Today’s slow drag is with “Tart,” from “When I was Cruel,” released in 2002. The songwriting is credited to Elvis Costello. It’s a worldly tour of opposites. Its use of homophones, geography, and the branch of botany that concerns itself with fruit; they all come together in a subtle yet sharp ways that once again delights the literary pallet. Hear (here), silver trumpets will trill In the Arabic streets of Seville Oranges roll in the gutter And you pick them up And pull back the skin To the red fruit within As is the calling card of Mr. Costello, there is a lot to unpack in this first verse alone. Let’s start with a homophone: The fantastic Elvis Costello Wiki page for “Tart” has the first word spelled “h-e-a-r” when you’d expect “silver trumpets will trill h-e-r-e, especially given that the next line references a place. Here in Seville, hear the silver trumpets trill. Both definitions add their own texture of sight and sound. According to the Vienna Symphonic Library, a trumpet trill, is “one of the less refined techniques and is therefore rarely used.” And sounds something like this: <trill sound> Seville is a city in the south of Spain; contained within that city is the “Arab Seville,” an erstwhile capital to an ancient metropolis, the name of which I’m not even going to try to attempt to pronounce. Is it said that “one of the most brilliant eras of Seville took place there.” The link to the name and more information about it is in the show notes. An orange with red flesh is known as a blood orange, of which there are three varieties; Moro is said to be the most colorful variety and has a “vivid tart finish.” From an article posted on a website called Harvest to Table, I read that, while not a blood orange, the best-known bitter orange variety includes one called, get this, Seville. Is this a well-researched reference? Or is it a spooky piece of serendipity? I’m fine with it either way. But the flavor is / Tart And the flavor is / Tart Is it something you crave? And you say that you only feel bitterness When you know it's a lie, lie, lie... Like an eloquent dying star, this piece creates a supernova that goes on to generate new stars of its own. Wild with a blackberry bush There were blossoms of cherries to crush There, at the edge of the ashfield tempting fingertips You stain your hands, press too hard They'll color your lips The simple yet brilliant syntax shift found in the first two lines of this verse creates a wholly different feel. Wild with, rather than a simple wild blackberry bush, sometimes called a “bramble,” shifts the meaning to the ashfield’s edge of yet another meaning. Likewise, a “blossom of cherries” conjure both a tree of cherries and a cheery blossom tree. The former produces clusters of fruit, the latter does not. The stained hands, the bright lips. So messy, so seductive. One point of difference in this verse is the word “asphalt,” as it is written in the lyric sheet, yet I hear “ashfield,” which means “an open field with ash trees.” An Ash tree is in the olive and lilac family of trees, and are said to be the foodstuff of North American frogs. But the flavor is / Tart And the flavor is / Tart Is it something you crave? 'Cos you say that you only feel bitterness Would it kill you to show us a little sweetness? Changing the “and you say” from the first chorus to “cos you say” that you only feel bitterness in this second iteration of the chorus usurps an accusation and replaces it with a plaintive appeal to simply show kindness. It’s these little tweaks that continue to amuse and delight. Through two verses so far the skin has been peeled, crushed, and spread around. The gentle mention of colorful fruit is undermined by the notion of willful bitterness. The tension is ramped up just enough to keep the tingle in our own skin. Odd, where nothing else grows It was something like love that she chose Always a creature of habit When pity would do She wore down that heel with no feeling She kept on her shoes With nothing else to make a meal out of, we have a wonderful homophone to mull over. She wore down that heel; a reference to both footwear and to her choice of men, I’d like to think. She’s a creature of habit, or so we’re told. Is this yet another definition of “tart” embedded in this brilliant piece? The imagery remains vibrant, even as there seems to be no more fruit to pick. Nylon was hung from a peg And a kohl black seam ran down her leg Fishermen look for their nets And send their regrets The bug lay there broken She spoke, "Is this some kind of joke?" The type of black that is mentioned is kohl, k-o-h-l, a black powder used in cosmetics, an old German word meaning “cabbage,” rather than c-o-a-l that ran down her leg. Literally, then, we’ve moved from fruit to vegetable, and quickly on to nothing. The fishermen send their regrets. There are so many interpretations available in this once statement; most notably influenced by the word “tart.” And the bug? Well, we did once hear that doomsday should hurry, as the bugs are taking over. Yes, “is this some kind of joke?” The mind goes into so many different happy directions with this verse. And the rhyme scheme, peg/leg, nets/regrets, broken/spoke/joke sends off these verses with a lovely flourish. Tart And the flavor is / Tart — Dig it Again, this has been a slow drag with “Tart” from 2002’s “When I Was Cruel.” How much difference do you think is between the taste of bitter and the taste of tart? One is acrid while one is sour, both paint a fantastic picture that is woven through a piece that starts with beautiful Spanish streets, and then ends with, well, a less than seductive night, perhaps. “Tart” uses little more than 200 words to travel around the world of sight, sound, of course, taste. Very, very good taste. So much depth, so much precision. And that’s it for today’s slow drag, my friend. I’m so glad you’re here to explore these great lines with me. I encourage you to re-listen to Episode 2 of “Slow Drag with Remedy,” “And You Only Wanted to Be Famous.” It’s a slow drag with “Alibi,” another gem from “When I was Cruel.” 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 |