Eggs, what's your fave Elvis Costello song?

[Tisiphone]

I'm sure it's hard to narrow down, but gimme a top five!

 

[Yub]

Tisi, I demand you stop reading my mind THIS INSTANT. I was totally thinking about posting this thread earlier today but my pathetically low sense of self worth prevented me.

 

[Tisiphone]

You may demand, but I shan't obey!

 

[Eggs Mayonnaise]

Holy shit. Talk about Sophie's Choice! And there's only about 300 to choose from.

Wow. Trouble is, my buzz is wearing off from my night out, but I can at least list the songs that always make my list reflexively, for one reason or another:

"Clowntime Is Over" from Get Happy!!
"Riot Act" from Get Happy!!
"Oliver's Army" from Armed Forces
"No Action" from This Year's Model
"Lipstick Vogue" from This Year's Model
"Blame It On Cain" from My Aim Is True
"Watching the Detectives" from My Aim Is True
"New Lace Sleeves" from Trust
"Clubland" from Trust
"You'll Never Be A Man" from Trust
"Kid About It" from Imperial Bedroom
"Almost Blue" from Imperial Bedroom
"Man Out of Time" from Imperial Bedroom
"Shabby Doll" from Imperial Bedroom
"Shipbuilding" from Punch the Clock
"Brilliant Mistake" from King of America
"Jack of All Parades" from King of America
"Sleep of the Just" from King of America
"Uncomplicated" from Blood & Chocolate
"I Hope You're Happy Now" from Blood & Chocolate
"Battered Old Bird" from Blood & Chocolate
"This Town..." from Spike
"Veronica" from Spike
"Baby Plays Around" from Spike
"God's Comic" from Spike
"Any King's Shilling" from Spike
"So Like Candy" from Mighty Like a Rose
"Dear Sweet Filthy World" from The Juliet Letters
"Romeo's Seance" from The Juliet Letters
"The First to Leave" from The Juliet Letters
"Clown Strike" from Brutal Youth
"Still to Soon to Know" from Brutal Youth
"London's Brilliant Parade" from Brutal Youth
"Rocking Horse Road" from Brutal Youth
"All the Rage" from Brutal Youth
"Favourite Hour" from Brutal Youth
"The Other End Of The Telescope" from All This Useless Beauty
"Poor Fractured Atlas" from All This Useless Beauty
"You Bowed Down" from All This Useless Beauty
"Toledo" from Painted From Memory
"I Still Have That Other Girl" from Painted From Memory
"What's Her Name Today" from Painted From Memory
"God Give Me Strength" from Painted From Memory
"Tear Off Your Own Head (It's A Doll Revolution)" from When I Was Cruel
"When I Was Cruel #2" from When I Was Cruel
"Episode of Blonde" from When I Was Cruel
"When Did I Stop Dreaming?" from North
"The Delivery Man" from The Delivery Man
"Monkey to Man" from The Delivery Man

That's just off the top of my head of course...

I WILL TRY TO NARROW THEM DOWN IN THE DAYS AHEAD! Q'PLAH!

 

[Eggs Mayonnaise]

Semi-finalists (not limited to these, probably more to come):

"Clowntime Is Over" from Get Happy!!
"Kid About It" from Imperial Bedroom
"Sleep of the Just" from King of America
"Shipbuilding" from Punch the Clock
"Veronica" from Spike
"Baby Plays Around" from Spike
"Rocking Horse Road" from Brutal Youth
"All the Rage" from Brutal Youth
"Favourite Hour" from Brutal Youth

A lot of ballads on there, I must be a fag...

 

[Eggs Mayonnaise]

(It's probably gonna end up being "Kid About It" from Imperial Bedroom, but I make no comment at this time)

Everyone should own a copy of Imperial Bedroom. It's a masterpiece. Everyone who owns it can name a different song that they think is their favorite. GO. GET. NOW.

 

[Eggs Mayonnaise]

I mean, shit, you're all going to buy it, listen to it, and say, "Eggs you ASSHOLE! How could you leave off Town Cryer? Or The Long Honeymoon? Or Boy With a Problem?"

It'll happen.

 

[Eggs Mayonnaise]

I would love it if Rickie Lee Jones covered "Kid About It."

But that might cause me to die and stuff. Just too perfect a moment.

 

[Tisiphone]

I think the only song I loathe of his is Veronica. Probably because they played it to death when it came out. I'm the same way with REM songs. I used to like them, but now I cringe when they come on and I have to flip the station else my head will explode.

 

[Eggs Mayonnaise]

The beauty of Veronica is when you dig into the lyrics, and read articles/interviews from him talking about the genesis of the song, and watch the video.

He wrote it as a tribute to his grandmother, who he would visit in her old folk's home until she passed away. The video brings out this narrative wonderfully.

But yeah, that and Alison are his two most overplayed songs.

 

[curiousa2z]

this thread has got me mulling it over now....hard to choose indeed.

 

[Eggs Mayonnaise]

The greatest fuckdamn thing about his music is, I'd probably give you a much different list on another day, under different circumstances.

Which is why I've never really decided what is my "favorite EC song" -- it keeps changing.

I haven't even dug deeply into his last two albums, Momofuku and Secret, Profane & Sugarcane. There's probably a gem or two on those as well. Also The River in Reverse, the sort-of-Katrina-benefit album he did with Alain Toussaint. Sigh.

 

[curiousa2z]

the ep of Spectacles that I saw most recently had alot from Profane and Sugarcane. What I heard sounded pretty damn fine indeed.

 

[Eggs Mayonnaise]

Didja see the one where Mary Louise Parker interviewed him? She was a total SQUEEing fangirl the whole time, it was deliciously indulgent. She is like EMO for him.

When she got him to sing Town Cryer and So Like Candy, and she just swayed along with a child's grin on her face the whole time...she's on my "if I were straight" list.

 

[Donovan]

What's funny about EC songs for me is that he does a ton of my favorite tunes that I had no idea were him. It's like he's got this voice and sound that are familiar, but not identical, to his more famous tunes so I never make the connection. "Watching the detectives" is a good example, it's the theme to one of my favorite shows on PBS and I like the song, but I never once made the leap to "Hey that's Elvis C."

Funny...

 

[jack]

Eggs you ASSHOLE, you left off "Pump It Up"

 

[jack]

I also loved his TV show with his wife Diana Krall on. I saw her at the Flynn late last year, she makes me cry her playing is so sweetly perfect.

 

[jack]

Eggs, remember his first American TV appearance?

 

[jack]

The greatest fuckdamn thing about his music is, I'd probably give you a much different list on another day, under different circumstances.

Which is why I've never really decided what is my "favorite EC song" -- it keeps changing.

I haven't even dug deeply into his last two albums, Momofuku and Secret, Profane & Sugarcane. There's probably a gem or two on those as well. Also The River in Reverse, the sort-of-Katrina-benefit album he did with Alain Toussaint. Sigh.

I loved that standards album he did with George Jones. Weirdly beautiful. I think he's my most favrit of all players.

 

[Eggs Mayonnaise]

Eggs, remember his first American TV appearance?

SNL, season 3, December 1977. The Christmas show with the old lady who won the "Why I Want to Host SNL" contest. Miskell Spillman. Vodka was Elvis' drink of choice that night.

He started into "Less Than Zero", stopped 2 bars in, and changed it up to "Radio Radio" without clearance from the show/network. The young maverick hippie producer Lorne Michaels became a suit that night, and banned Elvis from the show for the next 12 years. (It's amazing how a hit single -- in this case Veronica -- can pull you out of the doghouse)

EC parodied the event at the SNL 25th Anniversary special. The Beastie Boys were introduced; they broke into Sabotage, and Elvis ran onstage and stopped them, and led them into another rendition of Radio Radio. Bless 'em.