Time to blow the three inches of dust off of this blog!
Okay, so here’s what I do when I’m not getting anything done.
I found an old notebook in which I’d devoted a chunk to obsessive music list-making. I compiled exhaustive Top Fifties for a few of my favorite artists: The Beatles, David Bowie, Stevie Wonder and Elvis Costello.
I mentioned the EC list on Twitter a couple of hours and a few people expressed interest in seeing it. And let’s be perfectly honest—part of me was hoping that would happen. Part of this is standard look-at-all-the-cool-music-I-listen-to egotism. But I also think I want to share these lists simply to justify all the time I spent working on them.
Anyway, here’s the Elvis Costello list. If you have any interest in seeing the other lists, let a brutha know.
A couple of caveats:
• This is copied directly as I scribbled it a few years ago. Since then, EC put out “National Ransom”, a so-so album with one truly great song, “I Hope”. If I was writing the list now, I’d probably put it somewhere in the high 20’s/Low 30’s. But I’m nervous to start pulling at threads—this is a huge mis-allocation of time and energy as is.
• Looking over the list, I’m surprised how many of my favorites are post-Spike, when the world kinda stopped giving a shit about Elvis Costello. Yes, there’s even one song from The Juliet Letters. Negative 50 cool points for me!
• I don’t really claim these to be his 50 “best” songs—they’re just the ones I dig the most. So yeah, certain “classics” are missing. I like “I Want You” just fine—it would probably have been in the low 50’s. The fact that one can even HAVE a 53rd favorite Elvis Costello song is a clear sign of his awesomeitude.
• If any of you are eccentric billionaires and would like to pay me to quit comedy and write these lists this full time, I’m willing to take a meeting.
Okay, enough dawdling. Here’s the stupid list:
50. The Next Time Around
49. God Give Me Strength
48. The Only Flame in Town
47. Town Cryer
46. Every Day I Write the Book
45. Poor Napolean
44. Tokyo Storm Warning
43. I’ll Wear it Proudly
42. The Sad Burlesque
41. Blame it on Cain
40. When I Was Cruel
39. Jack of All Parades
38. God’s Comic
37. Man Out of Time
36. Sulky Girl
35. Blue Chair
34. Riot Act
33. Why Can’t a Man Stand Alone?
32. No Action
31. Sleep of the Just
30. You Bowed Down
29. The Other End of the Telescope
28. Oliver’s Army
27. Still Too Soon to Know
26. Kid About It
25. Kinder Murder
24. So Like Candy
23. Deep Dark Truthful Mirror
22. The Other Side of Summer
21. I Hope You’re Happy Now
20. Baby Plays Around
19. Pony Street
18. Harpies Bazaar
17. Indoor Fireworks
16. Allison
15. You Tripped at Every Step
14. Brilliant Mistake
13. Veronica
12. New Lace Sleeves
11. (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes
10. Shipbuilding
9. Accidents Will Happen
8. Pidgin English
7. Couldn’t Call it Unexpected No. 4
6. Crimes of Paris
5. Beyond Belief
4. All Grown Up
3. Satellite
2. Radio Radio
1. Human Hands
I don’t have comments enabled on this blog, but if you have any thoughts/protestations, have at me on Twitter. My day-to-day feed is @ChristFinnegan. And if you’re the kind of person who reads a post titled “My 50 Favorite Elvis Costello Songs”, you really need to be following @AudioSpackle, which is where I post nothing but semi-obscure music jokes.
Thanks for giving a poop.
