Today’s slow drag is with “Needle Time,” from “The Delivery Man,” released in 2004. The songwriting is credited to Elvis Costello. It’s a 5-minute temper tantrum, it’s a 4 verse sternly-worded letter. It’s vintage Elvis Costello, with all the wit and metered rage we’ve come to idolize, complete with history lesson. It’s less guilt and revenge and more “with experience comes unfiltered insight.” I wish that I didn't hate you Least not as much as I do And squander all my contempt for A little nothing like you Liars like you are ten-a-penny Women would slap you, if you knew any Sometimes I feel just like committing a crime And we’re off to a roaring start with this one. The seemingly overwrought introduction to this piece is met with force, but it’s also met with hedging. “Least not as much as I do.” Although hate can feel as if it’s controlled by a toggle switch, I suppose there are degrees, at least there is a hope of degrees. The thought that we have a finite amount of contempt is, at once, perplexing and somehow reassuring. And while it will go on to be paired with the rhyme of the title, the ending line, for now, hangs out there, unqualified and unspecified. “Sometimes I feel just like committing a crime.” There’s much more to his unspecified threat than meets the eye. So, while this first verse is acerbic and accusatory, amazingly, it’s not off putting; there’s too much intrigue and finesse to turn back now. In fact, I’d say it’s been drenched in a bit charm. After all, who doesn’t love to hate a liar? I got this suitcase of phony wisdom to dispense These twenty-seven or so years How you'd think I would have made them some cents 2004 minus 1977, the year of Mr. Costello’s debut album, equals 27 years of record sales, sales tax, and income tax. Cents as in pennies, even when converted into pence, and rhyming with common sense, can really add up in this span of time. It’s easy to see the correlation, easy to conclude there is a certain island nation that has caught this master’s ire, and has been cited as the source of his irritation. Let’s not overlook this moment to marvel in a wonderful turn of self-deprecation. The suitcase of “phony wisdom.” Please, it’s probably more like a fleet of steamer trunks by now, filled with what has been proven to wise beyond his years, his birth place, and even his gender. Now they want me fingerprinted like I was smuggling drugs While the government does deals with the most convenient thugs Sometimes I feel just like committing a crime It's Needle Time Now it’s starting to all make sense. When the country of our birth starts to place demands on us that we feel are otherwise inalienable, it’s worth a strongly worded letter. Here again there is the threat to commit a crime; only this time it comes with context. Illicit drugs and lethal injections, maybe, these are great guesses, but I think this reference flies a little closer to home. Named for the gramophone stylus that rests in the grooves of a vinyl record, “Needletime” restricted the number of hours that commercially recorded music could be transmitted over BBC airwaves in a 24-hour period, typically only 5 hours. This was based on an agreement between representatives of the record companies known as PPL, the Musician’s Union, and the BBC, who held a monopoly on UK airwaves at the time. The concern, in part, was over the potential to usurp the employment of live musicians with that of recorded music. These three groups were usually at odd with each other, but were collectively opposed to Pirate radio stations. Typically situated at sea, past the 3-mile territorial water mark, Pirate Radio fell under the purview of the captain of the ship as opposed to increasingly outdated governmental rules, and therefore played as many records as they were able to get their hands on. The “Marine & Broadcasting Offensives Act of 1967” outlawed these pirate operations and led to the inception of Radio 1 with the promise of two extra needletime hours. However, given the disparate needs and goals of each faction, the record companies, the musicians union, and the broadcasters, the tensions continued on for many years, with small consolations traded back and forth. For a singer/songwriter who has a shifting stake in all of these entities, there seems to be many ways to violate any number of the laws put forth by the needletime limitations. For instance, playing a record in public without paying the musicians who had played on that record. The restraint shown in not committing a crime such as this, given the burst of anger this piece captures, is commendable. I'm trying not to despise you with a passion that's hard to extinguish Or maybe I really love you although it's hard to distinguish I wish I could be more like a saint is Forgiving those who trespass against us Sometimes I feel just like committing a crime Extinguish/distinguish are a fantastic rhyming pair, equaled only by its sentiment. Despising and loving and having difficulty telling the two apart resonates with anyone who’s ever felt love (or hate, of course). There’s little forgiveness in this exchange, clearly, just the hope to be better. And here, in the tradition of rhyming a word with itself, we’re left with a word that is rhymed with a word that is not even there, at least not in this verse. The mere ghost of needle time remains. I started talking nonsense, just like I did to begin with Around the time I tired of those sour English Sometimes I feel just like committing a crime It's Needle Time One of Elvis Costello’s very early pieces, a song called “Cheap Reward,” is a familiar piece because many of its lines have gone on to find themselves on other songs over the next few years. The first verse, however, stands alone. Do you think this is the sort of nonsense he was referring to? Oh, well, I feel so loose tonight I might fall to pieces So be prepared to sweep me out the door And I might be horizontal by the time the music ceases So I think I'll get acquainted with the floor In addition to the faithful a/b format, pieces/ceases, door/floor, it’s a silly piece that seems to rely a bit on hyperbole and fantasy. These personal observations ultimately gave way to more obfuscation and changing points of view in future songs, but now we’ve found it’s come full circle with the first person, “I started talking nonsense, just like I did to begin with.” The addition of the “sour English” brings us back to the comment about how tickled Mr. Costello was to confirm his long-held belief nobody really listens to the words in songs. Not long after he was notified about his OBE distinction, Elvis Costello was quick to tweet a series of “songs that must have been overlooked.” Included on this list were “Oliver’s Army,” “Tramp the Dirt Down,” “Tokyo Storm Warning,” “New Lace Sleeves,” and “Shipbuilding,” ending with “and now a word from our sponsors,” “Less Than Zero.” What this tells me, if I might be so bold, is that there’s no stopping genius, even if there’s a bit of biting the hand that feeds it. Then again, who’s the one doing the feeding? Who’s the one doing the biting? Putting uncalled for conditions on their own citizens conceivably merits this level of clever vitriol. — Dig it Again, this has been a slow drag with “Needle Time” from 2004’s “The Delivery Man.” It’s a measured piece of palpable irritation. Better an empty house than an ill tenant, so the saying goes. By the end of “Needle Time,” maybe he’s said his peace and is ready to move on to the next point of business, to the next piece of wisdom to dispense. It’s just a bit of weary insight bestowed upon the world. Please refer to episode 16 of “Slow Drag with Remedy,” “I Might Recite a Small Prayer,” for a slow drag with “Bedlam,” another piece off of “The Delivery Man,” as well as episode 17, “The Quickening Art,” it’s a supplemental episode to episode 16 that I think you will really enjoy. 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 |