I’ve got to go with “Lipstick Vogue”, from, of course, This Year’s Model.
“Don’t say you love me when it’s just a rumor,
Don’t say a word if there is any doubt.
Sometimes I think that love is just a tumor,
You’ve got to cut it out.”
“Oliver’s Army.”
Watching the Detectives.
Or possibly Mystery Dance.
That was the one that got me into Elvis, the first of his I heard, played on a station in Baltimore. It’s still a favorite, just not the favorite.
Welcome to the Working Week
of course “Red Shoes” is the best though
That’s a tough one. His first album alone had Alison, I’m Not Angry, Less Than Zero, Mystery Dance, Red Shoes, and Watching the Detectives. Then you have later songs like Beyond Belief, From a Whisper to a Scream, God’s Comic, Green Shirt, Pills and Soap, Pump It Up, Tramp the Dirt Down, and Veronica.
I couldn’t possibly name just one.
30 or 40, perhaps, but not just one.
mmm
I know it’s a Charles Aznavour cover, for a cheesy Hugh Grant/Julia Roberts film, but I really like She. His voice just suits the song,
There’s also Shipbuilding, but Costello has never surpassed Robert Wyatt’s cover version, imo.
If I have to pick just one, it’s Pump It Up.
Well, sure. But there’s got to be one that when it pops up on the radio or on your playlist, that you sigh, “Ah, yes.”
Doesn’t there?
At this precise moment, “This Year’s Girl”.
Hmm. What is my favorite Elvis Costello song? Let me think.
Veronica always makes me think of my dear [post=10457110]Tante Lune[/post] - my best stories of her are in the later half of that post. It should make me think of my Grandfather, who had dementia his last years as well. And my Great Aunt. The last time I saw her my wife and kids and I we were dining with her. She asked the same questions over and over. Every hour she’d ask about my parents, my mother’s brother (she was on my father’s side). And every hour or so she’d look at my wife and children and ask me if I’d ever dreamed I would have such a beautiful family. Somehow those questions did not get old being repeated.
“They call her a name that they never get right, and if they don’t nobody else will.”
Spike is far from my favorite EC album ( may barely scrape into the top ten ), but Veronica might be his most evocative, bittersweet song ever. He’s had dozens of great tracks, but I’d probably have to go with that one.
As long as The Hot Rats are doing it.
If only I had a big spinning songwheel that I could use to pick my fave…
Have to agree. I have played that in so many bands and it holds up well. I also love Watching the Detectives - the single organ note at the end of each chorus is perfect.
I am a bit over halfway through his memoir which I had mentioned in this thread: Elvis Costello memoir out - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board
I will offer my thoughts in a follow up to that thread. Good stories and well written, no surprise, but not up to the level of Keith Richards or Bob Dylan, which I was hoping for given Mr. McManus’ abilities.
If I had to pick one it would be The Long Honeymoon. I debated between that and No Action, because someone insisted I pick up TYM even though I didn’t especially like any of his radio stuff, and when his voiced dropped when he said “but I always disconnect it in time” I got into him instantly. And then on second listen I heard him say “Bakelite” and together that’s basically Elvis in a nutshell.