40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Pretty self-explanatory
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Azmuda
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by Azmuda »

docinwestchester wrote:There must be some history to this. Or not.
I could be wrong, but I'm thinking he started using "brilliant disguise" shortly after Tunnel of Love (including "Brilliant Disguise") was released (October 1987).
Last edited by Azmuda on Mon Aug 19, 2013 2:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
cwr
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by cwr »

I never for a moment thought it was meant to be a dick joke: the song is so heartfelt and touching that I don't think a double entendre was meant. And I've heard the phrase "family jewels" used as a euphemism, but never "family pride."
But have you heard of anyone's family pride "rising up"? In the context of his sister's photo being leered at in the barracks, it seems like that's where the song has been headed the whole time...

(I'd be more trusting of the heartfelt music if it weren't for the fact that this song was written as an act of "revenge" against that soldier Costello decided to cast as the "villain" of the song.)
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by thepopeofpop »

cwr wrote:Costello is not above making a dick joke in his lyrics.

(I don't find it cringe-inducing in the sense of it being a bad lyric; maybe I do in the sense of it being an effective "revenge" on that soldier he quarreled with, but for me the fact that it is paired with such a tender and compassionate melody is what really makes it work.)

His debut album opens with a "picture in the paper being rhythmically admired" and from there we are off the races, all the way to the barrage of euphemisms that make up the core of "From Sulphur To Sugarcane"...

There's no shame in this; it's in the tradition of Shakespeare!

Denial of the shameful erection at the end of "Sleep Of The Just" is akin to imagining that the Sheriff of Nottingham is ACTUALLY introducing "Little John" to her in "American Without Tears"...
Exactly!

It seems clear that the line about his "family pride" rising up can hardly mean anything else. Let's consider the alternative, that "family pride" just literally means that he is proud of his sister. Well, that doesn't make much sense if he is simultaneously casting his eyes down! You can't feel pride and shame at the same time! It's an "either/or" thing. We also know that the brother is "tucked in his bed tonight with his dirty pictures", so he's got a history of enjoying a bit of T&A, while (the brother is) hypocritically saying "you're some mother's daughter you know..." (a little saying that will come back to haunt him when he sees a picture of a girl who is his mother's daughter).

EC is subtle, of course. He doesn't come right out and say it - he implies it. "Family pride" isn't a well-established euphemism. However, the use of "family" is. "Family jewels" = testicles, "Family way" = pregnant... No need to feel "squicky" about the incest reference ... EC makes it clear that he also finds it abhorrent. EC also has a history of writing about things he detests - an early example is "Sunday's Best" - EC certainly isn't sympathising with the xenophobically racist, naked wife-exhibiting, readers of the (now defunct) News of the World and other sleazy tabloids!
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by Poor Deportee »

Look, Elvis has always been brilliant at deliberately making us cringe - from the grotesque pun in "Chemistry Class" to the racist horror-show of "Sunday's Best" and (closely related to the matter at hand) the "something in your lap" that the little girl "stirs" in the hilarious "World and His Wife," or the "pornographer's trousers" of "Satellite." I'm honestly surprised that there is such resistance to the "prurient" reading of the - cough - climax of "Sleep of the Just." Discomfiture is all over EC's work in one way or another. Without pretending to interpret the specifics of the other verses, as a whole the song exudes sad dismay over the whole apparatus of the military life - the final verse just reduces everything down to a single, horribly sordid moment, making the entire business irredeemably pathetic as well as tragic.

I've given you the awful truth
Now give me my rest


And I'm not for a moment trouble by the song's supposed origins in petulance. Reducing art to its original impetus utterly misses the point. Dylan wrote "When the Ship Comes In" after being denied a hotel room. Petty origins do not define the work or contain it.
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Ulster Boy
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by Ulster Boy »

"Family pride" gets a (presumably different) reference in Kinder murder
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by paysfortheprivilege »

Isn't Elvis' first (and best) dick joke in Alison?!
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by cwr »

DAY 13: BLOOD & CHOCOLATE

http://connorratliff.tumblr.com/post/58 ... -think-its

("Wait, a "pork sword" is WHAAATT???")
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by Jack of All Parades »

Never a 'perfect' record for me- to this day I have consistent difficulty listening to "Tokyo Storm Warning" or "Battered Old Bird" with anything but aural discomfort- but a nice reminder of what the original band 'could' and often did sound like at their best. You are right about those three lp ending songs- nice trifecta. And one of the solid 'blue' songs in his catalog.
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by Poor Deportee »

Great stuff as usual, cwr. And don't worry, the "pork sword" is nothing prurient - being merely a reference to the good gentleman's penchant for kebobs :wink:

(Actually, that's one of the funniest lines in what has to be one of EC's funniest songs. An orgasmic parody of vitriol).

I'll split the difference between cwr and Jack, given that I rather enjoy the logorrhea of "Tokyo," while admitting that the performance is pretty rough and that his subsequent sallies in this direction ("Episode of Blonde," "Bedlam," "Turpentine") have been questionable; but "Battered Old Bird" just doesn't stand up to my ear. Neither studio trickery nor shock writing can save the essentially tired motif. (Whoa, you mean to say the placid plains of suburbia actually hide desperation and depravity? Really?? Ring up Alice Munro, she need to hear this!!)

I also diverge from cwr in that I don't hear any hit singles on here at all. It's always seemed to me the quintessential "album's album," i.e., a mass of excellent songs with none that leap out as glaringly radio-friendly. "I Want You" certainly leaps out as an indelible classic, but that's not the same thing. (And I always loved the brazen and sonically unique "Uncomplicated" myself. Hardly top-40 fodder, though).

Perfect or not, this was always one of my favourites, as it is for most EC fans. What an astonishing year for EC, pumping out no fewer than two landmark albums, in some sort of creative nova - in fact, I'd argue that this, not his mythical early run, represents his peak as writer and (probably) performer. It seems that personal misery suited his muse more than he cares to admit.
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by cwr »

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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by Poor Deportee »

Never had the album...always liked the title, though!
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by cwr »

DAY 15: THE McCARTNEY/MacMANUS DEMOS!

http://connorratliff.tumblr.com/post/59 ... -demos-the
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by Jack of All Parades »

With you, Cwr. A 'dream' pairing and one of the few that actually seems to have worked and one would hope could 'work' yet again.
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by Neil. »

cwr wrote:DAY 15: THE McCARTNEY/MacMANUS DEMOS!

http://connorratliff.tumblr.com/post/59 ... -demos-the
Great summary of Elvis's dream come true! Totally agree that it was ultimately a frustrating period - a proper duet album with those two voices together would be wonderful. Hope they eventually do it. Their voices are getting older, so they might not be able to do stuff they could back in '89, so it does feel a little like a lost opportunity. But it'd still be great to see them cut a proper collaboration album!
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by Ymaginatif »

I believe that in spite of all the issues and re-issues over the last decades, this album is still the only place to find the fast and furious version of 'Little Goody Two Shoes'.

Any other redeeming factors? :)
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by Jack of All Parades »

Not a favorite/favorite for me but certainly listenable with, as you show, some solid songs. I have always responded to "God's Comic" and "Satellite" and "Deep, Dark, Truthful Mirror". It was nice at the time to have him return to active recording with this one and yet again demonstrate the continued craftsmanship that has marked his later career starting with this record. I also admired the continued visual brio with that album cover.
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by jsf »

I am very much enjoying these daily write ups and all the additional comments/insights in response to them.

Spike was where it all began for me. I was 13, it was late at night and MTV was showing that BBC special. It was either Let Him Dangle or God's Comic that I first heard. I was transfixed. Along with introducing me to his incredible craftsmanship and emotional intensity, the interview itself is unique in the way Costello approaches the questions with an openness and vulnerability that I think is somewhat rare (although, I wouldn't be surprised if people on this website can probably link me to other video interviews that capture this side of EC)

So the next day I went to the mall and bought Spike and began listening to it over and over and over. In the BBC interview EC says that a character named Spike shows up here and there within various of the albums songs. I think I took him too literally and was really wanting to locate those spots. After reading cwr's comments, I think it is true to say that EC had created a point of view on SPIKE that does stand back and comment on coherent stories, more than on his previous albums.

And so within two weeks I was out buying all of his albums at a fast rate. It was amazing to take in all the styles and forms and sounds that EC was giving my 13 year old ears. I think one of these nights I'll go back and watch that BBC special for old times sake. Great stuff.
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by Poor Deportee »

A very insightful post, Connor. Your observations about the shift in EC's writing - in effect, away from the subjective toward the more objective, i.e., storytelling - are well-taken. Of course, it's not that this was a totally new direction (c.f. our discussion about 'Sleep of the Just') but there is definitely an intensification of the more 'observational' and narrative approach to song here.

(The older I get, incidentally, the more I seem to prefer this kind of approach to the more 'personal' style of portraying one's inner world. I really enjoy the generosity, the dispersal of self-absorption and self-importance, in the former approach.)

My personal connection to this album is very much like jsf's. It represents la scene de la seduction. A first-year undergrad living out the Montreal winter on my uncle's unheated porch, I'd heard and dug "Veronica" and I'd heard that this EC guy was some sort of genius; so I bought the album. I must have spent the next year listening to it pretty much non-stop. :mrgreen: I'd never imagined that it was possible to sing about such varied subjects, with such pointed attitude and such coruscating intelligence. Not only did Spike permanently alter my understanding of what pop could do and turn me into a permanent Costello fan, it led me down a path toward Tom Waits and Bob Dylan, two absolute landmarks of my musical life.

Spike has been criticized for being too eclectic and too fussy. Never one to put much weight on the "unified" album - I've absorbed too much Beatles to care about that - I think the latter is a legitimate criticism. If the album has a real weakness, though, it's that some of the songs aren't all that great as compositions. 'This Town' is fun but - uncharacteristically for EC up to that point - the chorus just isn't punchy enough; it's like he's trying to cram a melody over the words. ('Satellite' is extraordinary and almost above criticism for its sheer uniqueness, but it too shares that melodic busy-ness). 'Let Him Dangle' impressed me when I was 18 but does little for me now, and 'Any King's Shilling' - a real sinkhole at the heart of Side Two - just tires my ear. But these reservations aside, I don't see any drop-off in the quality of writing or performance from Costello's previous decade, and I suspect that the ambivalence this album generates among fans in fact has to do with

1. The eclecticism, objected to as such;
2. The absence of The Attractions and related absence of any fixed band (taking us back to point 1);
3. The turn from the veiled confessional to the storytelling (some people prefer the former);
4. The default to EC's 'standard' level of quality after the peaks of 'Blood and Chocolate' and 'King of America.'

In the end, I'm still convinced this is one of Elvis's richer works. Connor's view of it as a sort of Trust on steroids makes a lot of sense.
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by verbal gymnastics »

Lyrically this is what we've come to expect. However it's not a favourite album of mine and feels overproduced.
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by cwr »

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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by John »

I have never bothered with this before. Just ordered a copy off ebay after reading Connor's piece!
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by Poor Deportee »

Not one that I own or likely ever will, but like Out of Our Idiot it's another inspired album title.
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by jsf »

It's funny how I'm surprised that GGG was released AFTER Spike. I shouldn't be. It makes sense. But it points to how quickly I was gobbling up his previous albums after I discovered him via SPIKE.

I guess it took me long enough to work my way back up to 89 so that by the time I purchased GGG it just seemed natural that it was something that came out earlier. If I had been thinking, it would have been obvious considering those KING OF AMERICA tunes. As I typed that the thought came to me that I might have bought GGG before I got to KING. That explains it. Thanks for letting me sort this out in public :)

Looking forward to (and curious about) tomorrow's topic.
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Re: 40 DAYS OF ELVIS COSTELLO: A Countdown To WISE UP GHOST

Post by pophead2k »

Spike was my entry to the wonderful world of EC and GGG was the first thing I bought after that, and it is still my favorite EC comp by far.
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