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 firmly in “I like all of this” territory, so I’m going to add in the “What I Like/Love” feature that I sometimes include again. In future entries, I might include a “lyric I especially like” thing too.
As of this writing, the Elvis Costello Wiki is down. In my experience, this happens from time to time. Hopefully, it will be back up soon.
80. The People’s Limousine
(Artist: The Coward Brothers)
Stand-alone single released in 1985
“The People’s Limousine” was the start of Elvis Costello’s decades-long professional collaboration with famed producer and musician T-Bone Burnett. Burnett would go on to work on nearly all of Costello’s county and bluegrass recordings (including the sublime King of America) and the two seem to be – if I may employ an overused cliche (I may) – kindred spirits. “The People’s Limousine” seems to be an attempt to tell a Western-perception-of-the-Soviets story in a country music context. On the one hand, I can see how this high concept idea was probably amusing to the two of them in 1985, but on the other hand it sort of works – morally grey tales of lawmen and outlaws are a good chunk of Western music lyrics. In terms of Costello’s development as an artist, “The People’s Limousine” is a sort of “proof of concept” that led to him blend country music with his own penchant for complex lyrics on King of America.
What I Like – I really dig the guitar hook (played, I believe, by Burnett) and the harmonies.
79. Stranger In the House
Stand-alone single released in 1978
Costello wrote “Stranger in the House” for George Jones and it appeared on his 1979 duet album My Very Special Guests. Apparently, Costello credits Jones with being his inspiration whenever he wrote country songs. I can hear this, to some extent, though my familiarity with Jones is limited to his best known classics (“He Stopped Loving Her Today,” “Tennessee Whisky,” “White Lightening,” etc) I can still hear hints of what inspired Costello. The lyrical theme of “Stranger in the House,” for example, is a near cousin of “He Stopped Loving Her Today” – in this case, a first person perspective of a man who has stopped loving his wife but who is trying to still behave as if he does in public. Costello’s version of the song – recorded during the My Aim Is True sessions with Clover- was a free 7″ single that came with some early copies of This Year’s Model. Honestly, Jones does not sound his best on his version of the song, so I’m giving the edge to The Attractions’ version. I’d also like to submit this song as unequivocal proof that Costello’s interest in recording country music dates back to his first studio sessions.
What I Like – I really like the syncopated pick up into the chorus.
78. I Lost You
UK Only Promo Single from National Ransom (2010), released as a single in 2010
There was a multi-album stretch of Elvis Costello releases that I sort of experienced differently than his earlier releases. Up through The River in Reverse (2006), I would buy one of his CDs (or, before that, cassettes or LPs) and listen to it obsessively for several weeks to the exclusion of most other music. As I made the transition to digital music, I felt less of a need to urgently listen to a full album by any artists. Thus, starting with 2008’s Momofuku, I downloaded his albums and listened to them in a much more casual way. I’d listen to it a couple times through, give each song 1-5 stars (typically 3 or 4) and then just let all of the songs pop up occasionally on shuffle. I have like 15,000 songs in my library, so it isn’t like I’d hear them very often. Occasionally, a song will pop up on shuffle, catch my ear and will suddenly be a short-term favorite. This brings us to National Ransom which – of all of Costello’s albums – is probably the one I’ve most neglected. This is a shame because it’s also one of his best reviewed 21st century records and because I’ve generally liked all of Costello’s other collaborations with T-Bone Burnett. Furthermore, it was recorded in a similar style and with the same musicians that worked on his previous album, Secret, Profane and Sugarcane and thus the record feels Costello took what he learned on that previous album and built on it. It’s really quite good and you might like the title track (coming up), “Jimmie Standing in the Rain” (coming up) and most especially the remarkable “Dr. Watson, I Presume” (not a single). There may be other gems on this album, but I’ve not listened to it enough to mine them out.
Which brings us to “I Lost You,” a song that I’d possibly not listened to more than once or twice before I started this list. The lyrics tell a familiar story of a man who has taken his partner for granted and driven her into somebody else’s arms. What makes this song special is the performance – Costello, The Imposters and The Sugarcanes all sound fantastic. There’s lovely little guitar figures laced through the piece but really this is as tight a band as Costello has ever played with (and he has played with some tight bands). I love that the song opens with the chorus (which has the strongest melodic hook) and that the verses seem to have a touch of the Johnny Cash “chika-boom.” I imagine if I spent more time with this song, it would easily move up my list.
What I Like – The chorus’ lyrics are built around a theatre metaphor and I dig that.
77. Veronica
First single from Spike (1989), released as a single in 1989
Another single produced by T-Bone Burnett (and Kevin Killen). If you recall, during my discussion of “…this town…” (#98) I mentioned that the tracks on Spike were performed by four different bands. “Veronica” was most likely performed by the London band – Costello with Paul McCartney on Hofner bass and Rickenbaker bass, Nick Lowe on still more yet bass (probably on the songs that McCartney didn’t compose on the London Spike sessions), Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders on backing vocals and Attractions stalwart Pete Thomas on drums. “Veronica” was Costello’s biggest U.S. hit and, famously, one of the songs he co-wrote with Paul McCartney. Their collaboration was brief and fruitful (McCartney had his last U.S. top 40 hit in the lead credit with “My Brave Face,” another co-composition) and some of their other composition appear on this list (either as singles or as “you should hear…” songs).
Costello had already written much of “Veronica” when he brought it to McCartney (who was the mind behind the dream-like bridge). It was a song inspired by his paternal grandmother and her descent into Alzheimer’s – a profoundly strange song to be a top 20 U.S. hit at the same time as “Every Rose Has Its Thorns” and “Girl You Know Its True.” Indeed, looking at the U.S. top 100 songs from 1989, I note that there’s one song about mourning one’s father, one about Batman’s occasional need to dance, one about drugging your date (damnit, 1980’s!), and a lot of love songs*. Honestly, Alzheimer’s isn’t am especially popular topic for song lyrics in any decade though there have been some excellent songs (and even other successful songs) on the topic. Alzheimer’s is a tragic, dreadful and progressive disease that destroys both the life of the afflicted but also that of their loved ones. I imagine that there are plenty of people who feel a deep personal connection to this song (the same way that I have a immediate response to “In To Deep” by Genesis – a song I’d otherwise be ambivalent about – because I immediately associate it with a friend who died around the same time it was a hit). Honestly, we’d all benefit from more songs that address some of the complex and painful experiences we have as humans – they help.
That all said, while I enjoy this song reasonably well, I have production and arrangement issues with it. I recognize that this song was his biggest hit and therefore my opinion is completely wrong here. I feel like it’s a little busy (what is the glockenspiel even doing there?), that the drums may have been replaced with paint cans or cookie sheets and (as with other songs on Spike), the treble is turned way up (so the bass, by Paul McCartney, gets a little swallowed – here’s some dude on YouTube demonstrating what a great bass line it is). At the time Spike came out, I wondered if Costello had been influenced in his arrangement choices by Tom Waits’ recent trilogy. I would have preferred more bass, a less flat drum sound and a simpler arrangement – not unlike the Costello/Nieve live version (but with the bass). I got to tell you, a couple of my all time favorite Costello songs are on Spike, but it’s always been a difficult album for me to love because some of the production just rubs me the wrong way. This was true of too many albums by too many bands in 1989.
What I Like – Holy cats, Paul McCartney’s bass work endures. He’s a master.
* Many others aren’t love songs – I just pulled three of the more unusual sets of lyrics in the top 100
76. I Can’t Stand Up for Falling Down
(Artist: Elvis Costello and The Attractions)
First single from Get Happy!! (1980), released as a single in 1980
Cover of a song originally recorded by Sam & Dave (1967)
Elvis Costello and The Attractions’ cover of “I Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down” is a significant improvement on the original. I don’t write this lightly. Costello picked up the tempo and managed to find the sweet spot between his style of new wave rock and the original R&B. I have some mixed feelings about Get Happy!! (I think it’s the weakest of the “big six” original albums, while still a great album) but when they got the conceit (this is an album inspired by classic R&B) right, they nailed it. In addition to the singles, you may want to check out “King Horse,” “Human Touch,” “Black and White World,” “Man Called Uncle” and (as I’ve mentioned) “Riot Act.” The album only has two covers – this one and a cover of Tony Colton’s “I Stand Accused” – and both benefit from tempo change and a more (to my ear) urgent vocal.
Since I’ve been casting aspersions at the production that irks me on some of the other tracks, let me sing some of Nick Lowe’s praises here. Every instrument is clear and crisp, there’s a full range of dynamics, and you feel like you’re practically in the studio with the band if you put on headphones. Furthermore, there’s not a whole lot about this song that would lead you to guess immediately that it was recorded in 1980.
What I Like – This is a great band performance by everyone. You can listen to any instrumental track (including the vocals) and have a good time.
75. Seven Day Weekend
(Artist: Jimmy Cliff & Elvis Costello & The Attractions)
Single from the soundtrack to the film Club Paradise (1986), released as a single in 1986
Somewhere deep in the 1985 my imagination….
“Hey Elvis! Can I call you Elvis? Look, I’m working on a new Harold Ramis movie. Whose Harold Ramis? You know! Animal House! Meatballs! Caddyshack! No? Did you see Ghostbusters? He played Spengler. Yeah, that’s right, the one who looks a little bit like you. I guess. Anyhow, look, he’s directing a movie that’s going to feature Robin Williams – yeah, that’s right, Popeye. I would have thought you’d guess Garp. Never mind. It features Robin Williams, Peter O’Toole and Twiggy… Yes, I loved The Boyfriend, too. Look, Mr. Ramis was hoping you might do a song for the movie and… yes… yes…. No, not for Twiggy. He wants you to write and perform a song with Jimmy Cliff. He’s also in the movie. No, not a reggae song. Like the kind of song you do. You no, the Elvis Costello thing. No, I’m serious. Not reggae. What’s the movie about? It’s set in the Caribbean and… no, I’m serious, not reggae. Yes, I realize that reggae is what Jimmy Cliff performs and that that is a popular music form in the Caribbean, but the movie is about tourists. It features the cast of SCTV too. Yes, yes I like Eugene Levy too. Yes, you he and Ramis could be cousins, I guess. No, he doesn’t need a song for Levy. It’s definitely a song for Jimmy Cliff and you. Maybe a duet where you trade off lines? Something upbeat about going on vacation? You’ll do it? Great – Ramis’ movies are usually big successes so your song could be the next ‘Ghostbusters’ or at least get some college radio airplay.”
What I Like – I have a soft spot for big dumb songs and this is a big dumb song.
74.. Brilliant Disguise
UK Promo single from Light of Day: A Tribute to Bruce Springsteen (2006), released as a single in 2006
Cover of a song originally written and recorded by Bruce Springsteen (1987)
I don’t have a page reference handy, but Costello brims with admiration for Bruce Springsteen in Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink. The two singer/songwriters have played together from time to time and seem to pretty clearly enjoy the experience – look at Bruce’s smile through the long introduction here. Springsteen was also a great guest on Costello’s Spectacle TV Show. Of course, there’s also the time Springsteen, Costello, Dave Grohl and Stevie Van Zandt played “London Calling” in tribute to Joe Strummer. Holy cats. Anyhow, I am an enormous fan of some of Springsteen’s albums (uh, Nebraska? Just one of the best records ever) but have been a lukewarm to middling fan of his more popular work. As a matter of fact, at college in 1987, I entirely missed “Brilliant Disguise” and its parent album, Tunnel of Love. Indeed, when I first listened to this cover by Elvis Costello, I imagined it might be a cast off from one of his projects with T-Bone Burnett. Turns out, Costello listened to Springsteen’s hit pop song and heard the country song underneath. Poking around the Google cache of the Elvis Costello Wiki, it seems like Costello recorded this in 1992 with Pete Thomas on drums and Paul “Bassman” Riley on, well, bass. It was the b-side to the “It’s Time” single (#83) in 1996 and eventually found it’s way onto the 2006 Light of Day Bruce Springsteen tribute. It’s made regular appearances in his live shows (here, he pairs it with the thematically similar “Deep Dark Truthful Mirror”) and it’s theme of a relationship coming apart due to hidden secrets really fits Costello’s oeuvre pretty perfectly (he did name his autobiography Unfaithful Music, after all).
What I Like – I love how Costello cuts the song off immediately after the last uncertain line. How Springsteen has placed that couplet – like it’s a verse that’s going to be followed by another chorus but the chorus never comes – is brilliant, but I like Costello’s hard stop even better.
73. You Little Fool
(Artist: Elvis Costello and The Attractions)
First single from Imperial Bedroom (1982), released as a single in 1982
Imperial Bedroom is one of Costello’s finest albums and you kind of can’t go wrong with any song from it. Indeed, while there’s other songs that I’d have selected (“Pidgin English,” “Beyond Belief,” “The Long Honeymoon” and ok truth be told I’m slightly enraged that “Almost Blue” was never a single), I’m reasonable satisfied with the actual singles from this album. “You Little Fool” may be the single from Imperial Bedroom that I’m ranking the lowest, but it’s still a great song by a band at it’s zenith. According to Costello’s liner notes (found in the Google cache for the Elvis Costello Wiki) for the reissue of the album, the lyrics are “a cautionary word to a young girl who is about to throw herself away on an unworthy fellow.” Truth be told, I realize now that the lyrics are crystal clear in this regard – there’s almost nothing oblique or obscure in the writing. I got so focused on the chorus that I didn’t really pay much attention to, you know, the rest of the song.
What I Like – I really enjoy the way that “little fool little fool” echoes on the choruses – indeed, to the exclusion of everything else in the song.
72. Sulphur to Sugarcane
US promo single from Secret, Profane & Sugarcane (2009), released as a single in 2009
I recall reading somewhere that Costello envisions “Sulfur to Sugarcane” as the travelogue of a turn of a sleazy politician – one imagines a figure like Huey Long or Pappy O’Daniel from O Brother, Where Art Thou? I also recall hearing that he and T-Bone Burnett added new ribald couplets to the song’s coda with each new city they visited. I saw Costello performing this song on Letterman, so perhaps that’s where I heard these things. The lyrics could just as easily apply to a traveling musician (or salesman or comedian or what have you) touring around the country indulging in a taste for one night stands (and bragging about his many affairs in some smoke filled room). The song is relentlessly catchy and I find the lengthy set of couplets about various cities to be delightfully puerile. They scratch the same itch for me that Ween’s lyrics sometimes do – a smart person writing top quality doggerel is one of life’s delights.
What I Like – There’s some really great acoustic guitar work from Costello.
71. Possession
(Artist: Elvis Costello and The Attractions)
Music video from Get Happy!! (1980), video released in 1980
We’re in an era now where it’s not unusual for a video to be made for a song that is not a single for the simple reason that “single” is sort of an outdated concept in an era where you can choose to listen to pretty much any song released by any artist at any time. Heck, in 2019, you could go and download just the five songs from Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A. that weren’t singles. In the 80’s, though, you had to buy the album to have a copy of certain songs. Labels tended to use music videos to promote the singles (singles sales made bank) so it is somewhat unusual (but certainly not unheard of) that Costello and the boys made a video for “Possession.” According to Costello, the song was written in a taxi back to the studio after drunkenly “falling in love” with a waitress at a pub. It sounds like it took all of a couple of hours from the moment of initial inebriated folly to the (possibly still intoxicated) completion of the song. Knowing that Costello sang this in a state of drunken urgency colors my whole perception of the song. I am a fan of improvisation and spontaneity and I’m especially delighted when favoring those techniques results in an inspired piece of music (or theatre, or art, etc). Lord knows improvisation doesn’t always lead anywhere good. I agree with Jorge Farah over at the Elvis Costello Song of the Week that Bruce Thomas’ bass work is excellent on “Possession,” and that some of the wordplay goes from clever to dad joke territory (my way of putting it), but I also agree with his fellow writer Kevin Davis that Costello’s committed singing makes you overlook some of the pained (and painful) lyric choices. But, yeah, reading the lyrics offers a couple “recoil from the computer screen” moments.
What I Like – Costello feels he plays organ “very badly” on this song. I really like the organ work. The shame!
Coming Soon: There’s kind of amazing songs that are ranked way too low in every section from here on out because Costello has a lot of amazing songs.
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