If you had asked my second favorite Elvis Costello song, that would have been difficult to answer.
There’s just so much awesomeness to choose from: “Veronica”, “Loveable”, “This Year’s Girl”, “Men Called Uncle”, “(I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea”, “God Give Me Strength”, “Beyond Belief”, “So Like Candy”, “Pony St.”, “Big Sister’s Clothes”, “I Want You”…
But, my number one favorite Elvis Costello song? Easy: “(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes”.
Will you read his book? He discusses Angels as one of those rare songs that came to him fully formed.
I’m interested and I’ve heard good things about it but, honestly, I’m not going to get around to it soon and, with books, if I don’t get around to it when my initial interest is at its peak then I usually don’t end up getting around to it at all.
I was excited when Patti Smith’s Just Kids was released but I didn’t read it right away. That’s almost six years ago now and I still haven’t read it.
Allison
That’s an interesting choice. It’s my new earworm. 
Just too many to list. Lately the jukebox in my head has been featuring Allison and High Fidelity, but next week could be any of a couple dozen others.
I remember hearing his early stuff, back when it was new, on WNEW in NYC - which was the only local station with the nerve to play it - having no idea that those songs would become such classics.
OK, enough chat. Off to search the web for an “Elvis Live” DVD.
that one’s a close second to “(What’s so Funny Bout…) Peace, Love…etc”
Daft question. Can only be seen as a body of work stretching across decades and genres.
Anything else under values the artist.
He didn’t write that.
Right. I was just listening to “King of America”, and half the songs on that album could qualify in a given moment.
No, but he did make it his own.
No he didn’t, that would be to undervalue the wonderful writer:
No contest: “Riot Act.” One of the few songs that gives me chills nearly every time I hear it.
Though my favorite to play on guitar is “New Amsterdam.”
Man, do I love the rhyme scheme of that chorus:
The man is a master of songcraft.
It’s also a very nice waltz.
Tough choice. So many favorites. I regularly go back to listen to the bass line and jangly guitar refrain of Lip Service.
“Every Day I Write the Book.”
One"L". And the only reason I know is that i didn’t check first and ended up misspelling my eldest’s name with 2.
Don’t think any lyric passes through my minds more often than “I used to be disgusted, but now I try to be amused.”
Basically throw a dart at the first 2 albums, but Pump it Up, Radio, Radio, and Lipstick Vogue are right up there. Think I know what disc(s) to toss on while I do my housecleaning…
When i was a very young kid I remember loving the song that his dad wrote and Elvis Costello performed on for R Whites Lemonade, I’m a Secret Lemonade drinker, which was still being played in cinemas.
I have to say I like his earlier punk/new wave stuff the best, particularly Oliver’s Army. From a little later I also like Shipbuilding (though he wrote the lyrics rather than the whole song and the original Robert Wyatt version is the definitive version).
I’m fairly lukewarm on his later stuff as it doesn’t have the energy I liked from his earlier stuff.
That said I heard A Slow Drag with Jospehine from his latest album which I quite like as I like the understated production and arrangement.
I just love “The other side of summer”!