Today’s slow drag is with “Sour Milk Cow Blues” from “Goodbye Cruel World,” released in 1984. The songwriting is credited to Elvis Costello. Built upon sturdy, nearly predictable ends rhymes, this frenetic little piece outdoes itself with what’s going on inside the walls; in the words of Aristotle, “The whole is more than the sum of its parts.” There’s a certain, let’s say, befuddlement towards the opposite sex in this piece that has led to some of Mr. Costello’s memorable verbal gymnastics. And while it’s only a guess on my part, “Sour Milk Cow Blues” might trace its inspiration back to Kokomo Arnold’s 1934 “Milk Cow Blues,” a piece that very much seems to be about an actual cow. Then, perhaps as a second allusion on “Goodbye Cruel World” to Elvis Presley, the first referring to his vintage wine in “Worthless Thing,” there is the 1954 “Milk Cow Blues Boogie” that might bear a passing resemblance. The title of these two songs might be where the similarities might end, but then again, I could be completely wrong. You like coffee and you like tea Much more than you like me And everybody says watch out, yeah For the sour milk-cow blues By naming the practical places where milk might be splashed, and a sense of withholding, this piece adds a heightened sense of unexplainable calamity as this first verse gets underway. Coffee, tea, and milk are innocent enough; yet it suggests a chemical reaction, a combustion that’s bound to ensue if one element is found wanting. You like your coffee just a little too sweet Without your sugar, life is incomplete And everybody says watch out, yeah For the sour milk-cow blues The assertion of “too sweet” sends the mind reeling. It’s such a subjective taste that it feels like an overstep to call attention to. Emotional fascism, maybe? Mirroring the first verse’s admonishment, “and everybody says watch out yeah,” this second verse adds sugar to the mix, confounding our expectations. “Your sugar” helps to augment that all these staple foods and beverages mentioned so far are mere metaphors for all of the complicating elements found in modern romance. I think about you everyday Something about you is not the same Something about the things you say Sounds like a different woman with a different name Sour milk-cow blues Sour milk-cow blues Now with a staggered ab/ab rhyme scheme, anchored with more high-frequency words, this third verse brings the suspicion of foul play to the forefront, although it’s not an overt accusation just yet. You wear a different size and style of shoe I think that someone must be poisoning you To replace you with a living double Get out of my life right now and save them all of the trouble As with the presiding verses, the end rhymes of this verse, now set down in an aa/bb pattern, use high frequency words and don’t call much attention to themselves. Inside the lines, however, there is much to write home about. Noticing the subtle differences of a loved one, and then assuming it’s the work of outside forces seems to be a logical yet illogical conclusion. Mr. Costello’s use of pronouns is not to be trifled with. They changed your complexion and your personality Somebody's putting ideas in your head They took the girl of my dreams and left you here instead Sour milk-cow blues Sour milk-cow blues Now with a much looser rhyme scheme, the accusation that “they” have changed someone’s something continues with more examples. Could there be a more cutting remark than “they took the girl of my dreams and left you hear instead”? You take your place in this parade of pleas You dial a number and they offer relief All alone with just your own device They give you something and it isn't advice To break the hearts of a million listeners Start out as lovers and you end up as prisoners Somebody's suffering from the things that you do Somebody's suffering but you're glad it isn't you Pleas/relief is an excellent slant rhyme, and an inevitable change up in the piece. You just can’t keep Mr. Costello from his lofty flourishes. Device/advice, listeners/prisoners; with these lines come more sophisticated word choices, channeling the heady implication of the overall suspicion laid out in each ensuing verse. The closest example of a “parade of pleas” I could find is the 1954 book by Geoffrey Wagner entitled “The Parade of Pleasure: a study of popular iconography in the U.S.A.” It’s “an early examination of the negative influence of pop culture on the American public, with sections on film, pin ups, pulp novels, television, and, most importantly, comic books…” So, make of that what you will. “Start out of lovers and you end up as prisoners” is reminiscent of “I don’t want to be your lover, I just want to be your victim” from “This Year’s Model’s” “The Beat,” only this time it’s from the perspective of the perpetrators. “Somebody’s suffering but you’re glad it isn’t you” is a devastating character assassination, and another great example of not only Mr. Costello’s cleverness, but of his word economy as well. He made his point sharp and clear without having to go into too much detail. Put your fingertips up to the screen Repeat after me, wake at the count of three Now I don't know which is worse What they're doing to you or what you're doing to me Sour milk-cow blues Sour milk-cow blues After the suspicion, after all the corroborating evidence to prove his hypothesis, in this last verse, our narrator has simply given in to his fate, and her fate, resigned rather than angry, offering up a plausible explanation for it all, finding an unexpected common ground with what seemed to be his nemesis in the beginning of the piece. —Dig it Again, this has been a slow drag with “Sour Milk Cow Blues” from 1984’s “Goodbye Cruel World.” Whether this piece used Arnold’s “Milk Cow Blues” as its springboard, or whether it was meant to be a seemingly straight forward pop song, Mr. Costello’s intimate relationship with words cannot be held back. This piece started with mainstream rhymes, and then eventually gave way to his familiar baseline of cleverness. The imagery of a person changing before his eyes is told through escalating metaphors, accusations, and subjective truths. In a word, it’s genius. Show Notes: Appreciation written, produced, and narrated by Remedy Robinson, MA/MFA Twitter: https://twitter.com/slowdragremedy Email: [email protected] Podcast music by https://www.fesliyanstudios.com Rate this Podcast: https://ratethispodcast.com/slowdrag References: Elvis Costello Wiki Resource, “Sour Milk Cow Blues” http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/index.php/Sour_Milk-Cow_Blues “Sour Milk Cow Blues” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_yk1GoVMMY “Milk Cow Blues Boogie,” 1954 Elvis Presley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruWHWXRkHHk “Milk Cow Blues,” 1934 Kokomo Arnold: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B944jMtu6Qc Willie Nelson – Milk Cow Blues, 1981: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GnEpw-A0to “Parade of Pleasure,” Geoffrey Wagner: https://www.amazon.com/Parade-pleasure-popular-iconography-U-S/dp/B00IY0JJNM Purchase “The Most Terrible Time in My Life…Ends Thursday” Comments are closed.
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AboutSlow Drag with Remedy is an Elvis Costello podcast appreciation. It's an exploration of linguistics, language, poetry, and clever wordplay as framed by the peerless poetry of the modern-day master, Elvis Costello. Slow Drag by Song
Poor Napoleon Alibi Church Underground The Big Light Georgie and Her Rival Joe Porterhouse No Hiding Place 20% Amnesia All This Useless Beauty Let Him Dangle King of Thieves Damnation's Cellar Stripping Paper Pidgin English Riot Act Bedlam The Quickening Art Luxembourg Chemistry Class Living in Paradise My Mood Swings Waiting for the End of the World Little Atoms Two Little Hitlers Crimes of Paris You Tripped at Every Step Needle Time Men Called Uncle Peace in Our Time The Loved Ones I Almost Had a Weakness Our Little Angel Invasion Hit Parade Turpentine Miracle Man A Voice in the Dark The Greatest Thing Satellite Hand in Hand Clubland Tart Glitter Gulch Stations of the Cross Science Fiction Twin Possession This Sad Burlesque Flutter and Wow Soul for Hire After the Fall Blue Chair Monkey to Man Mouth Almighty Watch Your Step ...This Town... Distorted Angel Worthless Thing No Dancing Miss Macbeth Charm School Poor Fractured Atlas Brilliant Mistake My Little Blue Window Suspect My Tears Coal Train Robberies Fish 'n' Chip Papers I Hope You're Happy Now Man Out of Time 13 Steps Lead Down Go Away Sweet Pear The Name of This Thing is Not Love Jimmie Standing in the Rain The Deportees Club The Birds Will Still Be Singing Starting to Come to Me Pay It Back Five Small Words Pretty Words Radio Silence Human Hands Night Rally I'll Wear It Proudly Motel Matches Drum and Bone Harpies Bizarre Nothing Clings Like Ivy Why Won't Heaven Help Me Next Time 'Round The River in Reverse A Room with No Number Clown Strike The Invisible Man My Most Beautiful Mistake All the Rage The Town Where Time Stood Still Episode of Blonde e of Blonde No Flag A Slow Drag with Josephine That Bridge I Burned Sour Milk Cow Blues You Little Fool Spooky Girlfriend Suit of Lights There's a Story in Your Voice Dishonor The Stars The Other Side of Summer Mischievous Ghost They're Not Laughing at Me Now White Knuckles Honey, Are You Straight or Are You Blind? Black and White World The World and His Wife
God's Comic The First to Leave Green Shirt The Man You Love to Hate Lip Service American Gangster Time Blame It on Cain The Spell That You Cast Lipstick Vogue The Difference Stella Hurt Tears before Bedtime |