Elvis Costello (Declan MacManus) born August 25, 1954
I bought My Aim Is True on the first day of release after driving all over town to find a copy. I don't remember, now, what had tipped me off to it.
Five bars in ("Now that your picture's in the paper/ being rhythmically admired...") and I'd seen the future of rock and roll, and, without knowing it, the beginning of a run of the four greatest pop albums ever to be completely ignored by local radio, although I did hear Linda Ronstadt's cover of "Allison" once, which caused me to drive over a curb and tear out the oil pan plug. To be fair, "Freebird" and "Stairway to Heaven" do take up a lot of time, especially when that's all you play. I wish now I'd saved the two dismissive sentences the guy in the Star wrote about him.
9 comments:
I'm sure it makes me a philistine, but dammit, he's the only Elvis for me.
Clambake, feh.
(Well, okay, there's that detective guy in the Robert Crais books, but that's sort of a different thing altogether.)
That makes you a Philistine? I've been telling people for 25 years "There's only one Elvis, and he's still alive."
I was lucky enough to live in the land of KROQ and Rodney on the ROQ in those days. We got lotsa Elvis Costello & other good stuff. Nothing like it since.
Grammy nominees, Best New Artist, 1978:
The Cars
Elvis Costello
Chris Rea
Toto
and the winners - A Taste of Honey
That's the day my world changed.
indy radio -- love it or leave it!
In honor of his birthday, I got too drunk last night at a karaoke bar in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and sang "Radio, Radio."
Elvis lives.
I hope you had some background hissers.
Love him! One of the best songwriters alive.
I did consider singing the first line of "Less Than Zero" before cutting it abruptly off and apologizing, but that would've required a bit more cooperation than the dj was willing to provide.
Post a Comment