So how does one follow 10 months worth of Bob Dylan Weekends? In my case, I go to another one of my absolute favorite artists, and perhaps the only songwriter in my collection who rivals Dylan in terms of output and lyrical dexterity.
Welcome to Elvis Costello Weekends!
Born in London in 1954 as Declan Patrick MacManus (talk about a name begging to be changed), Costello released his first album at 23 and went on to have one of the most diverse and fascinating careers in popular music. He has tried his hand at every conceivable genre, from punk to country, chamber music to opera. I await his rap album any time now.
He has released 24 studio albums, with the 25th due in a little more than a week. I’ll be examining each of those discs in order to start this new series off, so that’s six months right there. And that doesn’t include the plethora of B-sides and live material he’s released, nor the many guest appearances on other people’s records.
Kicking things off is the first song from the first album by Mr. Costello — ‘Welcome to the Working Week’ from 1977’s My Aim is True. Enjoy.
and you can have anyone that you have ever desired,
all you gotta tell me now is why, why, why, why.
Welcome to the workin’ week.
Oh I know it don’t thrill you, I hope it don’t kill you.
Welcome to the workin’ week.
You gotta do it till you’re through it so you better get to it.
All of your family had to kill to survive,
and they’re still waitin’ for their big day to arrive.
But if they knew how I felt they’d bury me alive.
Welcome to the workin’ week.
Oh I know it don’t thrill you, I hope it don’t kill you.
Welcome to the workin’ week.
You gotta do it till you’re through it so you better get to it.
I hear you sayin’, Hey, the city’s all right
when you only read about it in books.
Spend all your money gettin’ so convinced
that you never even bother to look.
Sometimes I wonder if we’re livin’ in the same land,
Why d’you wanna be my friend when I feel like a juggler
running out of hands?
Welcome to the workin’ week, oh, welcome to the working week.
Meet Me In Montauk 
Thank you for appealing to your regulars and exposing some of your usually silent readers (AKA Dad) to the genius of Elvis Costello.
Unfortunately, I rarely feel as though I have anything as intelligent to say about Costello’s music as that music warrants. Not that I’ll be stopped from blathering on nonsensically 😉
Meanwhile, a quick jaunt over to Wikipedia to discover what other song from this album I might have rather heard this morning (with the awareness, of course, that you would have never considered featuring Alison!!), uncovered a wealth of interesting information about the recording of this album. His back-up band was a working band named Clover (no Attractions, yet, apparently), who weren’t initially given credit due to contractual difficulties. The album was recorded in 24 hours (six 4-hour recording sessions).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Aim_Is_True
Wikipedia is probably the very best source for information about a musician such as Elvis Costello, who has such passionate, intelligent, and articulate fans that they probably are meticulous in their research and their attention to the details included in the site.
Anyway, I don’t know this whole album well enough to quibble too much with your choice, so instead I’ll share a lovely performance of the “hit,” here coupled with “The Tracks of my Tears.” The man is brilliant!
Ah, you make a brother-in-law very happy!
Although I confess to being a bit less of a fan of EC’s first few albums than I am of the albums where he toned down the punk and diversified his sound, there are nevertheless true jewels found on the debut album. Alison, arguably, leads the pack as Amy suggested, but honorable mentions go to “Blame It On Cain” and “(Angels Wanna Wear my) Red Shoes.” However, for my money, the best song on this album is “Watching the Detectives,” which was left off of the original UK album, but then released as a single, becoming EC’s first hit, and then added to the US version of the album. (Yes, thank you Wikipedia!). I don’t want to steal your thunder if you are going to make it tomorrow’s SOTD, but if you don’t, I’ll be happy to post it as I feel it still stands as one of EC’s best songs ever.
Maybe the two of you should take over Elvis Costello Weekends! 🙂
Clay, terrific first choice to inaugurate EC Weekends. This song pushes its way through your speakers, has a line like ‘I feel like a juggler running out of hands’ and then is done in 1:22. 1:22! That’s not even a classic Motown song length, and yet it is full and complete with 3 verses and a bridge. Many great songs on this debut, all penned by EC, but Dana is making crazytalk with the ‘toning down the punk sound’ comment — listening to this album now 30+ years on, I’m struck by the deep love and knowledge of American R&B displayed.
Side note: if you’re going to trawl around wikipedia for info on My Aim Is True, don’t leave off the tidbit that pre-Attractions backing band Clover was basically The News pre-Huey Lewis. And that EC would have to explain things to them like, ‘Make this song sound like the Byrds’ (‘(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes’) or ‘this one’s like the Velvet Underground’ (‘Waiting for the End of the World’). That’s music history, that is.