Episode 113 :: "Colorful with Your Compliments," a Slow Drag with "Black and White World"10/19/2023
Today’s slow drag is with “Black and White World” from “Get Happy!”, released in 1980. The songwriting is credited to Elvis Costello. It seems rational to believe that inspiration can come from anywhere, at any time, sure. It’s happened to all of us, I’d imagine. The execution of that inspiration, however, in my opinion, is what sets apart the dreamer from the poet; in this case, the modern-day master poet. What seems to have begun as an inky newspaper-induced daydream has flourished into a fully manufactured future that is then able to look back upon its imagined past with what sounds like legitimate nostalgia. All this in under two minutes. I was looking at the black and white world It seemed so exciting If you'd only put me back-to-back with that girl When the night's inviting With just a little lighting There'll never be days like that again When I was just a boy and men were men The structured yet nearly chaotic ab/ab/a/bb construction of this first verse is littered with pleasing rhymes, alliteration, and revelations. Looking/exciting/inviting/lighting wind around black/back/boy in a lilting, happy-sounding way, sure, just before it pulls the rug out from under what promised to be a bit of playful romance. With one swipe “There’ll never be days like that again,” we are out of sticky love and into something pleasingly cynical. We could linger over the meaning of “when men were men” long enough to romanticize it, condemn it, and then start the process over again with a self-loathing pang of remembrance. You never go from moment to moment You're the living double of a single fiction You're very colorful with your compliments As you feel the finger's friction It's a freeze-frame till it’s real life You don't want to look 'Cause you've seen the film and you've read the book The repeated words in this verse, “moment to moment” mirror the “back-to-back” of the first verse well, even if the exact meaning remains less than obvious. Turning pages, escaping into frozen bits of time. I’m sure we all have those small moments etched in our memory of why Mr. Costello’s words mean so much to us. The notion that it’s possible to reject what is real for the imagined, “cos you’ve seen the film and you’ve read the book,” became less of a pithy turn of phrase and more sage advice that I still adhere to today. I was looking at the black and white world Trying to name some pin-up Those days she was just a beautiful girl Now she's framed and hung up I thought she was young Up until I saw her last night in close detail Though they all fade away when you're so pale The multiple meanings of “framed and hung up” have always tickled me, especially as they’re uttered with such a sneer. The “if you’d only put me back-to-back with that girl” in the third line of the first verse has now been revised to “those days she was just a beautiful girl.” This is the imagined future of a slightly cruel nostalgia I mentioned. Things are not always what they appear to be upon closer inspection, it’s true, but how did a young songwriter have the vision and vocabulary to express it so succinctly? Perhaps there are clues we can ponder in the future: “things were so much easier when I was cruel.” It's more than just a physical attraction It starts with a face and ends up a fixation But you're never gonna feel a fraction Of the way it used to work on your imagination When you were looking at the black and white world And then, as with any good piece of journalism, this entire narrative is restated and deftly summed up here in the final verse, the fleeting moment at the end of an initial revery. Again, we hear the foresight and the hindsight coming from this richly imagined time and place. There’s always a lovely dissonance lurking around an Elvis Costello piece. We’ve come to expect nothing less in the 40 or so years since this piece was penned, of course. But it still astounds me how easily I accept with a toe tap and lilt in my voice as I sing along to the devastating news that “you’re never gonna feel a fraction of the way it used to work in your imagination.” — Dig it Again, this has been a slow drag with “Black and White World” from 1980’s “Get Happy!” Turning what could be considered a daydream into a lasting piece of art is the goal for any artist, I’d imagine. That’s part of the joy of dancing a slow drag with these pieces, recognizing the brilliance in the small details, taking note of the lasting imprint Mr. Costello’s work has made. The rhyming structure, the alliteration, the repetition, the sheer artistry of words and images, all in under 2 minutes. Other precious gems from “Get Happy!” you’ll enjoy a slow drag with are episode 15, “A Villain in a Million,” a slow drag with “Riot Act,” episode 28, “The Face of Your Affection,” a slow drag with “Men Called Uncle,” episode 46, “Lust,” a slow drag with the delightful, “Possession,” and episode 85, “Fumbling with the Catches,” a slow drag with “Motel Matches.” And 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 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/slow_drag_remedy/ Bluesky Social: https://bsky.app/profile/indoorfirewords.bsky.social Email: [email protected] Transcription: https://slowdragwithremedy.weebly.com Podcast music by https://www.fesliyanstudios.com Rate this Podcast: https://ratethispodcast.com/slowdrag References: Elvis Costello Wiki Resource, “Black and White World” https://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/index.php?title=Black_And_White_World “Black and White World” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRDl6YvXhiw “Black and White World” Demo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMLZi9v-RFM 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 |