spacer spacer
spacer
 

Some good EC Web sites

- EC's o-fficial site
- A good EC site
- Wikipedia on EC
- Bright Blue Times
- Good article on EC
- On MySpace, check out these very active Elvis Costello groups: "Elvis Costello" (several hundred members), and "Elvis Costello - the Real King" (several hundred members).

'Scarlet Tide' video

During a live performance on the Today Show (July 21, 2005), Costello expressed his feelings about the Iraq War by changing the lyrics of his Oscar-nominated song (from "Cold Mountain"), "Scarlet Tide." (watch the video). Later, he explained what he did, saying, "At 2 a.m. on the 21st July, I woke up and re-wrote a few lines of 'The Scarlet Tide' to reflect the frustration that I sense with the disastrous and dishonest prosecution of a war, an action that might have been thought treasonous in saner times."

The original lyrics are:

Man has no choice,
When he wants everything.

The rewritten lyrics are:

Admit you lied,
And bring the boys back home.






Other EC video performances

Check out this energetic 2005 live performance of "Peace, Love, and Understanding" from the "Club Date: Live in Memphis" DVD on iFilm.

From the same Memphis DVD, here's "Alison-Suspicious Minds."

Here's a cheesy, late '70s music video of "Pump It Up."

Another late '70s music video: "Radio, Radio."


Some cool live audio

Here are some rare, live Elvis Costello performances.

Accidents Will Happen
Alison (Bridge School Concerts) recommended
All This Useless Beauty (Conan) recommended
Baby Plays Around
God Only Knows (with Brodsky Quartet) recommended
Chelsea (fast)
Everyday I Write the Book (Woodstock)
Girl's Talk
I Stand Accused ('79)
I Want You (London)
Less Than Zero (Dallas version) recommended
Lipstick Vogue
Little Atoms (acoustic)
Man Out of Time recommended
Mystery Dance
No Action
Oliver's Army (acoustic)

 

- Elvis stuff you might not have known

His birth name isn't "Elvis Costello" - In the late '70s, Costello's first manager, Jake Riviera, suggested that Costello change his name from Declan Patrick Aloysius McManus to Elvis Costello. The name had attitude. No one in real life dared call themselves Elvis, let alone this computer programmer aggresively personifying the geek image. The "Costello" portion was his mother's maiden name.

This bold name change backfired somewhat when Elvis Presley died suddenly in August 1977. In conversations filmed for Costello's late 2004 "Live in Memphis" DVD concert, he commented on the uncomfortable nature of having taken Presley's name, and, how it took a long time for him to be able to play in Memphis without feeling some trepidation.

 

(Back to the "About Elvis" page)

 spacer
copyright 2006 The Costellophones