If you’re just joining us, check out the About This Project link for details. Basically, I make playlists of all the singles by certain musical artists and then try to order them using the guiding principle “do I like each song more than the last song.” I define “single” in a broad enough way to include any song that was released as a purchasable single in any format in any country; as a promotional single in any country; as a video; or generally any song that I know charted anywhere. My main sources are Wikipedia (mostly reliable) and Discogs (reasonably reliable). I welcome editing feedback since sometimes I favor speed over spelling.
We’re going to introduce two new elements to this list. The first is an online resource (located on two platforms) called The Elvis Costello Song of the Week, which lived primarily at Trunkworthy but also which had it’s own WordPress site for a while. The second is Elvis Costello’s fascinating autobiography, Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink. I’ll be linking to the former and quoting the latter when appropriate.
Moving right along…
110. Smile
Japan only CD-Single (2002)
Cover of a song composed by Charlie Chaplin (1935), lyrics first performed by Nat King Cole (1954)
This is probably the only song composed by an icon of silent film that I’ve yet featured on my list. Chaplin wrote the music as the instrumental theme for Modern Times in 1935. In 1954, John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons (probably mostly Parsons) wrote lyrics to the music and it was a hit for Nat King Cole. Costello recorded “Smile” in 2001, apparently during the sessions for When I Was Cruel – it was included on the Japan release of that album and also on the related outtake and b-side album Cruel Smile. It appears that Costello recorded this specifically to be the theme song to the 2002 Japanese drama Sora Kara Furu Ichioku no Hoshi (Hundred Million Stars from the Sky). Costello has done some excellent work-for-hire covers of songs for TV and Film (my favorite is probably his cover of the Linda Perry-penned Christina Aguilera hit “Beautiful” for House). While he acquits himself well enough of this tune, I feel like it’s a fairly inessential piece of his catalog. It’s fine, if unremarkable.
109. Georgie and Her Rival
Germany only single from Mighty Like a Rose (1991), released as a single in 1991
I toured to China in the summer of 1991 with Yu Tangchun, a jingju production produced at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. I don’t travel especially well and I was particularly terrified of going to China because I’d grown up with all the stories about oppression in that country. I had just purchased the cassette version of Mighty Like a Rose and I was so worried that it might get confiscated (because I didn’t have a lot of money and buying an album was a rare treat for me in graduate school) that I bought a TDK D90 cassette and recorded the album (and surely some other music – this album is not 90 minutes long) on it using my beloved cassette to cassette recorded so I could listen to it on tour. That is how important it was to me to have one of Elvis Costello’s worst albums with me while I toured.
Don’t get me wrong, I love much of the album – “Couldn’t Call It Unexpected No. 4” is one of my favorite songs ever (not a single), “So Like Candy” (coming up) is very good, the vitriolic “How To Be Dumb” (not a single) is a delight, “The Other Side of Summer” (coming up) is a decent nasty Beach Boys pastiche and I remember quite liking “After The Fall” (not a single) back in the day. Indeed, if this album were by most other artists, it would have a spectacularly high “decent:suck” ratio. I find, though, that this is one of the albums I revisit the least from his catalog. There are times when it feels like the words just flow effortlessly from him and there are times when it feels like he’s put on his workman’s hat and is grinding out songs. “Georgie and Her Rival” has always sounded like Costello was working harder on it than he needed to. The writers at The Elvis Costello Song of the Week blog have more to say about it and, even as they acknowledge it’s pretty average I think they enjoy it quite a bit more than I do. Something about the production (by Mitchell Froom) sounds dated and maybe a little too slick. Also, the way Costello sings “affairs of the (sigh) heart” always tickles my ear in the wrong way.
108. Who Are These People
(Artist: Burt Bacharach & Elvis Costello)
Single from the Burt Bacharach album At This Time (2005), released as a single in 2006
Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach have recorded some excellent songs together. Their best tunes are the ones on which they’ve collaborated – something about their work ethic, respect for music history and sheer talent just blends perfectly. Indeed, Painted from Memory (their primary collaboration) is one of my all time favorite albums – maybe my #2 favorite Elvis Costello album. I’ll write a ton more about that record 50 or 60 songs from now. Maybe even 100 or so songs from now. Costello was a hired hand on “Who Are These People?” which as written by Bacharach and Tonio K. Costello shares the lead vocals with an excellent female singer (I think Josie James, but I’m not 100% sure). Most of the song bares the trademarks of a classic Burt Bacharach tune – lush orchestration, fantastic backing vocals, compelling compositions, etc. Costello was an inspired choice to sing these very political lyrics – Bacharach, during the Bush years, is lamenting the awful people who were in charge at that time (one wonders what sort of song he’d compose about 2019). The place that I think the song falls is in the final line in the uncensored version. Bacharach has Costello drop an F-Bomb in an especially angry tone. I get it, it’s an appropriate and shocking way to underscore the whole point of the song, but I also think it comes out of left field. In theatre, we talk about moments being earned – like if you want a moment to have a certain emotional resonance, you can’t just pull it out of your behind. You have to carefully build up to it or it won’t have the impact that you want. I feel like the song makes it point extremely effectively and doesn’t really need that last line (not that I disagree with the sentiment or am concerned about swearing in general). Had the song come to an end after Costello sings the final elongated “who are these people,” they would have had me completely and I’d have ranked this song a lot higher.
107. Living a Little Laughing a Little
(Artist: John Hiatt)
Single from the John Hiatt album Warming Up To The Ice Age (1985), released as a single in 1985
Cover of a song originally recorded by The Spinners (1974)
Oh no John Hiatt, not the 80’s drums. John Hiatt is, of course, one of America’s great singer/songwriters. He’s not had much Billboard Hot 100 success, but he’s had several large hits on the U.S. Mainstream rock charts, His breakthrough song – 1987’s “Thank You Girl” – happened two years after this ill-fated collaboration with Elvis Costello. It’s not that “Living A Little, Laughing A Little” is a bad tune in and of itself – The Spinners original that I linked above still sounds good 45 years later. In fact, both Hiatt and Costello sound quite good on this track. Costello is a fantastic harmony singer and is a great artist to invite for a duet. The issue is, quite simply, the production. It sound so like a dry run for Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up.”
106. The Imposter vs The Floodtide (Dust and Petals)
(Artist: Elvis Costello and The Imposters)
A Side of French only single titled “When I Was Cruel” from Cruel Smile (2002)
Was this a single? There was evidence that it was at one point or I wouldn’t have included it. I remember not wanting to include it, but I swear there was evidence. It seems like it was a b-side at one point. This song is a remix of “Dust 2” and “15 Petals” from When I was Cruel. Remixes come in and out of vogue and 2002 was a big year for both remixes and mashups. This seems like a good time to mention that The Imposter is one of Costello’s regular psuedonyms but The Imposters are his current rock band consisting of 2/3 of the Attractions plus Davey Faragher (formerly of Cracker) replacing Bruce Thomas on bass. Anyhow, this is not an essential addition to your Elvis Costello library – I recommend either of the original versions that I just linked instead. If I’d not already started the list, I’d remove this at this point, but I can’t prove whether it was a single or not at this point and this is genuinely where I’d ranked it on the list. You may mentally place asterisks before every song ranked lower than this one if you wish.
Edit (June 21, 2019) – Turns out, it was the A-Side of a single in France under the title “When I Was Cruel,” which was both the name of a totally different song (also on this list) as well as the name of the parent album of all of these songs. The b-side is a remix of “Tear Off Your Own Head (It’s A Doll Revolution)” titled “Revolution Doll.” Anyhow, hurray, remove your asterisks.
105. Tokyo Storm Warning
(Artist: Elvis Costello and the Attractions)
First single from Blood and Chocolate (1986), released as a single in 1986
Blood and Chocolate is tied for the title of “first CD I ever owned” with Speaking in Tongues by Talking Heads (see #4). I believe they were birthday presents (to go along with a birthday gift CD player in 1986). I’d previously known Speaking in Tongues but I think this was likely the first time I heard the songs on Blood and Chocolate (I was probably familiar with “Blue Chair” – coming up). “Tokyo Storm Warning” quickly became that song that I skipped over so I could hear “Home Is Anywhere You Hang Your Head” (not a single) instead (and wow that song still speaks to me). Costello seems to have at least one song per album that he really, really loves that doesn’t connect with me at all. This is that song on Blood and Chocolate. According to Costello, the lyrics are “a thug’s-eye view of the planet.” When I imagine the song without the choruses (and I do), I hear a structure that seems influenced by Bob Dylan in a good way. Truly, I don’t care for the chorus. The song is over 6 minutes long and I think it’s supposed to feel epic (Costello says it was meant to feel “claustrophobic” and I agree with that) but to me it’s always sounded tedious. Contrast this with the even longer “I Want You” (coming up) which earns every minute (and leaves you wanting more).
As is the case with several other songs at this end of the list, I am partly ranking this song here because of how unhappy I am that some of songs I enjoy more from Blood and Chocolate were not singles. I mean, obviously Costello and/or his record labels (Demon in the UK, Columbia in the US) have the right to release whatever songs they think are going to have the greatest radio impact. That said, if I had the keys to the clown car, I would have suggested the aforementioned “Home Is Anywhere You Hang Your Head,” “Crimes of Paris” (I get excited as soon as I hear those open acoustic guitar chords) or “Poor Napoleon” first. Speaking of Napoleon, Costello uses the pseudonym Napoleon Dynamite on this record. Jared Hess wrote and directed a movie by that name and claims that he had no idea Costello had used it before. Give. Me. A. Break.
In Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink (Page 451), Costello describes how, in his opinion, this was the last true album with The Attractions, that all other albums with that name could have essentially been made with any set of musicians. If you’re a fan of Elvis Costello, you immediately know what he means by this, but I can’t really put it into words. There’s a missing energy – tension? – in future Attractions releases.
104. Little Atoms
(Artist: Elvis Costello and The Attractions)
Second single from All This Useless Beauty (1996), released as a single in 1996
This solo performance of “Little Atoms” on The Larry Sanders Show is wonderful. There’s another wonderful live performance here (scroll to the bottom of the entry – no, before the comments). Stripped down, this song is gorgeous. Something about how it is performed on it’s parent album, All This Useless Beauty, puts me off. I’ve been wrestling with whether to rank it higher or not because it’s a lovely piece of songwriting. Maybe it’s those background vocals or maybe it’s just that some songs benefit from a more raw approach (I think of “Loving the Alien” by David Bowie – #41). Hard to say, but I couldn’t bring myself to move this version any higher up the list. I can’t tell if this is an emotional choice or an intellectual choice or a spiteful choice, but I just want more to listen to other songs that don’t irk me at all.
All This Useless Beauty was a fascinating concept – Elvis Costello recording versions of songs that he’d originally written for other people. It has a few gems (many were singles – six were released from this album) but it isn’t cohesive. I mean, nor should it be – these are very different tunes written for very different singers. “Little Atoms” appears to be an original composed for this record.
103. Remove This Doubt
German only promo single from Kojak Variety (1995), released as a single in 1995
Cover of a song originally performed by The Supremes (1965)
As I’ve already mentioned, Kojak Variety is not my favorite Elvis Costello record. Expertly performed, lovingly curated and I just wanted original tunes. I’m a cretin. “Remove This Doubt” was originally written for The Supremes but it works adequately with Costello, too. Really, that’s all I have to say.
102. A Slow Drag With Josephine
Very limited release 78rpm single from National Ransom (2010)
Costello released a pair of bluegrass flavored album last decade. National Ransom was the second. It still seems like a new album to me because I didn’t spend a whole lot of time with it when it came out. Indeed, it is among the albums by Elvis Costello that I’m least familiar with. Costello collaborated with great producer T Bone Burnett on this (and several) of his more country flavored albums. It’s an inspired pairing and they continue to produce great music. Burnett, in fact, produced my favorite EC album, King of America, a record that completely changed my opinion about country music. In general, I really enjoy these albums – I’m older now, though, and I don’t listen to them with the obsessive focus of youth anymore. Indeed, I tend to listen to music now while going on long walks, my focus split between the music and the situational awareness needed not to be killed by traffic, falls on steep cliffs, etc. Very different than dropping a needle on a 33-1/3 and intently listening for an hour. Indeed, that was an advantage to music being less portable, at least for me. Listening to music was, in my younger days, less of a multi-tasked activity.
Wait, we’re talking about a song right? OK, “A Slow Drag With Josephine” has that wonderful “flub dub flub dub flub dub: acoustic guitar line and some intriguing lyrics – I especially love:
Gavotte, garrotes, Cotillions and slow Arabesques
“A Slow Drag With Josephine” by Elvis Costello
Drum-rolls and Farandoles were all made in jest
But when you make that move
I can’t resist
When will you declare your armistice?
I love the references to French dances (especially with that sinister little reference to garrotes) that ultimately suggests dance courtship as a form of warfare (hearkening back to EC’s lyrics on Armed Forces). What knocks this otherwise excellent song down the ranking for me – and these lists are based entirely on what I enjoy – is the whistling section. Costello is a fine whistler, don’t get me wrong, I just don’t like whistling in most songs. I’m sure there are exceptions, but this is not one of them. There are many fans of this song, which is well deserved. If whistling in a song isn’t a hard pass for you, this is quite excellent.
101. Sweet Dreams
(Artist: Elvis Costello and The Attractions)
Second single from Almost Blue (1981), released as a single in 1981
Cover of a song originally written and recorded by Don Gibson (1955)
The first thing you need to know is that the album Almost Blue does not include the song “Almost Blue.” This is a good thing – the tune would have been entirely out of place on this album of covers of classic country music. Almost Blue was Costello at The Attractions’ second album of 1981 (They’d released Trust the previous January). Costello, as I’ve noted, has an encyclopedic knowledge of music and Almost Blue sounds like a labor of love from start to finish. Indeed, as a whole album, I absolutely love it song for song. Out of context, I find that I’m often not as interested in listening to the individual tunes. In Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink (I lost the page number), Costello writes about how legendary producer Billy Sherrill personally identified both this song and “A Good Year for Roses” (coming up) as potential hits and went all out on them. While the production does give a certain Gamera-sized lushness to the tune, this is another one that I think benefits from a more stripped down approach.
Coming Soon: We reach the point on the list where I start pretty much liking everything.
Elvis Costello Singles Ranked – 111-116 – 101-110 – 91-100 – 81-90 – 71-80 – 61-70 – 51-60 – 41-50 – 31-40 – 21-30 – 11-20 – 1-10