You don’t have to be familiar with the poet himself to fall in love with the gorgeous words he sets to music. Every slow drag reveals a sound, an idiom, an obscure reference, a thrilling rhyme, or at the very minimum, a beautiful mindscape that augments this true master’s poetic prowess. A scratch, a click, a heartbeat. Today’s slow drag is with “Little Atoms,” from “All This Useless Beauty,” released in 1996. The album is a collection of nine cover songs and three newly recorded pieces. The songs covered are a re-gathering of words that had previously been sent out into the world for others, such as Roger McGuinn of the Byrds and Johnny Cash, to make their own. Could it be called a “twist,” or could it be called a conceit? Either way, all of these songs covered on “All This Useless Beauty” are, in fact, written my Elvis Costello himself. Melodic and perplexing, religious and blasphemous, “Little Atoms,” as near as I can tell, is an unblemished original piece recorded by Mr. Costello for the first time on this album. It’s a piece with four verses and one unchanging chorus woven throughout. It also has something else that is quite remarkable. But more about that later. I arose and Marigold lay down with Curious Iris Cherry gave to Victor her prudence and her virus For the sake of purity I can recall the time and place Between Wisdom and Murder she gave up her immaculate face Here, of course, we have the sturdy anchoring rhymes of iris/virus and place/face. What comes in between, however, is an exercise in extremes. Rise with fall, caution with the communicable, all collapsing into a puzzle of giving up an immaculate face. Immaculate, what a loaded word; we will return to this, I am certain. The chorus picks up on this beleaguered confessional style of prefacing each admission with caveats and adverbs. My poor belated chastity fell foul of grown up games, With false and lovely modesty I can recall the names I'll miss In the particle of me that cares for this I betrayed those little atoms with a kiss These first two lines of the chorus have lovely alliteration that is then stitched together with miss/this/kiss. It provides a measured and safe area to continue speaking your mind, much like as in a confessional. The use of particles and atoms softens and befuddles the reality that there isn’t much that will be missed, a mere speck, setting up the last punch of betrayal in the final line. “I betrayed those little atoms with a kiss.” Patience has her virtue still but every grace must have its price I, through some felicity, may spin a tale of constant vice I took my better nature out, drowned it in the babbling stream I took the blossom of my youth and blew it all to smithereens Virtue and vice and the price of everything that is graceful and serene. This is a wonderfully aggressive and destructive verse that presents itself as if it’s at some sort of tea party. The extra sense of “babbling” when the better nature is drowned in a stream is surprisingly sinister. Note the appositive in the third line. Without the clause, “through some felicity,” the line is still coherent, “I…may spin a tale of constant vice,” but the first part helps to subvert the last part, to blunt it’s sharp point. And if you still don't like my song / then you can just go to hell I don't care if I'm right or wrong / or if my typewriter can spell But I cannot promise you I've said "Goodbye" to childish things There's still some pretty insults left and such sport in threatening The amount of recursion in this verse is amazing. The rhymes in the first two lines have both rhyming middles and ends: song/wrong hell/spell, as well as right and typewriter, a familiar rhyme from “Everyday I Write the Book,” placed in such a way that the similarities are barely noticed. The few instances of recycled snippets remain a marvel of ingenuity. Here again, the sharp point is blunted by a passive voice, “if you still don’t like my song,” you’re welcome to move on, but there’ll always be a bit of petty bitterness that proves to be enticing. The honesty we could all admit to: there’s “such sport in threatening.” And for the sake of clarity They are "Faith", "Hope", and "Charity" In the particle of me that cares for this I betrayed those little atoms with a kiss Theologically speaking, faith, hope, and charity combine with prudence, justice, courage, and temperance as the seven virtues that are meant to guide us in a morally good and proper direction. So, to clarify, as the first line tells us, “faith, hope, and charity” might be an allusion to 1 Corinthians 13: “and now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest is love.” For the sake of the rhyme, perhaps, love has been usurped by “charity.” Maybe they mean the same thing, I don’t know. What is more, this bible verse also provides a bit more insight into the possible meaning behind the previous verse about not promising he won’t be childish: “when I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.” Easier said than done. At first, this piece feels like a bit of an apprehensive confessional. Then, with this one turn of phrase, “faith, hope, and charity,” the audience is sent back to scour the piece for more biblical allusions that might have been missed upon first inspection. On its surface, this piece seems to be just what you suspect is it was about: sex and virginity. Upon even closer inspection, this piece turns into a clever little find-a-word puzzle. Embedded are no fewer than 15 names. The first verse alone has six names and a reference back to the Virgin Mary. Rose, Mary (embedded in marigold), Iris, Cherry, Victor, and Prudence. “Between wisdom and murder” the only immaculate person referred to thusly, of course, is Mary. Even the chorus sports two more names, Chastity, and if you subscribe to the homophone of the small particle with a person named Adam, once again the piece takes us back into biblical territory. Eve betrayed Adam. Perhaps the narrator betrays all the first men, just like Judas did to Jesus, with a kiss. The second verse, conceivably, has four names: Patience, Grace, Felicity, and Blossom. Changing these nouns into proper nouns, lowercase to uppercase, recasts each of the lines. Patience is still a virgin, but Grace had her price met and no longer is. Felicity only has bad things to say. Blossom, yes it might be a stretch, but it fits well with the embedded name game nicely. It also might double as a symbol of virginity, the beginning stage of deflowering, and how it was wasted in youth. — Dig it Again, this has been a slow drag with “Little Atoms” from 1996’s “All This Useless Beauty.” The songwriting is credited to Elvis Costello It’s a 3:58 pop song that rivals such luminaries as T.S. Eliot’s “Prufrock” with its multiple meanings, word play, and sheer brilliance of the images painted. The fractal permutations of this song seem limitless; all wrapped in a sweet-sounding piece that goes to extremes as it evokes Christianity, confessionals, early humans (of both varieties), and plays a sly name game with a bevy of double meanings in the process. So, until next time, adieu, my little ballyhoo. 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 |