Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello is a British singer, songwriter, guitarist, record producer, composer, and bandleader, born in London on 25 August 1954.
Costello was educated at St Mark's Catholic School and St Francis Xavier's College before establishing himself across the punk rock, rock, and new wave genres. As both a performer and a producer, he has worked across multiple roles in music, bringing the same figure to the front of the stage and behind the recording desk. His work as a bandleader further extended that range, placing him in a position of creative direction across ensemble settings.
His contributions to songwriting have drawn formal recognition on several occasions. He received the Americana Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2016. He was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. Taken together, these honours reflect a career sustained across the punk rock and new wave traditions that first defined his public presence, as well as the broader rock idiom with which his work has remained consistently associated.
Quotes by Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello's insights on:
You must hold on to the sort of finger-painting aspect of music. That’s something I learned, particularly from listening to Neil Young. Tom Waits is another one, because Tom’s music is incredibly sophisticated and beautifully arranged, but he’s using a toolbox that’s unlike anybody else’s.
People become so deeply attached to the sound of one period that they blow a fuse when you move on. I’ve heard people complain bitterly about recordings they haven’t even heard.
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.
Writing about music is like dancing about architecture – it’s really a stupid thing to want to do.
When you work with new people, I think that it throws all of the matters into relief, because you have to explain yourself every time. It’s like crossing a new border. They want to see your documents.
I didn’t know anything then about odd-metered bars of music, but as Burt told me years later, you don’t count those beats, you just feel them and the tension that they create.
These are the sort of things that push you on in music – the curiosity, a passion for new ideas.