Top Five Elvis Costello Songs:
“Alison”, “Little Triggers”, “Man Out of Time”, “King Horse”, and a Merseybeat-style version of “Everyday I Write the Book” I’ve got on a bootleg tape somewhere, the obscurity of the last cleverly counteracting the obviousness of the first, I thought.
—Rob Fleming, High Fidelity (The Book Version)
Top Five Elvis Costello Songs:
“Alison”, “Brilliant Mistake”, “Blame It On Cain”, “I Hope You’re Happy Now”, and the original version of “Radio Radio”—then called “Radio Soul”—that he recorded as D.P. MacManus with his band Flip City, the obscurity of the last cleverly counteracting the obviousness of the first, I thought.
— Me, Just Now (The Real Life Version)1
1 If I had a sixth pick, “King Horse” would definitely be it. Also if I had to choose my favorite song he covered, it would be the Jerry Chesnut/George Jones track “A Good Year For the Roses”. No question.
Actual Top Five Elvis Costello Songs:
“No Action”
“Big Tears”
“Next Time Round”
“Miracle Man”
“Beyond Belief”—Me, (Cos I know you didn’t think I wouldn’t *have* to do one of these too.)
And if I get a sixth pick, it’s the song that started my lifelong love affair with all things E.C., “Radio Sweetheart,” from his 1980, U.S.-only B-Sides compilation, Taking Liberties. I got a barely used copy of the cassette when I was about 9 or 10 years old, the result of my dad joining the Columbia Record & Tape Club and ultimately hating most of the albums he’d randomly selected as his freebies. (I also scored a copy of Steve Forbert’s Jackrabbit Slim.) Not a day goes by that I don’t thank God for my dad’s generally poor taste in music, his love of Bob Dylan notwithstanding.
Fine, fine:
“Alison,”
“Strict Time”
“Less Than Zero”
“Satellite”
“13 Steps Lead Down”
Although “Watching The Detectives” still rocks, I don’t care if it doesn’t make me as cool as the rest of you.
