# Your favorite Elvis Costello song **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 24, 2015, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-elvis-costello-song/735673 "2015-10-24T23:57:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-elvis-costello-song/735673/1 "2015-10-24T23:57:01Z")
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.” ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-elvis-costello-song/735673/2 "2015-10-25T00:02:44Z")
“Oliver’s Army.” ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-elvis-costello-song/735673/3 "2015-10-25T00:04:44Z")
Watching the Detectives. Or possibly Mystery Dance. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-elvis-costello-song/735673/4 "2015-10-25T00:13:35Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > “Oliver’s Army.” 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. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-elvis-costello-song/735673/5 "2015-10-25T00:58:11Z")
Welcome to the Working Week of course “Red Shoes” is the best though ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-elvis-costello-song/735673/6 "2015-10-25T01:04:48Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-elvis-costello-song/735673/7 "2015-10-25T01:12:16Z")
I couldn’t possibly name just one. 30 or 40, perhaps, but not just one. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-elvis-costello-song/735673/8 "2015-10-25T01:14:14Z")
I know it’s a Charles Aznavour cover, for a cheesy Hugh Grant/Julia Roberts film, but I really like [She](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O040xuq2FR0). His voice just suits the song, There’s also [Shipbuilding](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LNB6M7yTBo), but Costello has never surpassed Robert Wyatt’s cover version, imo. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-elvis-costello-song/735673/9 "2015-10-25T01:15:54Z")
If I have to pick just one, it’s [Pump It Up](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y71iDvCYXA). ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-elvis-costello-song/735673/10 "2015-10-25T01:17:40Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I couldn’t possibly name just one. > > 30 or 40, perhaps, but not just one. 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? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-elvis-costello-song/735673/11 "2015-10-25T01:32:30Z")
At this precise moment, “This Year’s Girl”. ---
**Author:** ![oliversarmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/eb8c5e/32.png) [@oliversarmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oliversarmy)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-elvis-costello-song/735673/12 "2015-10-25T01:52:43Z")
Hmm. What is my favorite Elvis Costello song? Let me think. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-elvis-costello-song/735673/13 "2015-10-25T02:20:44Z")
[Almost Blue.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4PKzz81m5c&list=RDz4PKzz81m5c#t=4) ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-elvis-costello-song/735673/14 "2015-10-25T02:57:10Z")
[Veronica](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-rF4COOd9c) 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.” ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-elvis-costello-song/735673/15 "2015-10-25T03:05:42Z")
**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. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-elvis-costello-song/735673/16 "2015-10-25T03:59:05Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > If I have to pick just one, it’s [Pump It Up](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y71iDvCYXA). As long as [The Hot Rats](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13z9tTq0lWw) are doing it. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-elvis-costello-song/735673/17 "2015-10-25T04:12:49Z")
If only I had a big spinning songwheel that I could use to pick my fave…🆒 ---
**Author:** ![TheInimitableMaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@TheInimitableMaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheInimitableMaven)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-elvis-costello-song/735673/18 "2015-10-25T09:04:23Z")
**[Accidents Will Happen](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RZpAotDVdw)** ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-elvis-costello-song/735673/19 "2015-10-25T10:22:43Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > If I have to pick just one, it’s [Pump It Up](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y71iDvCYXA). 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](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=771491) 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. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-elvis-costello-song/735673/20 "2015-10-25T11:07:32Z")
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. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-elvis-costello-song/735673.md?page=2)