Elvis hasn’t left the building yet… July 29, 2008
Posted by Domenico in Music.trackback
Hi there, second day of the week, great mood in these days, things are going on, I’m actually looking forward to the result of some work done and waiting for the loooong (well, just two weeks) holiday to arrive. Not so much to say besides the fact that today we will still listen to some music from the (recent) past.
Today we have Elvis Costello.
This is another case of artist whose influence has characterized the bands coming after his music production. This English musician and singer-songwriter with Irish ancestry came to prominence as an early participant in London’s pub rock scene in the mid-1970s, and later became associated with the punk rock and New Wave musical genres, before establishing his own unique voice in the 1980s.
A famous critic wrote, “Costello, the pop encyclopedia, can reinvent the past in his own image”.
I saw his acoustic live performance as he was guest of the 1st May concert in Rome, some years ago. It was memorable. Now let’s enjoy one of his songs coming from the early production. This is “(I Dont Want To Go To) Chelsea”:
Domenico
PeaceT(b)lo(g) 
He is above cool. Chelsea isn’t that bad though…
So, this is Costello? The only other song I knew was a ballad … I guess we might need a few more songs in the weekends.
Photographs of fancy tricks to get your kicks at sixty-six
He thinks of all the lips that he licks
And all the girls that he’s going to fix
She gave a little flirt, gave herself a little cuddle
But there’s no place here for the mini-skirt waddle
Capital punishment, she’s last year’s model
They call her Natasha when she looks like Elsie
I don’t want to go to Chelsea
Oh no it does not move me
Even though I’ve seen the movie
I don’t want to check your pulse
I don’t want nobody else
I don’t want to go to Chelsea
Everybody’s got new orders
Be a nice girl and kiss the warders
Now the teacher is away
All the kids begin to play
Men come screaming, dressed in white coats
Shake you very gently by the throat
One’s named Gus, one’s named Alfie
I don’t want to go to Chelsea
Oh no it does not move me
Even though I’ve seen the movie
I don’t want to check your pulse
I don’t want nobody else
I don’t want to go to Chelsea
Photographs of fancy tricks to get your kicks at sixty-six
He thinks of all the lips that he licks
And all the girls that he’s going to fix
She gave a little flirt, gave herself a little cuddle
But there’s no place here for the mini-skirt waddle
Capital punishment, she’s last year’s model
They call her Natasha when she looks like Elsie
I don’t want to go to Chelsea
Oh no it does not move me
Even though I’ve seen the movie
I don’t want to check your pulse
I don’t want nobody else
I don’t want to go to Chelsea
Ach so, finally I learn something about this Costello dude!
This song rocks and I want to go to Chelsea even though we’ll get enough Natashas somewhere els-ie.
You guys let me feel really old when I read you hardly know Elvis Costello…
Besides, I’m getting more and more concerned about you Dome. What’s happening to you? I can read between the lines of your blogs you’ve got something to say but have not yet found the right way or, may be, just not yet…
For you guys who, I know, you haven’t and will never watch a movie like “Notting Hill”, one of the songs of the soundtrack, or just as I consider it the theme of the movie, is “She”, a song by Elvis. I append the lyrics as well as a link to a collection of Elvis’ songs, in case you want to listen to more of his music. Enjoy…
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She
May be the face I can’t forget
A trace of pleasure or regret
May be my treasure or the price I have to pay
She may be the song that summer sings
May be the chill that autumn brings
May be a hundred different things
Within the measure of a day.
She
May be the beauty or the beast
May be the famine or the feast
May turn each day into a heaven or a hell
She may be the mirror of my dreams
A smile reflected in a stream
She may not be what she may seem
Inside her shell
She who always seems so happy in a crowd
Whose eyes can be so private and so proud
No one’s allowed to see them when they cry
She may be the love that cannot hope to last
May come to me from shadows of the past
That I’ll remember till the day I die
She
May be the reason I survive
The why and wherefore I’m alive
The one I’ll care for through the rough and ready years
Me I’ll take her laughter and her tears
And make them all my souvenirs
For where she goes I’ve got to be
The meaning of my life is
She, she, she…
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The playlist: http://www.imeem.com/magliulos/playlist/UbOI8IYI/costello_music_playlist/
Andrea, Andrea you have so much to learn about the world of music. I was listening to this dude in the 1970s!!!