New album for 2013: "Wise Up Ghost" (with The Roots!)

[A rope leash]

Elvis always sounds great with horns.

Whoever got the job of making the video must have felt it was cake.

[Jack of All Parades]

Elvis always sounds great with horns.

Whoever got the job of making the video must have felt it was cake.

Agree- this first example of the new album has my listening senses finely tuned. I go back to this earlier quote from an interview in this thread:

Let’s talk about the lyrics - for a recording process that sounds so pleasurable, the words on this album are pretty relentlessly apocalyptic.

Costello: I didn't set out to write something bleak, but you can't deny the things you see and feel. If you look out the window, turn on the TV, read a newspaper, it's all true. I'm not saying anything unprecedented—it seems we’re settling for things the way they are, accepting the idea that happiness comes at the expense of someone else and that's just the way it is.
It’s really an accumulation of images over a number of years, seeing the commonality of events. I think there used to be a bigger dream, and I'd rather we have something better to look forward to.

Thompson: I wondered if Elvis would be as wordy and dense as he was on his classic albums, and he was right on it. Even the love lyrics are vividly descriptive; it's been a long time since I've worked with a singer that made me see what I'm listening to, who's not just trying to get a rhyme scheme going—it's rare to find someone who pushes the limits of lyrics and still maintains a sense of accessibility.

He is doing something different with his lyrical line here and if it holds up throughout the other songs on the record he is going to 'school' a whole new generation of lyricists I hope.

[The Gentleman]

Oddly, it reminds me a bit of "Abandon Words."

[FAVEHOUR]

Oddly, it reminds me a bit of "Abandon Words."

good point!

[cwr]

To me, it feels like there is a kinship with "Dust" but where that song was looking at the big picture ("I believe we just become a speck of dust"), this song feels like it is set in the here-and-now.

I'd agree it feels timely.

[johnfoyle]

The Roots Ft. Elvis Costello – Walk Us Uptown Lyrics


Will you walk us uptown?
And wherever you go
You know we will follow
Will you walk us uptown?
And we’ll stand in the light
Of your new killing ground
And we won’t make a sound
Except to sing our sorrow
Will you walk us uptown?

While our tears run in torrents
To suffer in silence or pray for some solace
Will you wash away our sins
In the cross-fire and cross-currents
As you uncross your fingers
And take out some insurance

No matter what the price
It’s your own paradise
Will you walk us uptown?
Will you walk us uptown?

Some hearts are sinking
And some hearts are a-flutter
Some scoop gold from the dirt in the gutter
Or swallow the earth
Pouring into your mouth
As they bury us upright saying
“Everything’s alright”

Will you walk us uptown?
Like some said that you could
We will feast on your flesh
And drink down your blood
Will you haul down that flag
And dishonor that vow
Cause we must not change
It’s color now
Will you walk us uptown?

No matter what the price
Each crushed in the corner of their own paradise
Will you walk us uptown?
Will you walk us uptown?

That’s always assuming
That you’re partly divine and partly human
You’re the king of our hearts
You’re the clown with the drum
Will you walk us uptown?
If we promise not to run
Will you walk us uptown?
Will you gather us near
As cowards flee and traitors sneer
Keep a red flag flying
Keep a blue flag as well
And a white flag in case it all goes to hell

[sheeptotheslaughter]

Personally I really like it sounds fresh and different.

With the right promotion could be a hit. Perhaps ?uestlove will also help out and maybe bring some new fans to the record. I know he has done his bit so far.

[Jack of All Parades]

The Roots Ft. Elvis Costello – Walk Us Uptown Lyrics


Will you walk us uptown?
And wherever you go
You know we will follow
Will you walk us uptown?
And we’ll stand in the light
Of your new killing ground
And we won’t make a sound
Except to sing our sorrow
Will you walk us uptown?

While our tears run in torrents
To suffer in silence or pray for some solace
Will you wash away our sins
In the cross-fire and cross-currents
As you uncross your fingers
And take out some insurance

No matter what the price
It’s your own paradise
Will you walk us uptown?
Will you walk us uptown?

Some hearts are sinking
And some hearts are a-flutter
Some scoop gold from the dirt in the gutter
Or swallow the earth
Pouring into your mouth
As they bury us upright saying
“Everything’s alright”

Will you walk us uptown?
Like some said that you could
We will feast on your flesh
And drink down your blood
Will you haul down that flag
And dishonor that vow
Cause we must not change
It’s color now
Will you walk us uptown?

No matter what the price
Each crushed in the corner of their own paradise
Will you walk us uptown?
Will you walk us uptown?

That’s always assuming
That you’re partly divine and partly human
You’re the king of our hearts
You’re the clown with the drum
Will you walk us uptown?
If we promise not to run
Will you walk us uptown?
Will you gather us near
As cowards flee and traitors sneer
Keep a red flag flying
Keep a blue flag as well
And a white flag in case it all goes to hell

John- I have no pre-knowledge of the way the lyrics appear on a page but I suggest they may more closely follow Ginsberg's 'base' form-(a long line based on breath organized by a fixed base)- 'walk' being the base upon which the words coalesce. This was one of Ginsberg's big breakthroughs in the composition of "Howl". I offer this based only upon my viewing of the accompanying video which makes me think these are longer lines and not your traditional stanzaic form. Also EC's delivery of them is clearly elongated and closer to a spoken pattern.

[johnfoyle]

John- I have no pre-knowledge of the way the lyrics appear on a page

I nicked that layout, in a bit of hurry, of the lyric from a site just before work this morning. They are , indeed, more likely to read more accurately in that 'base' form you refer too.

[Emotional Toothpaste]

Good grief the song is very eerie in the wake of this Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman deal. Did it strike anyone else the same way? The words immediately hit me with it, but maybe I've been dwelling too much on that whole sad tale. Even the title of the album "Wise Up Ghost", the black and white cover art, the fact that it is a collaborative effort between . . .

Well crap, I do like the song awfully well and am encouraged about this new work as much as anything from Elvis since Momo or Delivery Man.

[Jack of All Parades]

The new project continues to get strong word of mouth- witness this from Slate today:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/201 ... ation.html

[sweetest punch]

The Wise Up Ghost-website is up: http://www.elviscostello.com/micro/wise-up-ghost/

“GHOST” PROTOCOL
By Ben Greenman

What is Wise Up Ghost? It's the new album from Elvis Costello and The Roots. It's also a striking act of musical cooperation, a flower that budded doubly, and an aural report on both historical memory and the memory of history. Wise Up Ghost started as an offhanded remark. Costello was the musical guest on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, where The Roots serve as the house band, and Questlove, the Roots’ iconic drummer, suggested the project to Costello. “I subliminally put out the idea of a larger collaboration,” Questlove says. “Or maybe passive-aggressively—I was too afraid to actually suggest that we should make a record together.” The project was originally envisioned as an EP, but the field of vision expanded. “I had worked with them enough on Fallon to know it was a good match,” Costello says. “This is a band that does what I’ve done from the start: they draw off everything, all types of music.”

Costello and the Roots have something else in common: both are artists who have always prized substance over style. So what's this record about? For starters, it’s about a world in turmoil. On the Roots’ Rising Down, a half-decade ago, the band wondered how the promise of Barack Obama’s election would curdle when the outsized expectations attached to his administration weren’t met. That hangover hangs over this record: lyrically, it’s darker than it is light, and it paints a picture of an America that, while not exactly post-racial, has seen its blacks and whites turn to shades of gray—and many more than fifty. The opening track, “Walk Us Uptown,” begins with talk of a “killing ground” and “sorrow,” and it gets worse from there: “Keep a red flag flying / Keep a blue flag as well / And a white flag in case it all goes to hell.”

It does, repeatedly. The apocalyptic imagery of “Walk Us Uptown” recurs on “Sugar Won’t Work,” which laments the limits of love: “Is that a horn that’s blowing / Or a bell that’s tolling? / Walls are falling / Ships pulled out from their mooring.” “Wake Me Up” borrows from two earlier Costello songs about dire straits, the Katrina lament “The River In Reverse” and the madhouse anthem “Bedlam.” And the slinky “(She Might Be A) Grenade” is a love song that quickly makes for the lower level, though it’s John Milton’s lower level rather than James Brown’s: “She's tearing out the seams / She's going to extremes / Nobody told her it was a sin / So she's pulling out the pin.” The lyrics go by at a menacingly glacial pace, like Smokey Robinson slowed down so you can feel the danger fully.

Throughout Wise Up Ghost, there’s a dense sound that’s not exactly hip-hop, not exactly rock-and-roll, and not exactly anything else either. That sense of musical adventure was part of the plan. “One of the first songs we played with the Roots was ‘High Fidelity.’ That comes from Get Happy!!, where we took our cues from Stax,” Costello says. “We didn’t end up sounding like Stax, of course. This is the same thing. Bringing different kinds of music into the same space has never been alien to me. That’s how rock-and-roll came about, so people can use whatever word they want to describe this collision-cum-explosion.”

“Walk Us Uptown,” “Refuse to Be Saved,” “Wake Me Up”: Many of the song titles here are commands, and they help to create a climate of urgency that culminates in the title track. It begins with a piano figure and swirling strings before Questlove’s drums surface. The shimmering refrain of “She’s pulling out the pin” is itself a ghost, calling back not only to “(She Might Be A) Grenade” but to its forebear, a lesser-known Costello track from “The Delivery Man.” In legend, of course, ghosts have a vexed relationship with wisdom. Often, they are spirits left behind because they failed to demonstrate the appropriate acumen in life. Are we now, as a species, risking this kind of nightmare? Can we learn enough to prevent a purgatorial future? Costello’s lyrics have always been sharp, but here there’s a blunt warning as well about the way that slight errors can turn into night terrors.

Fusing Costello’s intricate poetry and the Roots’ textured soundscapes could have been daunting. But the album, co-produced by Steven Mandel, negotiates its terrain expertly, bringing in the Brent Fischer Orchestra for five tracks and balancing entirely new compositions with adaptations of older material. “Most of the lyrical choices came from Elvis,” Mandel says. “In the case of ‘Stick Out Your Tongue,” which reimagines ‘Pills and Soap,’ that one came from our end. ‘Pills and Soap’ has always been one of my favorite songs and Quest’s—it’s this little thing crying ‘Do something with me.’ ”

The album closes with “If I Could Believe.” Over minimal backing, Costello reflects on faith and folly: “If I could believe two and two is five / Two wrongs make a right / Well then, man alive / Lost in my insolence and sneers / That might sound like prayers / If I could believe.” It sounds like a resolution, a way to set the world right—though it should be noted that this optimism depends upon an egregious overthrow of basic logic, not to mention many of the songs that came before it. “Refuse to Be Saved,” one of those songs, is a loose-limbed workout that reframes the lyrics of “Invasion Hit Parade,” from the 1991 album Mighty Like a Rose. “That song was originally written around the time of the invasion of Panama and the fall of the Berlin Wall,” Costello says. “When I went back to it, the lyrics seemed oddly appropriate to the present.” It’s also a clear demonstration of the method that makes Wise Up Ghost work so well: Costello remains inimitably himself while also reorienting himself toward to the band. His aim is Root.

—Ben Greenman is the co-author, with Questlove, of “Mo Meta’ Blues.”

[Jack of All Parades]

Wonderful- they have smartly utilized the services of Mr. Greenman, The New Yorker writer, editor and co-author with Questlove of his recent musical autobiography. Quality move

[And No Coffee Table]

iTunes and Amazon are selling "Walk Us Uptown" as a download. Amazon has this artwork:



Steve Nieve tweets:

Declan has a new track out, someone is playing transistor organ. Simple lyrics. Where is my copy? @ImposterSpeaks
http://www.spin.com/articles/elvis-cost ... -up-ghost/

[Natasha]

I somehow can´t pre-order on iTunes. The link opens The Roots discography and Wise Up Ghost is not there. Anyone?

I also tried the search button

edit: I also can´t find it among pre-order titles on iTunes Store

[johnfoyle]

John- I have no pre-knowledge of the way the lyrics appear on a page but I suggest they may more closely follow Ginsberg's 'base' form-(a long line based on breath organized by a fixed base)- 'walk' being the base upon which the words coalesce. This was one of Ginsberg's big breakthroughs in the composition of "Howl". I offer this based only upon my viewing of the accompanying video which makes me think these are longer lines and not your traditional stanzaic form. Also EC's delivery of them is clearly elongated and closer to a spoken pattern.

From the official site -


Walk Us UPTOWN

Will you walk us uptown

And wherever you go, you know we will follow
Will you walk us uptown
And we'll stand in the light of your new killing ground and we won't make a sound
Except to sing our sorrow

Will you walk us uptown
While our tears run in torrents
To suffer in silence
Or pray for some solace

Will you wash away our sins
In the cross-fire and cross-currents
As you uncross your fingers and take out some insurance

No matter what the price
It’s your own paradise
Will you walk us uptown
Will you walk us uptown

Some hearts are sinking and some hearts are a-flutter
Some scoop gold from the dirt in the gutter
Or swallow the earth pouring into your mouth
As they bury us upright
Saying “Everything’s alright…”

Will you walk us uptown
Like some said that you could
Will we feast on your flesh and drink down your blood

Will you haul down that flag
And dishonour that vow
‘Cos we must not change its colour now
Will you walk us uptown

No matter what the price
Each crushed in the corner of their own paradise

Will you walk us uptown

Will you walk us uptown
That’s always assuming that you’re partly divine
And partly human
You’re the king of our hearts
You’re the clown with the drum
Will you walk us uptown if we promise not to run

Will you walk us uptown
Will you gather us near
As cowards flee and traitors sneer
Keep a red flag flying
Keep a blue flag as well
And a white flag in case it all goes to hell

© 2013 Sideways Songs, administered by Universal Music – MGB Songs (ASCAP) / Legendelphia Music LLC/Universal Music – Careers, A Division of Universal Music – MGB NA LLC (ASCAP) / Future Ratz Publishing (BMI). All rights reserved. Used by permission.

[Jack of All Parades]

That is disappointing, John. Not the lyric, in itself, but the failure to bust the mold. I really thought he would elongate- go outside the norm as hinted at by Questlove's interview comments on his lyric process for this record and the way the lines sound as he intones them. I was excited at the thought that he might experiment with Ginsberg's 'base' form. Well at least Mr. Greenman seems to indicate that the lyrics are more ambitious for this record- perhaps away from standard rhyming for rhyming's sake.

[Natasha]

Talking about disapointment. I just found out what´s "wrong". The song is not avaiable at the brazilian iTunes Store. Neither the album for pre-sale. And it probably won´t be. My girlfriend bought it for me but the gift is not valid outside her country.

So my "only" option is to buy from Amazon, pay 15 dollars for shipping, 50% of import tax and wait two months for it to arrive.

Good job, Apple.

[MOJO]

I don't know if it is an Apple issue. I think the tune needs to published to the store. Maybe the Brazil iTunes store was overlooked or it's a licensing issue. I don't know anything, really, but I see publishing requests like this at my workplace. People can't see an iOS app in their store until you turn the switch "on" to make it available.

[Neil.]

Natasha, this is early days - I doubt they've got round to sorting out all territories yet! Just wait a while.

Hey, isn't the song GREAT? I'm so pleased that I love it!

[Poor Deportee]

That is disappointing, John. Not the lyric, in itself, but the failure to bust the mold. I really thought he would elongate- go outside the norm as hinted at by Questlove's interview comments on his lyric process for this record and the way the lines sound as he intones them. I was excited at the thought that he might experiment with Ginsberg's 'base' form. Well at least Mr. Greenman seems to indicate that the lyrics are more ambitious for this record- perhaps away from standard rhyming for rhyming's sake.

I understand the disappointment at the "form" of the written lyric, although I think that's getting pretty hyper-refined given that these words are meant, after all, to be sung. But as for EC needing "more ambitious" lyrics, I don't know about that...National Ransom seemed to me to have some of his most spectacular lyrical displays, ever. Perhaps he's just hitting a career peak after some comparatively uninspired years.

[bronxapostle]

iTunes and Amazon are selling "Walk Us Uptown" as a download. Amazon has this artwork:



Steve Nieve tweets:

Declan has a new track out, someone is playing transistor organ. Simple lyrics. Where is my copy? @ImposterSpeaks
http://www.spin.com/articles/elvis-cost ... -up-ghost/

HOPE this indicates a 7" vinyl version is coming too...a PERFECT picture sleeve!!!

[Heats101]

Yes I too after a handful of listens like it and hope to love it after a few more. I cant really add a lot more to the analysis so far. The vocal I was unsure about at first, it sounded a bit remote or distorted but improved when I switched to the non lyric video version. The rhythm is certainly new and refreshing to my ears for an EC composition and the repetition element succeeds. However most importantly I tested it with my 14 year old son as his favoured genre is hip hop. He knew it was EC and has a typical defensive wall to his Dads music......... but he said it was good and that is the acid test particularly if this is to be the breakthrough record commercially that we fans want for him.Time for another listen.

[charliestumpy]

Although I in UK have ordered the Deluxe CD with extra tracks from amazon.com, this 'Walk us uptown' is a good reason not to buy, but to listen to DPAM especially on proper older analogue vinyl.

[Jack of All Parades]

That is disappointing, John. Not the lyric, in itself, but the failure to bust the mold. I really thought he would elongate- go outside the norm as hinted at by Questlove's interview comments on his lyric process for this record and the way the lines sound as he intones them. I was excited at the thought that he might experiment with Ginsberg's 'base' form. Well at least Mr. Greenman seems to indicate that the lyrics are more ambitious for this record- perhaps away from standard rhyming for rhyming's sake.

I understand the disappointment at the "form" of the written lyric, although I think that's getting pretty hyper-refined given that these words are meant, after all, to be sung. But as for EC needing "more ambitious" lyrics, I don't know about that...National Ransom seemed to me to have some of his most spectacular lyrical displays, ever. Perhaps he's just hitting a career peak after some comparatively uninspired years.

With you wholeheartedly on the overall lyrical excellence of "National Ransom" and have always been there. That album was a big growth spurt for EC. I, selfishly, want to see him expand further into newer forms and look upon this coming album as a reasonable opportunity to do so. The lyrics for the new song are declarative in form and would have worked well in that 'base' line approach I talked about earlier. EC also really does not so much sing the lines as he 'declares' them much the way Mr. Ginsberg did back in the day when he recited his poetry. I really like it when he goes off the reservation and astounds me. I also have two books in the Library of America series of poets at home that honor the work of Cole Porter and Ira Gershwin. I someday hope to see EC's name added to that series as I firmly believe a great deal of his lyrical work deserves such a recognition. I am guilty of giving him Christopher Rick's type respect. I am not ashamed of that.