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.
I recall watching a show on MTV in the late 80’s that was guest hosted by Elvis Costello. There’s only two things I recall about it. First, he played the video for “Rain Dogs” by Tom Waits. Second, he played a song by Whitney Houston and, after, complimented her by saying she had an absolutely lovely voice but “please let me write you some decent songs.” Houston never took him up on this offer, but Wendy James (formerly of Transvision Vamp) did. Costello – sometimes in collaboration with Cait O’Riordan – wrote an album’s worth of songs that James released under the title Now Ain’t The Time For Your Tears. If I recall, James soured on the album before it was even released (though I could be imagining that). Three singles were released – in order, “The Nameless One,” “London’s Brilliant,” and “Do You Know What I’m Saying?” The songs (and album) are pretty good and they sound like a fine match of singer and material. That said, they were not the hits James wanted and she went on a multi-year hiatus from the music industry. If you’re looking for “lost” Costello gems, these might qualify.
30. Someone Else’s Heart
Record Store Day single released in 2018
Cover of a song originally written and recorded by Squeeze (1981)
Elvis Costello has a pretty close relationship with his fellow London musicians, particularly the ones who were coming up through the pubs at the same time as him. His fellow pub rocker Nick Lowe produced several of his albums and, of course, we’ve already heard Squeeze vocalist Glen Tilbrook on an earlier tune (#111). Costello produced Squeeze’s classic album East Side Story – indeed, Costello produced several outstanding albums in the 80’s, including both The Specials’ debut album (“A Message To You Rudy”) and their In The Studio album (“Free Nelson Mandela“) as well as The Pogues Rum, Sodomy & The Lash (“Sally Maclennane” – #2 on my list). East Side Story includes two songs immediately recognizable to every college student in the 80’s that owned a copy of Singles: 45’s & Under (i.e. – every college student), “Tempted” (Costello sings the line “I’m wishing I was well”) and “Is That Love.” It also contains includes the original version of “Someone Else’s Heart” as sung by Chris Difford. Difford can be a very appealing singer (“Cool for Cats”) but I don’t think this song showcases him especially well and I confess, though I’ve listened to East Side Story maybe a thousand times in my life, this song has never especially leapt out at me.
Imagine my surprise then when Costello released this song on Record Store Day last year and I downloaded it as soon as it became available and I absolutely loved it. Costello cut the song with The Roots in April, 2018 and they absolutely nailed it – indeed, they made the song their own. The guitar rocks, the rhythm section is typically brilliant and, not to put too fine a point on it, it rocks. The lyric – about a pair of lovers discovering each other’s letters and musings about past loves – is right up Costello’s alley and he delivers it with just the right amount of bemused irony (ironic bemusement?).
What I Love – the little “doot doot” backing vocals.
29. Toledo
(Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach)
First single from Painted from Memory (1999), released as a single in 1999
Lyric I Especially Like:
So I walked outside in the bright sunshine
And lovers pass by smiling and joking
But they don’t know the fool I was
Why should they care what was lost, what was broken?
Were I to do a ranking of Elvis Costello albums, Painted From Memory would be near the top of the list. It is by no means a rocker – more of a collection of sophisticated pop songs about heartbreak. Costello and all-time great composer and musician Burt Bacharach present 12 absolutely stellar songs – many among the best in either artist’s career. Like ABC’s Lexicon of Love and The Cure’s Disintegration, this is an album I’ve returned to time and again when I’m feeling laid low (especially back when I felt laid low by love). “Toledo,” “This House Is Empty Now” and “God Give Me Strength” (both coming up) are the only singles from the album and the latter was actually released a few years earlier. A reworked version of “I Still Have That Other Girl” by Bill Frisell appeared on this list earlier at #65. Every track is worthwhile, but let me draw your attention to “In The Darkest Place,” “The Sweetest Punch” and the title track.
The writers at Elvis Costello song of the week do a great job of breaking down what’s actually happening in the lyrics of “Toledo.” If I may be allowed a crack at deciphering it, the chorus is focused on how the people in Toledo, Ohio and Toledo, Spain share a name, but don’t really know much about each other. Neither do people who live elsewhere – like if you saw somebody walking down the street and were told they were from Toledo, you wouldn’t necessarily be able to tell which Toledo. You don’t know what is going on inside them. Similarly, in the verses of the song (which tell the story of the narrator committing an infidelity that his partner immediately recognizes and their subsequent break up), the strangers who pass him on the street have no idea that he’s heartbroken (in a way that lacks self pity). It’s deliberately absurd, but that’s part of what makes the song work – Costello is making himself out to be a fool here. The music itself functions in a similar way – if you’re not listening carefully, it sounds like it might be a happy song, perhaps celebrating Toledo. Nope.
What I Love – All of Costello’s high notes.
28. So Like Candy
Second single from Mighty Like A Rose (1991), released as a single in 1991
Lyric I Especially Like:
“My Darling Dear, it’s such a waste”
She couldn’t say “goodbye”, but “I admire your taste”
This is my favorite of the various songs Costello wrote with Paul McCartney and I think I might be alone in this opinion. “So Like Candy” is a break up song – more specifically, a “she left him more or less without warning and now he’s walking around their apartment finding all their stuff scattered about.” The narrator is a bit of a dunce – he’s not sure what he did to make her go while also recognizing that she hasn’t really loved him in a long, long time. Sometimes people just fall out of love, dude. Let her go. While McCartney doesn’t actually play bass on this track (that honor goes to Jerry Scheff of Elvis Presley’s TCB Band), the prominent bass line on this song definitely feels like his and is one of the best things about the tune. While I don’t think this is the best song on Mighty Like A Rose (that would be “Couldn’t Call It Unexpected No. 4”), it is a close-ish second.
What I Love – Costello’s pained wail of a chorus.
27. Still
Music video from North (2003), released in 2003
Lyric I Especially Like:
Sometimes words may tumble out but can’t eclipse
The feeling when you press your fingers to my lips
North is an entirely underrated part of Costello’s discography. The album in essence reflects the end of one relationship and the start of a new one. It is ultimately a love letter to Diana Krall, Costello’s current wife. While it was hardly a pop or rock hit at the time of it’s release, it did reach #1 on the US Traditional Jazz chart, which is really pretty cool. Costello has had a #1 jazz and #1 classical album. That’s, I mean, pretty awesome.
Anyhow, there were no official singles released from North, just a music video for “Still.” An outtake from the North sessions – “Impatience” – appeared on this list at #41 and (while delightful) it really doesn’t match the tone of the album so one understands why it wasn’t included. A few other delights from the record include “Fallen,” “When Did I Stop Dreaming” and “I’m in the Mood Again.” I think a lot of the contemporary hostility to the album was because you have to work a little bit to get into the songs, but the time spent is ultimately rewarding.
The joys of the song “Still” – the best song on North – are many. First, the welcome return of The Brodsky Quartet (who play nicely with regular Costello pianist Steve Nieve) creates an aural bridge to The Juliet Letters. Mind you, the song sounds little like anything on that album, but their work reminds you that this song (and the whole album) is part of a continuous thread in Costello’s career (dating at least as far back as the wonderful non-single “Almost Blue,” performed here for your enjoyment by Diana Krall). Nieve’s piano work is subtle, beautiful and effecting. The highlight for me, however, is the lyrical composition of the song. Costello – a man known for his wordiness – is singing a song about his delight at being asked to stop talking so much by the person he loves. It is just perfect.
What I Love – The whole package this time. I would have loved to have seen Krall’s reaction the first time she heard this.
26. Green Shirt
(Elvis Costello & The Attractions)
Single from The Man: The Best of Elvis Costello (1985), released as a single in 1985
Originally recorded for Armed Forces (1979)
Lyric I Especially Like:
There’s a smart young woman on a light blue screen
Who comes into my house every night
And she takes all the red, yellow, orange and green
And she turns them into black and white
It’s no coincidence that (here in the top 30) this is the first song we’re encountering from Armed Forces, one of Costello’s finest albums with The Attractions (and another candidate for the top of my “best Elvis Costello album” list). There are four songs from the American version of this album (just three from the U.K. release) in my top 30 and another five may very well have been in at least the top 60 had they been singles – check out “Two Little Hitlers,” “Party Girl,” “Big Boys,” “Goon Squad,” and “Sunday Best.” At some point, I am concerned I might be recommending every song he’s written. Armed Forces wasn’t designed as a concept album, but there are recurring themes that conflate romantic relationships and war. The album has always seemed to me to be an anti-fascist statement (in both the political and personal spheres) and one wonders if it will be among the artistic relics that our rising fascist overlords eventually get around to suppressing.
“Green Shirt” wasn’t originally released as a single from Armed Forces. It was, in fact, released six years later to promote the greatest hits package The Man: The Best of Elvis Costello (released in the UK – the U.S. equivalent was The Best of Elvis Costello and The Attractions which had a decidedly different track list). I imagine that it is comforting to be a record executive who needs to select an already acclaimed song for release as a single six years after the fact. It was not an enormous hit (I mean, by 1985, it had received its share of airplay and acclaim) but it did chart in the UK. Costello was partially inspired by the rise of the fascist National Front in the UK and describes the song as being “about the simplification of seductive signals, the bedroom eyes that lead to tyranny.” The Attractions sound fantastic (as they did) and Costello gives a surprisingly understated vocal performance (in part because he was suffering from a painful hangover when he recorded the vocal).
What I Love – Pete Thomas’ machine gun snare.
25. New Amsterdam
Third single from Get Happy!! (1980), released as a single in 1980
Lyric I Especially Like:
Down on the mainspring, listen to the tick tock
Clock all the faces that move in on your block
Twice shy and dog tired because you’ve been bitten
Everything you say now sounds like it was ghost-written
I love singing along with “New Amsterdam.” Since the first time I heard it, I felt like Costello chose the words for his lyric as much for the joy of language as for actual meaning (which is about “a bewildered arrival in the new world”). The song is from a demo session and only features Costello – the only song on Get Happy!! that doesn’t feature The Attractions. The song is all of 2 minutes long and is a little piece of pure joy – the rollicking vocal melody, the itchy acoustic guitar and whatever he’s doing with his keyboard are delightful things. However, the wordplay in the lyrics is what I love most about the song – I’d have quoted the whole thing in the “lyric I especially like” section if I wasn’t concerned about over-quoting.
What I Love – “Till I speak double Dutch to a real double duchess” is candy.
24. Let Him Dangle
Promo single from Spike (1989). released as a single in 1989
Lyric I Especially Like:
From a welfare state to society murder
“Bring back the noose” is always heard
Whenever those swine are under attack
But it won’t make you even, it won’t bring him back
Songs from Spike appear all over this list. So far, we’ve heard “…this town…” (#98), “Baby Plays Around” (#87), and “Veronica” (#77). There’s still one more after this song, so you could correctly say that I have mixed feelings about the singles from this record in toto. “Let Him Dangle” is an anti-death penalty song written specifically about the Derek Bentley case. There’s a great movie about this case called Let Him Have It with Christopher Eccelston as Bentley – highly recommended. Costello releases some serious fury on this song, particularly in the verse I’ve quoted above. I’ve been listening to this song this week in the United States of America where Attorney General William Barr has recently announced that the federal government will start executing prisoners again, despite the mountain of evidence that it is an immoral, expensive and ineffective failure of a policy. It is sincerely depressing how many of Costello’s protest songs – which felt like relics of a past age for over a decade – are becoming painfully relevant again.
What I Love – The rage.
23. Oliver’s Army
(Elvis Costello & The Attractions)
First single from Armed Forces (1979), released as a single in 1979
Lyric I Especially Like:
Called careers information
Have you got yourself an occupation?
Speaking of songs that are quickly becoming relevant again…
All right, “Oliver’s Army” is one of Costello’s greatest songs and is the centerpiece of Armed Forces, one of his greatest albums. It’s also his biggest hit having reached #2. Inspired by The Troubles in Northern Ireland (probably returning soon if Brexit occurs), Costello describes how working class lads become soldiers at ridiculously young ages to enforce the will of the state, specifically in Ireland but also as imperialist occupiers across the globe. That said, the success of the song is probably more due to the fact that it is insanely catchy and that The Attractions were approaching their zenith. Listen to them perform it live in 1979 here.
In fact, this is such a good song, that it was initially in my top five. Why have a I knocked it down so low? Regular readers will know that I have ranked down both The Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York” (#5) and Dire Straits’ “Money For Nothing” (#19) because of how a certain slur was used in both. I acknowledged how, in both cases, the artistic intent may have been to communicate something about the character using the slur as opposed to using the slur with intent to promote it. However, in both cases, the intent is (in my opinion) outweighed by the 21st century impact on the people it is aimed at. Read the entries. I don’t want to dwell on those for too long.
If you are familiar with “Oliver’s Army,” you no doubt know the phrase that has led me to down-rank this song. If not, a quick read through the lyrics will clue you in. Now look, I am of Irish descent. I have been called that exactly once in my life. I know that it is (or at least was) a common anti-Irish slur in the UK. Furthermore, I acknowledge that the intent of the lyric is, in fact, anti-racist. Perhaps if I was living in Ireland or the UK, I would feel differently, but in the United States in 2019, that phrase is so much more disparaging to African Americans than it is to the Irish. It always makes me wince when a similar phrase is used in an empowering way in otherwise great film The Commitments. I see it as both ratifying and reinforcing the racist idea that black people are inferior and also as a way of trying to claim that certain groups of white people are just as systemically oppressed and abused. I want to reiterate that I’m not ascribing racist intent to Costello. Here in the United States in this century (and really always), we are at a point when ironic racism is largely indistinguishable from racism. The thought of a crowd of white people at a Costello concert in the U.S joyfully singing that phrase with little or no understanding of the context (Americans thought “Less Than Zero” – #60 – was about Lee Harvey Oswald, for dog’s sake) while white supremacy is once again on the rise is appalling.
So, in recognition of the fact that the intent of the song is anti-racist (and musically a delight), I’m leaving it in the top 25. In recognition of what I just wrote, I’m taking it out of the top 10.
Also, I hope Oliver Cromwell is burning in hell.
What I Love – The tune really is catchy as heck.
22. Ascension Day
(Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint)
Music video from The River in Reverse (2006), released in 2006
Lyric I Especially Like:
He said, “Let her go, let her go, God bless her”
“She hasn’t been gone long enough for me to miss her”
“Except every minute of every hour of every day when I wish I could possess her”
Costello has played with some amazing musicians over the years – The Attractions/Imposters, The Brodsky Quartet, Bacharach, all those great Nashville musicians, and so on. I’d argue the late Allen Toussaint was the finest of all of them. Something about Toussaint’s piano work and Costello’s phrasing worked to bring out some of his finest performances on record. “Ascension Day” is just the two of them. The music is Toussaint’s minor key reworking of his mentor Professor Longhair’s “Tipitina.” (Professor Longhair is the first name in the writing credit for the song) The shadow of Hurrican Katrina’s impact on New Orleans (and the Bush administration’s botched handling of the disaster) looms over The River in Reverse and it’s impossible to listen to “Ascension Day” without thinking of the death toll. In the end, everyone who died and everyone who was lived and everyone who was responsible for the disaster and its aftermath will be equally dead and – if those people that believe in a final religious judgement are correct – will all be called together on that titular day to be judged. My take is that Costello and Toussaint believe certain responsible parties won’t be judged kindly.
What I Love – Toussaint’s piano work is mesmerising
21. New Lace Sleeves
(Elvis Costello & The Attractions)
Music video from Trust (1981), released in 1981
Lyric I Especially Like:
Good manners and bad breath get you nowhere
The guys at Elvis Costello Song of the Week make the case that this is one of Costello’s two best songs. I don’t know that I would go that far, but it’s definitely one of his 21 best songs on this list. There’s a whole lot to love about this song. First, The Attractions rhythm section – drummer Pete Thomas and bassist Bruce Thomas – create an amazing syncopated beat that’s unlike almost anything else the band ever created. Then there’s that amazing moment when Costello launches into the “She’s no angel” part of the lyrics and the whole band transforms the song into something completely different… and then again when they make the turn into the chorus. Then of course there is that lyric itself which a disappointing one night stand and the contrast between (to paraphrase the Song of the Week writers) how one thinks they should behave, how one actually behaves and how society tells one they should behave. Costello identifies this song (and a few others from Trust) as being among the band’s finest ensemble performances. Incredibly, this song wasn’t released as an actual physical single, though the video I’ve linked above justifies it’s inclusion on this list.
What I Love – Bruce Thomas’ bass work gets stuck in my head in the best possible way.
Coming Soon: The last couple Elvis Costello tunes from this century are in the 11-20 chunk.
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