Glitter Gulch!
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Glitter Gulch!
I adore this song, it has definitly jumped into my top five Elvis songs. I love the vocal melodies and lyrics.
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I love this song too. I made an EC mix and this is the first track. The whole King of America record isnt that bad either.
I wish that I could push a button
And talk in the past and not the present tense
And watch this hurtin' feeling disappear
Like it was common sense
It was a fine idea at the time
Now it's a brilliant mistake
~Elvis Costello
And talk in the past and not the present tense
And watch this hurtin' feeling disappear
Like it was common sense
It was a fine idea at the time
Now it's a brilliant mistake
~Elvis Costello
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you can hear the original recorded version on http://www.purevolume.com/theflamesoftroy , complete with the madlibs line.
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Ok. Glitter Gulch is an interesting point for discussion. It was recorded on the Demon label in 1986 and was the forerunner for a whole series of songs that focus on the frightening changes in a modern world - a world increasingly driven by a media with too many technological toys.
The song highlights the nonsense that is the prime time quiz show. Elvis is in effect predicting a horrific future where TV companies will sink to lower and lower depths in order to win better ratings. They create an ugly TV World where contestants take to having sex with the hostess in order to win that dream home or new speedboat.
In recent years, the quiz show has altered from the traditional format to something darker and more perverse than even Elvis could have imagined. The ersatz joke that is 'Big Brother' was bad, but the teenage version plumbed new depths as the Channel 4 (UK) bosses blatantly tried to get boring, no-life 18 year-olds to shag each other on live TV. Thankfully the format failed miserably because watching zit-faced youngsters (whose only interest is themselves) washing their teeth and spouting bullshit is not much fun really.
Elvis has always been good at keeping his finger on the pulse of current trends and contemporary culture. Early in his career, he mentioned the use of video long before it had become a mainstream media (Living in Paradise). Likewise, he saw the advent of Karaoke nights way before they were common place in British high streets (Coal Train Robberies). 'Satellite' (Warner Bros 1989) followed a similar path to 'Glitter Gulch' but in a wider, more global sense. Its focus on the introduction of worldwide satellite television, and the potential for it to be used in a negative and possibly abusive manner was almost Orwellian in its starkness.
On Mighty Like a Rose (1991), The Other Side of Summer (a hit single that never was) demonstrated how effortlessly Elvis can tap into different musical genre. On this occasion he took the Brian Wilson approach on what was his last truly great stab at the commercial singles market. Again, he was strikingly tuned in to the youth culture of the period. "...and now you can't afford to fake all the drugs your parents used to take" took a pop at the somewhat bizarre trend for younger people to pretend that they were under the influence of non-prescribed medication. he hammered home the point again on 'Invasion Hit Parade' when he talks about "liberation forces..... playing their Doors Records and pretending to be stoned" .
A long forgotten EC classic, Invasion Hit Parade is a song which grows more relevant with the passing of time. His analysis of political realities is frighteningly accurate. The whole of MLAR is like a predication of doomsday and shows what a perceptive songwriter he truly is.
The song highlights the nonsense that is the prime time quiz show. Elvis is in effect predicting a horrific future where TV companies will sink to lower and lower depths in order to win better ratings. They create an ugly TV World where contestants take to having sex with the hostess in order to win that dream home or new speedboat.
In recent years, the quiz show has altered from the traditional format to something darker and more perverse than even Elvis could have imagined. The ersatz joke that is 'Big Brother' was bad, but the teenage version plumbed new depths as the Channel 4 (UK) bosses blatantly tried to get boring, no-life 18 year-olds to shag each other on live TV. Thankfully the format failed miserably because watching zit-faced youngsters (whose only interest is themselves) washing their teeth and spouting bullshit is not much fun really.
Elvis has always been good at keeping his finger on the pulse of current trends and contemporary culture. Early in his career, he mentioned the use of video long before it had become a mainstream media (Living in Paradise). Likewise, he saw the advent of Karaoke nights way before they were common place in British high streets (Coal Train Robberies). 'Satellite' (Warner Bros 1989) followed a similar path to 'Glitter Gulch' but in a wider, more global sense. Its focus on the introduction of worldwide satellite television, and the potential for it to be used in a negative and possibly abusive manner was almost Orwellian in its starkness.
On Mighty Like a Rose (1991), The Other Side of Summer (a hit single that never was) demonstrated how effortlessly Elvis can tap into different musical genre. On this occasion he took the Brian Wilson approach on what was his last truly great stab at the commercial singles market. Again, he was strikingly tuned in to the youth culture of the period. "...and now you can't afford to fake all the drugs your parents used to take" took a pop at the somewhat bizarre trend for younger people to pretend that they were under the influence of non-prescribed medication. he hammered home the point again on 'Invasion Hit Parade' when he talks about "liberation forces..... playing their Doors Records and pretending to be stoned" .
A long forgotten EC classic, Invasion Hit Parade is a song which grows more relevant with the passing of time. His analysis of political realities is frighteningly accurate. The whole of MLAR is like a predication of doomsday and shows what a perceptive songwriter he truly is.
"But they can't hold a candle to the reciprical war crimes which have plagued our policy of foriegn affairs."
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