Today’s slow drag is with “Mischievous Ghost” from the Rhino reissue of “Mighty Like a Rose,” released in 2002. It was originally released as part of the “Bringing It All Back Home” soundtrack, released in 1991. The songwriting is credited to Elvis Costello’s birth name. This episode has been requested by a loyal and astute fan who believes “Mischievous Ghost” was the impetus for Mr. Costello’s dalliance with long hair, as he seems to have spent much time “in the blank hillsides” of Ireland himself at the time. This is pure speculation of his fashion choices, of course, and I for one am just happy it frames a certain era that seems to have started with the album cover of the tremendous “King of America.” To paraphrase his reasoning: he grew his hair out and it frightened people, so he grew it longer. I admire this sort of petulance. She came dancing right before my eyes She said she came to warn me Before it dawned on me I went walking on the blank hillside Where the sunset falls Where the sunset dies She gave me love / she told me lies That most mischievous ghost She was in disguise, she was in disguise, she was in disguise This prelude to the ensuing action paints a slightly surreal bucolic picture as it also indulges in word play that can most certainly be called clever. Out in the darkness, wandering about, the mischievous ghost seems to appear before him before the first light as well as before he is able to understand what’s going on. Simple and elegant, this verse helps to bracket the story of an inconsiderate poet who does not live up to his artistic destiny. He started to whistle, they bought him a flute He was talking in tongues, they swore he was mute He scoffed and blasphemed, they said it was beautiful Busted a button, they bought him a suitcase full With a deceptively simple aa/bb rhyme scheme, the word “he” starts most lines and repeats logically. Flute/mute create a soft exclamation at the end of the first two lines. Beautiful/full might count as an identical rhyme, I suppose, but there always seems to be an asterisk. The use of opposites and the inconceivable are exquisite. Making music, yet is given a musical instrument. Talking gibberish yet nonetheless they swore he was cannot speak. The sound of scoffing and blaspheming is pleasing to this cajoling cast of characters who go on to overcompensate as we tend to do when our sole aim is to please the celebrity in the form of a suitcase of buttons. They colored him cricket and laced him up tight As he drew on their days, resurrected his nights He raved in the dark, he went out in a blaze "There you go," they said, "he's good for nothing and lazy" I’d always thought the line was “they colored him up quick and laced him up tight,” but the ultra-reliable “Elvis Costello Wiki” resource has it as “they colored him cricket and laced him up tight.” Both seem to make as much sense as the other, perhaps, both conveying a rush job of sorts. Just another example of how fun mondegreens can be, and why a slow drag is a very sexy dance. Here we have another verse with deceptively simple aa/bb rhyme structure, tight/nights, blaze/lazy. More cunning opposites of days and nights, light and dark. This is another great example of how there isn’t enough attention paid, in my opinion, to the stellar economy of words Mr. Costello wields. And now turning a more educated ear to Mr. Costello’s duets since “My Most Beautiful Mistake” came into our lives and taught me a thing or two, this time we hear the stunning voice of the Irish songstress, Mary Coughlan. The first three lines in this verse are hers, ceding the last line to Mr. Costello’s not-to-be-denied vibrato, before melding the voices together in the energetic chorus to follow. With scandal and shame, they slandered his name They told him to freeze, they damned him to roast Disappointed that he passed away peacefully Never dying to be a mischievous ghost Again, with the delightful contradictions, opposites, and inconceivable. “They told him to freeze / they damned his to roast.” I can’t say I get it, but I can definitely say I love it. Then comes the thesis statement of the piece, they’re “disappointed that he passed away peacefully.” Normally I shy away from “this is what this piece is about,” but in this case, the writer said it was the desire to subvert old tired Irish myths, and wrote instead about “a poet who’s taken with the romantic myth and inconveniently dies peacefully in his sleep,” so they dig him up and put him on display. Mr. Costello concludes, “It’s a sick song, actually.” Sick, funny. You decide. They dug him up quick with a polish and lick They powdered him up till he only looked sick The hinge in his backbone would bend to applause But his dancing was not quite as lively of course A sick song, maybe, but the observation at the end that “his dancing was not quite as lively course” forgives everything in my opinion. What a silly observation to help mirror the equally silly story about a man who didn’t die the way he should have. These are the rewards immortality affords Bullied and bribed and beaten to bliss Parroting slack sentimental laments Of going away and not being missed More twisting word play, with a fun consonance, “bullied and bribed and beaten to bliss.” Parroting sentimental laments; it seems clear that the sentimental lament of not being missed certainly does not apply to our performing corpse. There will be no going away peacefully as he had once thought he had done. With the green beer and the shamrock tattoos Singing his songs of the battles we lose And "Will ye come home again," so we can murder you What would you do if they took his word With forty-eight million to join in the toast Move over my darling mischievous ghost Mischievous ghost This postscript, mirroring the prelude in terms of tenor and tone, and with Mr. Costello’s voice alone, is an outro that is chock-a-bloc with references I can barely get my head around. Well, the green beer and shamrock tattoos are self-explanatory, I suppose, if not slightly cliché in the way he sought to avoid, just to prove a point. But then, “Will ye come home again” seems to be a subversion of the bagpipe song “Will Ye No Come Back Again,” which in turn seems to follow the narrative beautifully. If you know the meaning of the reference “forty-eight million to join in the toast,” please let me know. I’d rather appear ignorant rather than offensive. — Dig it Again, this has been a slow drag with “Mischievous Ghost” from 1991’s soundtrack “Bringing it All Back Home,” also found on 2002’s Rhino reissue of “Mighty Like a Rose.” It truly does seem to be a song “about” something, but the language used to express it makes it so much more than the sum of its parts. The clever placement of opposites, the economy of words, the pleasing rhymes, the lilt, the oddball imagery; they all comingle with Mr. Costello’s and Mary Coughlan’s voice to create a time and place that very well could have existed, probably did, but then again, probably didn’t. And that’s it for today’s slow drag, my friend. Thanks for the listener who suggested this harry piece. Thank you for listening. I’ll be back soon with another slow drag. So, please subscribe so you won’t miss an episode. As always, thank you for helping to get the word out about this little passion project. Truly, it means the world. So, until next time, adieu, my little ballyhoo. 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, “Mischievous Ghost” http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/index.php/Mischievous_Ghost “Mischievous Ghost” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfbsGZvdNbk Unmask Us, Elvis Costello on “Mischievous Ghost” https://unmask.us/songwriters-c-e/elvis-costello-p5/ The Vibrato Debate: https://www.newsounds.org/story/43709-the-vibrato-debate/ The Scottish Bagpipes, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl9240HWXBU Purchase “The Most Terrible Time in My Life…Ends Thursday” Listen to the audiobook for free at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq7n1pN8D1Y 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 |