Behold: The Elvis Costello Song of the Week® from Trunkworthy
Trunkworthy co-founders Gary Stewart and David Gorman have started a project I can really get behind. Beginning on his 60th birthday (Aug 25, 2014) and continuing weekly as long as interest holds, these two promise to share a song a week from Elvis's vast catalog. Read what they say about the selected song, and listen to the audio clip.
Trunkworthy says, "We can’t think of anyone who’s written 500 songs as consistently good as his 500 songs . . . and we hope to turn you on to some of the best you’ve never heard."
I could not agree more! So I am collecting links to their efforts and publishing them here in hopes that PhilosFX readers will join me in sustaining this project. Enjoy!
13. Deep, Dark Soul For When You’re Done Clowning Around: “
Clowntime Is Over No. 2,” first released as a B-side to “High Fidelity” (1980) and then on Taking Liberties (1980)
14. A love song for the ages, Manhattan style:
“I’m in the Mood Again,” from North (2003)
December
15. Sweet ear candy with a poisoned filling:
“Charm School,” from Punch the Clock (1983)
16. The glorious sound of hippie optimism turn, turn, turning on itself? “
You Bowed Down,” from
All This Useless Beauty (1996)
17. The sound of love’s death from 1000 paper cuts.
“Little Triggers,” from
This Year’s Model (1978)
18. Sing along to the best song you won’t understand:
“Crimes of Paris,” from Blood & Chocolate (1986)
19. Elvis & The Roots Pound the Apathy Right Out of Us:
“Wise Up Ghost,” from Wise Up Ghost (2013)
January
20. The official battle-cry of your mid-life crisis,
“Last Year of My Youth,” first performed on the June 4, 2014, Late Show With David Letterman
21. The Eerie Revelations Of An Unearthed 1975 Demo
“Poison Moon,” recorded at home, late 1975-early 1976
22. Cry-in-your-whiskey country from a most (or least?) unlikely place:
“How Much I’ve Lied,” from Almost Blue (1981).
23. This Is What Happens When You Piss Off a Great Songwriter:
“How to Be Dumb,” from Mighty Like a Rose (1991).
February
24. Sulky girls and the men who stalk them:
“Sulky Girl,” from Brutal Youth (1994)
25. L.A. gets another kick to the crotch:
“Heathen Town,” originally released as the B-side to “Everyday I Write the Book” (1983).
26. False optimism, self-delusion, and new age bromides all meet a painful death under “Alibi”‘s unrelenting glare:
“Alibi,” from When I Was Cruel (2002). Read the lyrics here.
27. The Torch Song Burning Beneath a Glossy MTV Hit: "
The Only Flame in Town," live version.
March
28. Here’s the song we wish we had around when we were sending mix tapes to the unattainable objects of our affection: “
That’s Not the Part of Him You’re Leaving,” from National Ransom (2010) Lyrics
here.
29. Shut up and dance:
“Getting Mighty Crowded,” originally released as the B-side of “High Fidelity.”
30. If you've ever had a baby play around, you get it:
“Baby Plays Around,” originally released on Spike (1989).
31. You can sit and stew in the blue chair, or you can jump up and dance around it. Better yet, you can do both! This week’s pick is a two-fer: “
Blue Chair,” originally released on Blood & Chocolate (1986) and then as a completely re-arranged and re-recorded non-album single (1987).
April
32. Costello remakes one of his earliest singles for a whole new generation of fans. We let his target demo decide if his aim was true. This week’s pick: “
A Monster Went And Ate My Red 2” feat. Elmo and Cookie Monster (2011).
33. Tony Soprano said, ” ‘Remember when’ is the lowest form of conversation.” That sums up this song pretty nicely. This week’s pick is the last song to play at your High School Reunion: “
Dirty Rotten Shame,” released as a B-side to Secret, Profane & Sugarcane’s single “Complicated Shadows” (2009), but played live starting in the mid-’90s.
34. What happens when you mix the bossa nova rhythms of swinging bachelor pad/lounge music with the more sinister tones and textures of ’60s-era spy soundtrack music? You get something like this:“
Harry Worth,” released on Momofuku (2008).
Gary and David do not mention this in their story, but the title is a pun on multiple levels.
"Harry Worth was an English comedy actor and comedian. Unlike the brash humour of other comedians at the time, Harry portrayed a charming, gentle and genial character, totally bemused by life, creating comedic confusion wherever he went." --Wikipedia.
This aspect of Elvis Costello's writing makes me appreciate his craft all the more.
35. Costello paints the grays in the otherwise black and white screaming match of god v science. This week’s pick: “
If I Could Believe,” released on Wise Up Ghost (2013)
36. Elvis explores the dark power dynamics of failed relationships behind a wall of sound: “
No Dancing,” released on My Aim Is True (1977).
May
37. A sultry and slightly sinister slow jam, this week's pick is its own little erotic fever-dream: “
Love Field,” released on Goodbye Cruel World (1984).
38. What a broken heart has sounded like for over 50 years: “
Poisoned Rose,” released on King of America (1986).
39. This week's song could have been a perfectly good folk ballad about 1930s blues / jazz singer Stella Gloria Crowson, aka Teddy Grace--and her many trials, tribulations, and traumas. Thankfully, Elvis kicked out a jam instead: “
Stella Hurt,” released on Momofuku (2008). You can read more about Teddy Grace
here.
40. This deceptively simple ballad packs a powerful punch, gently rocking you in to a dark, decidedly Southern nightmare: “
Country Darkness,” released on The Delivery Man (2004)
June
41. An eerie meditation on faded beauty, masterfully rendered in under two minutes. It also makes one hell of a love song to Detroit. Slow dancing with Architecture: “
Hoover Factory,” released on Taking Liberties (1980).
42. Elvis Costello's magical musical London tour guide: “
London’s Brilliant Parade,” released on Brutal Youth (1994).
43. This week's pick is so much more than the sum of its parts: lyrics, music, production and musicianship at the level of the highest art. “
All This Useless Beauty,” released on All This Useless Beauty (1996).
44. This week’s pick is Entourage directed by David Lynch, peeling back that sun-soaked, hedonistic Hollywood fantasy to expose the crushed dreams, talent and ambition left in its wake: “
The Other Side of Summer,” released on Mighty Like a Rose (1991).
45. An immigrant's tale well-told should be ringing in your head as you watch the red, white, and blue fireworks this 4th: “
American Without Tears,” released on King of America (1986).
[Note: this edition of The Elvis Costello Song of the Week was published just before the 4th of July holiday in America. If not for that bit of timing, I bet Gary and David might have chosen a different song for this spot on the list.]
July
46. Sometimes swaying to a world gone wrong is just what you need. This week’s pick: “
Tripwire,” released on Wise Up Ghost (2013).
47. This is what it sounds like when a snappy old R&B song is slowed down, torn up, and left crying alone in the dark: “
Please Stay,” released on Kojak Variety (1995)
48. For the soundtrack of a biopic loosely based on the life and music of Carole King, Costello honors the master writers of Motown: “
Unwanted Number,” released on the Grace Of My Heart soundtrack (1996).
49. This week's pick is an increasingly angry, noisy, caustic, and scary look at the downside of human nature: “
Tart,” released on When I Was Cruel (2002).
50. What might have happened if Cole Porter, Tom Waits, and Elmore Leonard wrote a cheating song for George Jones: “Motel Matches,” released on Get Happy!! (1980).
51. In honor of Billy Sherrill's passing, here is a "cry in your whiskey" country ballad from a most--or least--unlikely place: “
How Much I’ve Lied,” from Almost Blue (1981).
52. An artist at war with himself while seeking reconciliation: “
When I Was Cruel (No. 1),” from Cruel Smile (2002)
NOTE: Elvis Costello's birthday is August 25th. In 2014 the eclectic songwriter and musician turned 60, and many music-themed magazines celebrated the event. I searched through the Internet to find them all. In the hunt, I discovered
Trunkworthy and their concept of selecting and sharing an underplayed Song of the Week from EC's enormous catalog. For a year, I have archived links to Trunkworthy's selections. I hope readers and fellow EC fans have enjoyed coming to one place for links to all of the selected songs so far. I also hope that Gary and David have something special in mind for next week (and many more weeks to come)!
Here's to creative genius of
Declan Patrick MacManus, and to the brilliant men behind this project.
53. Encore (August 25, 2015). And so we conclude our one-year journey in to the most Trunkworthy songs by the man who inspired Trunkworthy itself: “
Just A Memory,” from
Taking Liberties/Ten Bloody Marys & Ten How’s Your Fathers (1980), originally the b-side to “New Amsterdam.”
"This week marks the end of our year-long attempt to honor the artist who, more than any other, expanded our own musical minds and record collections. We wanted people who didn’t know Costello’s work to give him a shot, we wanted casual fans to dig deeper, and we wanted deep fans to reconsider songs they might have passed over the first time or offer some reasons to go back and listen to them differently. We hope we’ve done one of those things for all of you who checked into our little listening party each week." --Gary & David, Trunkworthy
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Let's see if we can sustain this effort for a year. A year of songs of the week? That would be 50 of 500. Wouldn't it be great to see the
Trunkworthy Top 10%?
