I've grown up with the music of Elvis Costello in the background as he was a staple in the Wilson house along with the Undertones and Skids and if a new album came out the first time I would have heard it was blasting out of Bat and Stiff's bedroom. For years I believed that Elvis Costello had released something on Motown as this was a joke between Willie and John which took on mythical proportions and which they perpetuated for years.
Only every so often did I take the time to actually listen to the man's music and lyrics which was almost always a rewarding experience and I must confess that it is a long time since I listened to a whole album, these days it is mostly single tracks that pop into my head and more likely than not they are tracks that have been included in the many Greatest Hits/Best Of Packages that are available.
The other day I'll Wear It Proudly from the 1986 Costello Show album King Of America, sprung to mind after reading DVDs comment about the Ws in the box. This song is one of my favourites of Costello's and right up there with Alison as one of his two finest love songs.
Many moons ago when I was trying to impress a girl that I had yet to get it together with I made her up a not so subtle compilation tape which was supposed to convey how I felt about her. It was full of things like Honey At The Core, Perfect Skin, you know the sort of stuff but the final song on the TDK D90, as they were always TDK D90s was I'll Wear It Proudly, surely she would get the message from that song?
A few days later I met her and after about twenty minutes I plucked up the courage to ask her what she thought of the tape, at this point I could feel me taking a beamer and something in my stomach was doing cartwheels. I waited for what seemed like ages and then she said "It was alright, I liked most of it but that Elvis Costello song at the end is rubbish, I really can't stand him".
I was stunned and didn't really say anything.
I would like to tell you that my infatuation with her ended right there and then but it didn't and I pursued her for a few more weeks before she got the message. We went out for a few months but in the end we realised that we weren't really suited and we parted due to musical differences as you do.
Mr Costello's work appears to pique the interest of the DMCA, so.
Pertinent track
Relevance of the picture? None really just another female I was infatuated with around this time.
4 comments:
"just another female I was infatuated with around this time.":
Sorry, but the specific hairslide in the picture was not produced before last year, which proves you are just a dreamer ...
Generally, all girls were just the same when it comes to mixtapes: you expected them to demand from you immediate sexual activities in return just because of the sheer brilliance of the tape and what did you get? "Thanks, but couldn't you have put some Phil Collins on it ... and Queen as well? See you soon again ... perhaps ...".
What a waste of time it all was, to be sure!
What kind of perversion pushed us music lovers to record cassettes and then, bewitched by hope, hand them to the objects of our desire even though we did know in our hearts that nine times out of ten that would have been detrimental, if not lethal, to the achievement of our goal (ie getting lost together in the magical realm of lovemaking)?
Older and wiser, now we know better. Whenever we get the impression that our wives or husbands or lovers are in the mood, our experience tells us to do the right thing.
We turn the stereo down.
Or up, sometimes..
Luca.
I love your little vignettes of unrequited lust. And Dirk & Luca encapsulate the age-old quandary perfectly.
Is it compilation CDs now - 'ripped and burned' with home made picture cover? I suspect it may be cheaper and easier to purchase a small mp3 player, fill it with your wondrous songs and hand that over to your cotton-dressed art-school poppet.
Problem is ... it's all become as disposible as the relationship.
Love the song and the picture. I remember once being absolutely smitten with somebody - it was sort of mutual, but never really happened. The only thing that rang alarm bells was when I asked her about the music she was into. This was quite early on. Her music collection consisted of about 15 cds, some Now compilations and some chart dance things. That was it. She said 'oh if I want to listen to music I'll turn the radio on'. I remember being really really confused by this. It was like somebody had told me the Easter Bunny wasn't real.
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