Elvis Costello Fan Forum

Yep, Migdd. I'm not saying that no ballads have been covered, just that few of them. AB clearly tops that list (in terms of covers and quality of the artists that have given it a go). Part of the reasoning for me not buying into the Great American Songbook notion, and this also explains EC's overall...

Chris, I agree with a lot of what you say about current EC versus early EC, but I miss your Great American Songbook comparison. I recall when the New York Times, after IB, tried to pin that label on Ec (comparing him to Gershwin). I sometimes think that's when Ec began to get too big for his britche...

Agree with you on the singing, Deportee. And on the loss of creative urgency. He is in his early 50s after all. It's a bonus that his manic nature, ambition, careerism and sheer love of music keep him going at the pace he does. Every record, as you say, no matter how mediocre in comparison to this g...

I love this incredibly laid back "interview" with Ron. Two things particularly: here you see the impact that Elvis' comments had on ron's career. It's rare you see how one artist's generosity pretty much alters the life of another artist, and Ron's matter of fact acknowledgment of it here ...

Ypsilanti, take a look at the lyric sheets for MAIT, TYM, AF and GH, you'll see that even though the songs are filled with puns, double entendres, word play etc. (all the things many of us love about EC), the songs themselves are short (well, as short as EC songs can be) and to the point, particular...

Nice job transcribing, John. Listened to the song and it seems right. As we all know, EC's songs are never about "one" thing in particular, but this one seems to me, on first listening, to be about an american vaudevillian, maybe he's sick (tuberculosis?) trying to do his thing in England ...

Some good EC lines can be found here:

http://www.elviscostellofans.com/phpBB2 ... 91&start=0

More Metro-North reading. I'm a sucker for collected letters: Isaiah Berlin-- "Letters 1928-1946"--- Berlin is someone whose stuff has interested me over the years. I really admire his take on things. From a letter he wrote to his mother (he was 18): "Remember, life is good; and alway...

Usher, EC, and Common in a NY Times "red carpet" fashion post.


http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/0 ... ET_11.html

Not a big fan, except for some of the short stories, but we can't let the funny boys in The Onion have the last word. Dude was crazy but...

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/browbeat/

Jeremy, if you started with the beatles and worked your way backwards and forward, and Sinatra is another fave, you've got it all covered, kid. Enjoy. Stick around this site, you'll find lots of stuff to interest you. Agreed that none of Dylan's newer stuff compares with his older, truly great recor...

Jeremy, really interesting thoughts, which raise some issues that I've been thinking about. It is useful to come to EC or the Beatles without all the baggage. You get to listen to the songs with a fresh perspective and can decide, if that is your wont, that Yesterday, say, is not that good a song. I...

Okay, Christopher, now that Bambooneedle is gone "for an indefinite period of time" (notice the quotation marks, they are in his "honor"), it's my turn. It's new posters like you, pretentious twits like you and that Alexv guy who's not new but who's also a leisure time pleasure d...

glad you enjoyed Up in the Air, CS. I'ver recommended this movie to practically everyone I know. Clooney is terrific, as you say, and the subject matter creepy but interesting. What really struck me as genuinely unusual about the movie was the focus on his love of business travel, how it's almost a ...

When I listened to Bruce's EC marathon radio show interview, he used almost the exact language that he uses in this interview, when talking about Steve's reaction to the soul emphasis that developed during the Get Happy recording. "Oh, yeah. Steve hated that; he said, "I'm not playing this...

I agree, Chris, that this is an underrated, terrific EC effort. Don't know about the Dante and Auden connections, but I'll take your word for it. My only negative on the record is that the first few songs, the ones that deal with the pre-Diana period, are a little dull, musically, but that's a minor...

Thanks for the extract, John. Great stuff. My favorite line: "Now he suggests I use the rough track he'd brought to our first meeting. I use this very preliminary music as a reference, but I also mix in some songs by the Gipsy Kings, always a great dancing fallback". She opts for the Gypsy...

Here's 25 I really like, in no particular order: Kirsty MacColl--Tropical Brainstorm Holsapple and Stamey--Here and Now Cassandra-- Belly of the Sun EC--North and Momofuku Ron Sexsmith--Retriever, Blue Boy, Destination Unknown Pedro Luis Ferrer--Rustico Outkast--Loveboxx Arctic Monkeys--Whatever it ...

"Gabriel Garcia Marquez, A Life" by Gerald Martin. The official biography. I am not a huge fan of Marquez. I've only read "100 Years..." and "Love in the Time of Cholera". Of the two, Love is my favorite. My father, like most Cuban exiles, despised Marquez for his fawni...

I've read a few of Karen Armstrong's books. Here stuff is informative and well written. Her latest is "A History of God". Good stuff again, but marred by an unrelenting heavy-handed assault on what she sees as the West's misdeeds. Here's just a few: On science and religion: "Science h...

Ugh, needletime indeed. It must have been about 3 years ago that needlehead first got all lathered up about me. What was it? I'm thinking that it was a post where I criticized one of his adored ones. Was it springsteen? Probably. Anyway, who cares. I responded to him at that time and told him that i...

oily, Jeter's obp is high because he has a high batting average. Obp is a combination of walks and hits. It's not that he never walks, but great obp hitters combine a 300 range batting average with 100 walks. Arod has done this consitently. Jeter's a great player, unquestionably, and a hall of famer...

A Rod has been amazing this post-season. Here's hoping he keeps it up. As a Yankees fan, a pet peeve of mine has been the whole Jeter/Arod comparisons. Both players are clear hall of famers. ARod's admission of steroid use is not an issue for me. Ever since he came up as an 18 year old he was a star...

Yes, Otis, as in Cordoba. Lived in the 1100s, born in Andalusia, then lived in Acre and finally in Egypt. He was a Jewish thinker who wrote highly influential books interpreting the Talmud and Torah. A lot of what he wrote has been, amazingly, preserved, in his own handrwriting no less. You really g...