Why why, why, why! A fitting song for the first song many of us heard when we first listned to MAIT! By the way, Elvis, your working week HAS thrilled me more than once!

Next: Poor Napoleon

costellopunk · Post by **costellopunk** » Tue Sep 16, 2003 3:05 am

poor napolean-one of elvis's darkest songs. the background hum and cait's role as the voice of pity add to the erieeness (sp? is that even a word?) of the song. the bass pattern seems somewhat mechanical giving it a cold clinical feeling. the song always seemed so bitter but at the same time very morbidly sexy.

lets go with one of my favs (since almost blue was already taken)-

hoover factory

the poisoner · Post by **the poisoner** » Tue Sep 16, 2003 6:37 pm

it's a song about a building.
it's always been hard for me to get up for it.
the music is nice but not special.
i think it is one of those things where the building means something to you if you grew up by/near it.
i recently went back to new york, where i grew up, for the first time in a good 13 years.
and i drove up to my elementary school (i was a 'walker') so we lived close by and i sat in the car and just stared at it and the plalground.
it was nice. thinking about flipping baseball cards at recess and the baseball games we would play out on the field.
i think people would think it stupid but it flooded back alot of memories. not one earth-shattering but still warm reminders.

i geuss that is what he is going for but i do not get it.

any comments on 15 petals (one of my top three favorite songs)

A rope leash · Post by **A rope leash** » Tue Sep 16, 2003 7:27 pm

15 Petals is the kind of song I wish Elvis would do more often. I really dig the hard-rockin horns on this tune, and I think Elvis should one day hook up with a full jazz orchestra, and pump out about twenty of these kind of tunes.

Let's not forget he continues his association with the "rose" flower here. I don't think links to his 15 year relationship with Cait can be discounted either. There shoulda been a video for this one!

Hey, OilySlick! Do you remember an alternate version of Filter's Nice Shot that was played quite often on 105.7 The Point? It had a really heavy horn section, and I really dug it. I never hear it any more, and I wonder if it might be available at all for purchase...

Okay, let's see...

Lip Service?

girl out of time · Post by **girl out of time** » Wed Sep 17, 2003 8:00 pm

lip service, that´s all you´ll ever get from me..........one of my favourite lyrics from early on......contagious beat and soulful singing, what else can you ask for?

i leave you with another fave..........clowntime is over n° 2

pophead2k · Post by **pophead2k** » Thu Sep 18, 2003 11:25 am

The churchy organ in Clowntime No. 2 really makes it for me. A song that is already vaguely ominous becomes more so when slowed down. I don't really have a great interpretation for this song, but it seems to be about the ending of innocence. From what I've seen, most people kinda like this version better.

How about Satellite?

oily slick · Post by **oily slick** » Thu Sep 18, 2003 11:57 am

i "like" 10 of the songs on spike and satellite may be the class of the bunch. i think it is sonically superior to the balance, though it may be a little too traditional for some of you, has a chorus that is amongst my favorites for words and drama, and creepy, thought-provoking lyrics that seemed to be ahead of their time when the song came out.

LONDON'S BRILLIANT PARADE

laughingcrow · Post by **laughingcrow** » Thu Sep 18, 2003 6:00 pm

London's Brilliant Parade is a great song, it feels so rich, and is written and sung with real enthusiasm and (although it slags some stuff off..hard to kick the habit of a lifetime) affection, so it is different from a lot of EC songs. The song really swings as well, and I love the way he puts emphasis on 'LON don' when he sings it.

Next song... Indoor Fireworks.

the poisoner · Post by **the poisoner** » Thu Sep 18, 2003 7:31 pm

indoor fireworks.
used to tune it out when i first got king of america.
now i enjoy it. the slow pacing, the depth of the lyrics.
does the fireworks represent bliss or conflict? it changes for me.
this is a song elvis was meant to sing.

i nominate peroxide side

selfmademug · Post by **selfmademug** » Thu Sep 18, 2003 7:43 pm

If memory serves, PEROXIDE SIDE was the one with the demonic high-school band kinda groove. I loved that. I suppose the horns are more Brazilian than High-School Band, but somehow I always loved thinking how ludicrous it would look to have the latter marching around a football field playing that, complete with all the bleacher-rattling bass and reverb... Elvis could dress up as a dorky bandleader...

Submitted, a neglected fave of mine:

5IVE GEARS IN REVERSE

Elvis Costello Fan Forum

Incredible new, exciting game!!

just about glad

Vocal

Cruel rose

lip service