Today’s slow drag is with “Blue Chair,” from “Blood and Chocolate,” released in 1986. The songwriting is credited to Elvis Costello’s birth name. Similar to Get Happy’s “Clown Time is over,” “Blue Chair” has two versions with the exact same words for your listening convenience. The slower version from “Blood in Chocolate” is 2 seconds longer than the single version found on “Out of Our Idiot.” Fast or slow, there’s something for everyone in this sly and catchy piece that creates texture and nuance in an otherwise seemingly straightforward tale of two men vying for a woman’s affection. Now it's just you and me, my blue friend And you say that it's you that she's thinking of And our affair must end But if it's you that she's thinking of I think my broken heart might mend A love triangle has never felt so civilized. The salutation of “my blue friend” is an overly friendly greeting that serves to disarm a potentially hostile situation between these two love rivals. Infidelity and loyalty. This seems to fall squarely in the “guilt and revenge” basket that we all love so much. Sizing up your competition, concluding there is nothing to worry about. The proffered sniper style insult barely registers when it suggests that the blue friend isn’t much of a match. That’s how it’s possible to stay vertical during these negotiations, I suppose. When it's my turn to talk and your turn to think Your turn to buy and my turn to drink Your turn to cry and my turn to sink down in the blue chair Down in the blue chair With its ability to be taken both literally and figurately, this chorus sweeps us through the entire tete-a-tete. It’s the blue friend’s turn to think, buy, and cry. It’s the narrator’s turn to talk, drink, and then sink into the blue chair. The blue chair sounds like a sad place, but the seat is taken by the one who isn’t crying, thus throwing this scene into complete chaos. It’s not clear who has “won,” if that’s even the word for it. Now I've made up my mind, I've made my mistake And I know that she cries for you When she's barely awake But she's going to bend your mind Well, I hope it don't break Here we have one of the very few grammatically incorrect lines found in an Elvis Costello piece, but “I hope it doesn’t break” doesn’t have quite the same ring to it. The narrator, the interloper, fires another sniper shot from a tower high above. He casually mentions that slight regret one often feels upon waking in someone else’s bed; it’s a sly way of boasting about her being in his bed. As if this insult isn’t enough, adding to how blue friend is not only unattractive from the first verse, now he’s being told he’s probably not strong enough to stand up to her mental power either. I’d like to point out that once that Mr. Costello’s appreciation and depiction of women stays well above the fray. In these sorts of messy love triangles, it’s easy to blame the woman, to lower her in each other’s eyes. Instead, for good or evil, Mr. Costello speaks of how clever she is. He doesn’t say it’s her problem, but more his “mistake.” Now it's my turn to talk and your turn to think Your turn to buy and my turn to drink Your turn to cry and my turn to sink down in the blue chair Down in the blue chair Do the revelations in second verse change the situation in the chorus? Still, the blue friend thinks, buys, and cries. The narrator still talks, drinks, and sinks. This chair is getting a workout. Down in the blue chair We can watch our troubles rise Like smoke into the air And drift up to the ceiling Down in the blue chair You can feel just like a boy or a man And next minute you can find yourself kneeling The blue chair has taken over the narrative, presenting many different approaches to this problem. From the attitude of the blue chair, cares seem to go away, you can decide how you want to approach this situation, but either way, it’s all going to have you on your knees. The scope of emotions detailed is vast, and just the beginning as the verse ends in a few mortar rounds. Down in the blue chair They're boasting of loving the daylights right out of her in the small hours Down in the blue chair You say that your love lasts forever when you know the night is just hours Using the outstanding technique of “identical” rhyme, in this case, rhyming hours with itself, these lines cut through the niceties. Cracks begin to form. A confrontation between two love rivals now has the suggestion of many more rivals lurking. The blue friend’s own commitment is then questioned: you only want her at night. That’s a far cry from forever. Still I want her right now Not any minute, hour or day And wherever she is tonight I want her anyway I suppose she never said to you You were just in the way Here we have another example of Mr. Costello’s genius pen. Who “still wants her right now”? Has the narrative shifted, has the blue friend confessed? The interloping narrator seemed so sure of himself when this whole conversation started; if this is him speaking, has he just admitted his weakness? “I suppose she never said to you, you were just in the way” could be a crushing blow, or words that she promised to say, but hasn’t yet. This line is crafted so well that it’s difficult to pin down the exact speaker. Don’t get me wrong, infidelity is terrible, especially when it’s happening to us, and I certainly don’t condone it, but watching this complicated drama from the outside makes the world a far more interesting place to be. Now it's my turn to talk and your turn to think Your turn to buy and my turn to drink Your turn to cry and my turn to sink down in the blue chair Down in the blue chair Down in the blue Blue becomes you Down in the blue chair — Dig it Again, this has been a slow drag with “Blue Chair” from 1986’s “Blood and Chocolate.” I guess an obvious question to muse over is whether the chair is actually blue in color, or if it’s a chair you sit in when you’re feeling blue. This is filled with joyful syntactic ambiguity. Much like a naughty step, I suppose. The step isn’t naughty until it is sat upon by someone who is. It’s hard to believe, but this piece is entering middle age yet still feels as fresh and frenetic as it did the day it was released. As mentioned, there’s a cheating woman in the mix as well, yet it never devolves into blaming her or calling her names. Just another way Elvis Costello sets himself apart from the crowd. And that’s it for today’s slow drag, my friend. Thank you for listening. If you have to cheat, make sure you’re clever about it. I encourage you to re-listen to Episode 1 of “Slow Drag with Remedy,” “The Place Where They take Your Spine,” a slow drag with “Poor Napoleon,” as well as Episode 25, “tough and Transparent,” a slow drag with “Crimes of Paris.” Both episodes are slow drags with more gems from “Blood and Chocolate.” 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 |