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.
Elvis Costello recorded several albums that had no official singles at all and I’ll touch on those briefly over the next three entries. Let’s start with one that overlaps two areas of my interest – Elvis Costello and Shakespeare.
In 2000, a French dance company named Aterballetto asked Costello to compose a score for their ballet version of Romeo and Juliet. The finished composition was released as Il Sogno in 2004 and went to #1 on the Billboard Classical Music Charts – likely buoyed by Costello fans like myself running out and purchasing the record. It was released on the same day as The Delivery Man – which is decidedly not a classical album. With the caveat that it is somewhat foolish to select pieces from a classical work and present them separate from the whole, let me just say I especially enjoy “Oberon and Titania” and “Lovers Arise.” You can listen to this whole album at Costello’s YouTube channel.
And now back to our regularly scheduled singles. We’re passing the halfway mark here and I should mention all of these songs are outstanding.
60. Less Than Zero
(Artist: Elvis Costello and The Attractions)
First single from My Aim Is True (1977), released as a single in 1977
Lyric I Especially Like:
A pistol was still smoking, a man lay on the floor.
Mister Oswald said he had an understanding with the law.
He said he heard about a couple living in the USA.
He said they traded in their baby for a Chevrolet.
Let’s talk about the future now we’ve put the past away.
Costello was asked by his label to perform this song on Saturday Night Live back in 1977 and famously switched to “Radio Radio” at the last moment, remarking “there’s no reason to play this song here.” In both Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink and in interviews, Costello elaborates that he felt like “Less Than Zero” was “written about very specific English circumstances.” Specifically, the song was about Oswald Mosley, former leader of the pre-World War 2 British Union of Fascists (who help “Britain First” rallies and did the typical despicable things fascists do). Anyhow, in 1977, Mosley was interviewed on the BBC and Costello found him despicable and unrepentant. He wrote this song in response and it was his first single. In the United States, many people thought the song was about Lee Harvey Oswald, so he wrote some lyrics to reflect that, creating the Dallas Version of the song (not a single).
Let’s talk about that lyric I like. Oswald is caught with a smoking gun and his immediate response it to talk about a scandal in another country – in context of the UK, the filthy denizens of the United States. Oswald ends with a plea to “talk about the future and put the past away.” I mean, isn’t this how all fascist demagogues work? Get caught being awful, offer an unrelated distraction (possibly untrue, since Osawald’s only evidence is “I heard”) and then ask that we ignore his actions to focus on the future. Does that sound at all familiar to anyone? It sounds really, really frighteningly familiar to me. But hey, “turn up the TV, no one listening will suspect” If you’re a fan of Elvis Costello and also a fan of fascists, well, that must be as disappointing as being Chris Christie and knowing Bruce Springsteen kind of hates you.
Costello’s backing band on My Aim Is True, as I’ve mentioned, were the band Clover, who later formed the core of Huey Lewis and The News. They are really quite good on this album (though the addition of The Attractions on the next record really was a huge leap forward for Costello). I still feel like the production is a little musty, but it works well on this deliberately ugly song – the song’s seething undertone that compares Oswald’s fascism to the sexual needs of an entitled teenage boy.
What I Like – I thought I was going to rank this one much lower because I’ve never especially been a huge fan, but that last verse and the chorus just really hit a chord in me in 2019.
59. Long Journey Home
(Artist: The Chieftains with The Irish Film Orchestra and Elvis Costello)
European CD single from the soundtrack to the miniseries The Irish in America: Long Journey Home (1998), released as a single in 1998
Lyric I Especially Like:
But as you ascend the ladder
Look out below where you tread
For the colours bled as they overflowed
Red, white and blue
Green, white and gold
Well, here’s a fine contrast in tones – from the eviscerating political commentary of “Less Than Zero” to the sentimental look at Irish immigration of “Long Journey Home.” Before I started ranking Costello’s singles, I was entirely unaware that this song even existed. I did know that Costello (né Declan Patrick MacManus) is Irish on his father’s side and of course knew that he produced The Pogues’ Rum, Sodomy and The Lash (including tracks #2 and #3 on my Pogues ranking). As of 1998, he was still married to former Pogues bassist Cait O’Riordan. I guess what I’m saying is I knew Costello is Irish so it shouldn’t surprise me that he (along with Paddy Moloney of The Chieftains) wrote this lovely Irish folk song. But he (they) did and it was the theme song for a six hour documentary miniseries The Irish in America: Long Journey Home. Basically, it tells how the Irish immigrants fled famine to America where they were demonized and rejected by the more sophisticated English occupiers, made to work as indentured servants and house staff, degraded as stupid, and over a century or so eventually assimilated into the culture until many of them (us) ended up as, you know, playwrights, police and presidents. It took a century because assimilation doesn’t happen instantly or even in one generation. It’s like these stories keep repeating themselves in United State’s history. Funny thing that.
What I Like – There’s a glorious build to the whole chorus coming in singing the, er, chorus.
58. The Only Flame In Town
(Artist: Elvis Costello and The Attractions)
Second single from Goodbye Cruel World (1984), released as a single in 1984
Lyric I Especially Like:
Thought I saw your face in the fire
But it’s so hard to remember
Even an inferno can cool down to an ember
I bought the 45 of this song fairly soon after it came out and found myself in the odd position of owning something involving Daryl Hall of Hall and Oates. A few years earlier, I’d received a copy of Private Eyes from one of my aunts for Christmas (it was not on my list) and was secretly thrilled, but there was no way I’d admit I liked their music out loud in public in 1984. I had, however, been made of aware of Hall’s Robert Fripp produced album Sacred Songs (it’s fantastic) because my friends had introduced me to “You Burn Me Up, I’m A Cigarette” (not on that album, except as an eventual bonus track, but it led me to looking for it). Anyhow, Hall providing backing vocals on an Elvis Costello single provided me with an excuse to listen to his perfect voice without shame. By writing this whole paragraph, I might add, I am massively over emphasizing his contribution to the song. His backing vocals are a highlight, but they’re hardly intended to be the focal point of the song (though perhaps the selling point of the single).
I was certain that this song was going to be a huge hit – it was sort of the follow-up to Costello’s first top 40 U.S. hit, “Every Day I Write The Book” (coming up), and it was a fairly straight forward “I’m not in love with her anymore” song. A little clever wordplay (Tender/Tinder) but otherwise the lyrics is straightforward. Alas, it was not to be. Costello has a lot to say on the subject of this song in the liner notes to the 2004 reissue of Goodbye Cruel World and I’m going to cherry pick one of my favorite bits:
This was one of two track that were given the concentrated production approach and, like many cuts on the record, makes excessive use of the new DX7 synthesizer, the tone of which might as well date-stamp the album to an exact week in 1984. It is not a sound that has improved with age.
Elvis Costello, Liner Notes for 2004 Reissue of Goodbye Cruel World
In general, Costello feels the whole of this album was overworked and it really does sound labored and dated. The non-single highlights from the album (which Costello once called “his worst”) are arguably “Love Field” and “The Comedians” (though I concur with Costello that the version of that song which he wrote and arranged for Roy Orbison is much lovelier).
That all said, this is still a pretty decent straight up pop song that also works great in a stripped down form. I had initially ranked it a lot higher but – as with many things I used to love in the 80’s – the production puts me off a bit now.
What I Like – Well, I mean, Daryl Hall.
57. Tripwire
(Artist: Elvis Costello and The Roots)
Featured (?) Video from Wise Up Ghost (2013)
Lyric I Especially Like:
Torn from the pages of history
Repeated again and again and again
You’re either for or against us
and that is how the hatred begins
OK, so…
Look, there’s a couple of albums by Elvis Costello that are woefully underrepresented in regards to singles. There was only one song each officially released from The Juliet Letters, North, The Delivery Man, Painted From Memory, Secret, Profane and Sugarcane and Wise Up Ghost. There were no official singles released at all from National Ransom and The River in Reverse. I can’t explain it, but I’m sure it’s at least partially an acknowledgement that Elvis Costello fans are going to buy the whole album no matter what and, besides, it’s not like he’s getting a ton of airplay from the newer records anyways. But, but, but the songs are still so good and, and…
I really stretched the definition of “single” for the sake of this list in part because I really wanted to include tracks from as many records as possible, but especially from The River in Reverse and Wise Up Ghost. My logic in including “Tripwire” is that when I was working on this list, I saw some evidence on Costello’s official YouTube channel that this had been one of the few songs from Wise Up Ghost that had been uploaded to that site when the album was still new (December 11, 2013). “Clearly,” thought I, “This is because this was one of the songs they wished to highlight.” Bam, single.
I encourage you to read about the collaborative process between Costello and The Roots as described by ?uestlove (of The Roots) and Costello. They recorded a bunch of it in a dressing room at 30 Rock (where The Roots work as the house band on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon) and the project wasn’t associated with any record label so they had all the time in the world. I really love this album.
On to “Tripwire,” the headline at Trunkworthy’s Elvis Costello Song of The Week calls this a protest song that you can slow dance to. The lyrics open with a repeated couplet: “Just because you don’t speak the language/doesn’t mean that you can’t understand.” I took a music course in college where the professor played a (I think) John Coltrane piece that opened with an instrumental repetition of the “you must remember this” refrain from “As Time Goes By.” The professor pointed out that “he repeats it twice because he really wants you to remember this.” I have a similar feelings regarding that opening couplet on “Tripwire.” It’s addressed to us – the collective us – and is letting us know we can understand each other and our needs even if we don’t share a language. This is vital because the rest of the song is about how (the still collective) we are set against each other by the powerful for their sport and profit. The song is slow, sad and despairing and Costello sounds so appropriately weary by the end.
What I Love – Well, I mean, The Roots.
56. Shabby Doll
(Artist: Elvis Costello and The Attractions)
France only single from Imperial Bedroom (1982), single released in 1982
Lyric I Especially Like:
There’s a girl in this dress
There’s always a girl in distress
Let’s take a moment to listen to Fiona Apple and Elvis Costello angrily singing “Shabby Doll.” I wish she’d make an album of all Elvis Costello covers in between her own albums. I mean, ultimately I’d just like more Fiona Apple albums
Here we are back at Imperial Bedroom, a towering achievement of Elvis Costello and The Attractions. Our first visit to this album was “You Little Fool” (#73) and we still have one more single to cover from this record. In my discussion of “You Little Fool,” I mentioned four other songs that I thought should have been singles. I want to emphasize that I think this four would all have been in my top thirty (particularly “Almost Blue,” which would have been a contender for my top choice). I mean, I like “Shabby Doll” well enough (particularly Steve Nieve’s fantastic keyboard work… I mean Pete Thomas’ drumming… no, wait, Bruce Thomas’ bass…) but suggesting that it was more likely to chart as a single than, say, “The Loved Ones” just seems absurd to me – and that’s not even one of my four favorite non-singles from the record.
To be fair, “Shabby Doll” was only released in France. Costello calls it “an unflattering self-portrait” with a title he took from “a music hall poster in a hotel dining room.” There’s a whole lot of self-loathing to be found in Costello’s tunes – he takes himself apart with surgical (almost masochistic) precision (“And being what you might call a whore/Always worked for me before”). Success can destroy you and Costello was in a downward spiral that lasted at least until the mid-80’s. I was surprised when this song was selected for his Girls +£÷ Girls =$& Girls double CD compilation in 1989 (which was my standard .go-to collection of Costello songs for half a decade). Also, “Shabby Doll” gets an automatic 10 place deduction for use of the homophobic slur “nancy boy,” which has aged particularly poorly.
What I Love – The Attractions sound fantastic on this song, but special props to Steve Nieve’s piano work throughout and Bruce Thomas’ bass work at the end.
55. Whose Gonna Help a Brother Get Further
(Artist: Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint)
Promo video from The River In Reverse (2006), released in 2006
Cover of a song originally recorded by Lee Dorsey (1970)
Lyric (by Allen Toussaint) I Especially Like:
What happen to the Liberty Bell I heard so much about?
Did it really ding-dong?
It must have dinged wrong
It didn’t ding long
The River In Reverse was initially intended to be an album of some of the late Allen Toussaint‘s greatest songs re-recorded by Toussaint, Costello, The Imposters and The Crescent City Horns. If you’re not familiar with Toussaint’s songwriting work, check out this list of singles. Current events (particularly the Hurricane Katrina disaster) led to Toussaint and Costello adding a few original songs on the album as well. When it came out in 2006, a bunch of us jumped on it (fans of Costello, fans of Toussaint, fans of NOLA jazz) and it charted at #2 on the jazz charts in the U.S. There were no official singles released at all from the album, though this song was released in video form, as was “Ascension Day” (coming up). Most every song is a gem, but let me pass the yellow highlighter over the title track, “On Your Way Down” (not on YouTube), “The Sharpest Thorn” (not on YouTube) and “Six Fingered Man.”
The writers at Trunkworthy’s Elvis Costello Song of the Week cover a bunch about the song’s recording and the resonance of it’s lyrics in today’s increasingly troubled world. I want to focus on my own personal struggle figuring out where to rank it. Here’s the thing. It’s a great song and Toussaint sound fantastic. The Imposters and The Crescent City Horns sound fantastic. When Elvis Costello and Imposters bassist sing the backing vocals, they sound fantastic. Does it need – and I know I’m writing this sentence in a post about Elvis Costello singles – that repeated verse by Elvis Costello? The Trunkworthy authors argue that, yes, it does because (and I paraphrase) it reinforces the theme that we have to take care of each other. Presumably, Costello is coming in to offer a message that white people have to care about each other, too. I argue that that message is made clear by the very project itself and his presence in the background – I think the song would be stronger if Toussaint was entirely in the foreground of this song and Costello placed himself exclusively in a supporting role. Sometimes, the most supportive thing you can do is let yourself stay in the background and send the focus to somebody else. So, I am ranking this song down a little for having too much Elvis Costello in it. On a list of singles by Elvis Costello.
What I Love – If all you listen to on this track is “Big Sam” Williams’ trombone solo, you will have heard genius.
54. When I Was Cruel No.2
Germany only promo single from When I Was Cruel (2002), released as a single in 2002
Built around a sample of Mina’s Un Bacio È Troppo Poco (1965)
Lyric I Especially Like:
See that girl
Watch that scene
Digging the “Dancing Queen”
Oh! Hey! There’s this website called Countdown Kid where the author ranks songs by artists he enjoys, including Elvis Costello. He ranked “When I Was Cruel (No. 2)” at #6 and does a great job breaking down the song. He published a book of his top 100 Elvis Costello songs based on his blog. I am filled with respect and jealousy.
Meanwhile, “When I Was Cruel (No. 1)” was the first song Costello created under this title and it’s an extremely different beast from the version here. It’s (written about at length here a Trunkworthy’s Elvis Costello Song Of The Week. I’m in a position here where I don’t necessarily have to write a damn thing about this song since others have already done a fine job at that. This will not stop me. I live for redundancy, truly. Live for it. Redundancy.
Bob Dylan looms large over Costello’s songwriting. In his Rock and Roll Hall of FameTM induction speech, he singles out Dylan (and Joni Mitchell) as perhaps the most important influences in his songwriting. The narrative structure and very nearly sprachensang delivery of the verses (all squeezed between the sampled voice of Mina singing “un” on loop) summons up an image of Dylan as trip-hop artist. You’ll note Cosello’s guitar solo is also broken into sections so that it fits in between the “un.” Both on this album and especially on it’s remix companion Cruel Smile, Costello (and the newly formed but not yet credited Imposters) played around a bunch with remix and sampling, often to great effect. I also want to draw attention to that great direct quote from Abba that I mentioned above – it’s kind of key to the lyrics, which, as the Countdown Kid points out in the entry I linked above, envision Costello as a kind of worn out high society wedding singer. Here he is, churning out his cover of Abba’s classic (and a song that my mom and I danced to at my wedding) to a crowd of the dissolute upper class that he would have despised when he was a younger man. It’s like the song Billy Joel would have perhaps composed in an alternate universe where the piano man hated everyone in his audience. In the end, Costello is the only one who is taken down a peg in the song. When he was cruel, he would have dragged everyone else down with him.
What I Love – That is a killer hypnotic sample.
53. London’s Brilliant Parade
(Artist: Elvis Costello and The Attractions)
Fourth single from Brutal Youth (1994), released as a single in 1994
Lyric I Especially Like:
The lions and the tigers in Regent’s Park
Couldn’t pay their way
And now they’re not the only ones
There are four singles from Brutal Youth on my list and this is the one I’ve ranked lowest. It is one of my favorite albums by Costello (though it wasn’t initially). In addition to the four singles, check out “This is Hell,” “Just About Glad,” “Favourite Hour” and “Rocking Horse Road.” I’m not sure I would have ranked any of those higher than “London’s Brilliant Parade,” but they would all end up on the “this is good stuff” side of this list. I feel like three key Costello albums (Goodbye Cruel World, Spike and Mighty Like A Rose) all suffered due to 80’s-style production (even into the 90’s) but that, starting with this album, all of his subsequent records have sounded great.
(I should note that Blood and Chocolate, King of America and The Juliet Letters were all also recorded during the same period and managed to sound rather good)
One could compare “London’s Brilliant Parade” to The Beatles’ “Penny Lane” band I’m also going to compare it to The Move’s rather more cynical “Blackberry Way.” Both “Parade” and “Blackberry” drew some composition inspiration from The Beatles’ tune and then both opted to take a walk down the uglier side of their respective hometowns. There’s no mistaking the motive of The Move – their chorus includes “goodbye Blackberry Way… I don’t need you…” If you only listened to Costello’s chorus, you’d be forgiven for thinking this song was a celebration of London when, in fact, it’s full of little jabs and critiques. Much like with his Beach Boys’ pastiche, “The Other Side of Summer,” (#62) Costello employs the sound of psychedelic era Beatles to make it easier to cram a bitter pill into your ear (if I may be permitted to completely destroy a metaphor). Costello describes the lyrics of this song as “a more affectionate look at the city in which I was born than I could ever have managed when I was actually living there.” One wonders what a critical look would have sounded like.
What I Love – the chorus is so sweet that you might miss that he’s not really having the time of his life.
52. Watch Your Step
(Artist: Elvis Costello and The Attractions)
U.S. only single from Trust (1981), released as a single in 1981
Lyric I Especially Like:
Every night
Go out full of carnival desires
End up in the closing time choirs
When you’re kicking in the car chrome
And you’re drinking down the Eau de Cologne
And you’re spitting out the Kodachrome
Steve Nieve’s keyboard work really makes this song for me, though I also love Costello’s comparably laconic delivery of the bulk of the lyrics, punctuated by his titular warning/threat. This is only the second song from the excellent Trust album to appear on my list – the first was the underwhelming “From A Whisper To A Scream” (#111). Trust was the fourth album released by Costello with The Attractions and by this time they’d established that they were an incredibly tight rock band and that they could slide in and out of different styles seemingly without effort. “Watch Your Step” (lyrics written in 1974 when Costello was 20) doesn’t quite fall into rock and roll – it’s more of a jazzy “new wave” (I still hate that term) chamber pop piece. It was only released as a single in the U.S., where it failed to chart.
What I Love – No, seriously, Steve Nieve’s keyboard work here is *kisses fingers*
51. Everyday I Write the Book
(Artist: Elvis Costello and The Attractions)
Second (?) single from Punch the Clock (1983), released as a single in 1983
Lyric I Especially Like:
All your compliments and your cutting remarks
Are captured here in my quotation marks
Let’s start by talking about Afrodiziak, the fantastic duo of Caron Wheeler and the late Claudia Fontaine, who (along with later third member Naomi Thompson) served as backing vocalists on a pile of great UK pop songs in the 80’s including The Specials AKA’s “Free Nelson Mandela” (produced by Costello), The Jam’s “Beat Surrender,” Heaven 17’s “Sunset Now,” Howard Jones’ “Things Can Only Get Better” and many others. They, of course, are featured prominently both on the song and in the video for “Everyday I Write The Book.” Ms. Wheeler and Ms. Fontaine are an essential element of 80’s UK pop and I just thought you should know their names.
Somehow, “Everyday I Write The Book” was Elvis Costello’s first top 40 U.S. hit and one of only three total along with “Veronica” (#77) and “The Only Flame In Town” (#58 – above). Costello claims to have written it “in ten minutes” in an attempt to write a “formula song.” The lyrics present writing a book as a metaphor for the stages of a relationship. The music, I mean, it couldn’t be weirder for a U.S. hit – Pete Thomas’ backbeat is close enough to typical pop rock, but then Bruce Thomas creates this minimalist (almost jazz) set of bass figures and then Steve Nieve comes in and colors between and beyond the lines on keyboard. Seriously, listen to just the music. Costello’s vocal melody is what ultimately holds the whole song together.
I thought it would be interesting to look at the Billboard Hot 100 Music Chart for October 22, 1983 (the week “Everyday I Write The Book” peaked at #36) to see what else was charting at the same time. I’ve got to say, there was in fact some quirky stuff on the charts – “Burning Down The House” by Talking Heads (#12 on my list), “Suddenly Last Summer” by The Motels, and “Dr. Heckyll and Mr. Jive” by Men At Work were all still on the rise; “Puttin’ On The Ritz” by Taco, “The Safety Dance” by Men Without Hats” and “King of Pain” by The Police (#11 on my list) were all on the way down. And there’s “Big Log” by Robert Plant” next to “Cum On Feel The Noize” by Quiet Riot. The number one song was “Total Eclipse of the Heart” by Bonnie Tyler and next week it would be country icons Kenny Roger and Dolly Parton’s performing a song written by the Bee Gees for Marvin Gaye. Man, the 80’s were weird as hell.
What I Love – The way everything comes together on the chorus, especially Steve Nieve’s dancing keys.
Coming Soon: The first of four songs from his latest album.
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