Category Archives: Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello Sings Bob Dylan – Happy Birthday Elvis Costello


Antoine De Caunes: There’s this guy who’s always speaking about you, Elvis Costello.
Bob Dylan: Elvis Costello, he’s pretty good.
Antoine De Caunes: You like his lyrics?
Bob Dylan: Yeah, I like “Everyday I Write the Book.”

-Antoine De Caunes Interview, Stade De L’Ouest, Nice, France (June 1984)

Happy Birthday Elvis Costello – born 25 August 1954.

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March 31: Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello I Shall Be Released, London, 1995




Elvis costello & bob dylan 31 march 1995

They say ev’rything can be replaced
Yet ev’ry distance is not near
So I remember ev’ry face
Of ev’ry man who put me here
I see my light come shining
From the west unto the east
Any day now, any day now
I shall be released

Brixton Academy
London, England
31 March 1995

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Bob Dylan – Great duets part 4: British invasion

A duet is a musical composition for two performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece. It is often used to describe a composition involving two singers. It differs from a harmony, as the performers take turns performing a solo section rather than performing simultaneously.

Part1, Part2, Part3

Bob Dylan has done a lot of duets, we have collected some of our favourites and will present them in batches of three. This fourth post has three fine duets some great Brits.

Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello – I Shall Be Released:

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Elvis Costello plays Bob Dylan – Happy Birthday Mr. Costello

Bob-Dylan-Elvis-Costello

Elvis Costello once did a three-night solo acoustic support opening for Bob Dylan in March 1995 at Brixton Academy, London, England. And there is a quite good bootleg from those sets. Elvis is clearly a Dylan fan and has played his songs on several occasions.

He is also part of that new project; Elvis Costello, Marcus Mumford, T Bone Burnett and My Morning Jacket’s Jim James is working on unfinished “Dylan album”. The collective are composing  music to Dylan’s original lyrics, written around the time of his late-60s Basement Tapes. It is kind of in the same vein as Billy Bragg and Wilco’s Mermaid Avenue albums.

Egil posted a very fine version where he sings with Dylan himself some time ago.

From the support for Dylan in 1995
From the support for Dylan in 1995

Let us see how Elvis Costello interprets Dylan.

We are starting with a beautiful take from the TV-show, Spectacle.
Elvis Costello – I Threw It All Away (2010):

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March 17: Elvis Costello and The Attractions released “This Year’s Model” in 1978

this-years-model

 

Perfectly balancing the raw energy of My Aim Is True with the more elegant pop songwriting that would come to characterize much of his later work, This Year’s Model is not only Costello’s best work, but one of the most distinctively brilliant albums ever to be released. For fans of rock music bursting with wit and character, it really just doesn’t get any better than this.
~Matt LeMay (pitchfork.com)

My favourite Costello album was released 17 March 1978 – 37 years ago today.

The Beat:

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