Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Declan Patrick MacManus, better known by his stage name Elvis Costello, is an English musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as part of London's pub rock scene in the early 1970s and later became associated with the first wave of the British punk and new wave movement of the mid-to-late 1970s. His critically acclaimed debut album, My Aim Is True, was recorded in 1977. Shortly after recording it he formed the Attractions as his backing band. His...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionRock Singer
Date of Birth25 August 1954
CityLondon, England
I've always felt writing a song was a bit like going on location. That's true in an almost literal sense. Where you are seeps in somehow.
I think when I was younger I was not very good at writing love songs that didn't have a twist.
Sometimes I write notes that I have difficulty singing. And you start talking yourself out of the bold melody and start wanting to arrange it in another key or something. Maybe I just never learned my harmony part, because what everybody says sounds odd to them sounds perfectly natural to me.
I'm a man with a mission in two or three editions And I'm giving you a longing look Everyday, everyday, everyday I write the book.
I get very frustrated by this term 'genre exercise.' I mean, what exactly is that? Genre is not really relevant when you are writing a song; hopefully you are doing it to explore something, to create something, and I don't agree that any of my albums are genre exercises.
It's what I do. I don't deserve any awards for this, it's just music. It's just writing songs. You sit down, you write a song, you record it. You tour and play the songs live, dress them up a bit differently, or dress them down.
Sometimes I write notes that I have difficulty singing.
And over the last ten years, after my work with the Brodsky Quartet, I had the opportunity to write arrangements for chamber group, chamber orchestra, jazz orchestra, symphony orchestra even.
Smokey Robinson writes the heartfelt songs, whereas it was my job to write the songs about weakness and failure in love.
Really the only thing holding a lot of records together is the personality of the singer, and the will to write all of these different things.
Writing about music is like dancing about architecture - it's really a stupid thing to want to do.
Morrissey writes wonderful song titles, but sadly he often forgets to write the song.
I can write orchestrations, but I can't sight-read music and play at the same time. I don't have enough facility.
It would be a surprise if people thought I would be playing a lot of rock 'n' roll.