Today’s slow drag is with “Pretty Words,” from “Trust,” released in 1981. The songwriting is credited to Elvis Costello. It’s a piece that bemoans fanciful words at the same time it deploys all the charm and wit that these clever combinations of words can elicit. It’s a piece that seems to perfectly incapsulate the reported wild mood swings battled throughout the recording process of “Trust.” Somewhere not too far from mania and not too close to a hangover lies these pretty words that form several vignettes of how exactly they don’t mean much anymore. I ask you nicely Get my face slapped under wraps What's going on precisely Is there something wrong perhaps? These clever words start with a bit of a conundrum. What’s it like to be slapped “under wraps”? Doesn’t “under wraps” mean secretively? Or, could it be some sort of blanket we’re hiding under? It’s one of the few times I’d venture to guess that the phrase fits the rhyme well, and if it creates something confounding, all the better. Nicely/precisely form the start of each staggered rhyme in this first verse. They’re doing a lot of work for simple adverbs. We don’t know what was asked nicely, so we’re all in the same boat, wondering what’s going on. The narrative is able to go anywhere from here, and does. Surprise, surprise (surprise, surprise) It's more like a booby trap than a booby prize Civil disobedience from a soldier with a dirty rifle You're loosening all the screws that hold the hinges of my life Fat cats and army brats, Hep cats and dog tags pawing over girly mags The dull echoes of surprise accentuate the sarcasm as it launches into an innocent yet tawdry list of words and phrases. Booby trap can make us sniggle, and a dirty rifle can make up jeer. Thinking of your life as a door, at the mercy of whoever wants to open or close it, or take the hinges off. The list at the end of the verse, which will be repeated throughout this piece with comparable groupings, sound very much like the train of thought that can be found nearby on “Clubland.” Fat cats, army brats, hep cats and dog tags, has the familiar patter of “the boys next door, the mums and dads, new weds and nearly deads.” No need to get too comfortable in this verse’s worldscape, however, since it’s about to be usurped by the chorus, losing it train of thought by the time the next verse arrives. Pretty words don't mean much anymore I don't mean to be mean much anymore All I see are snapshots, big shots, tender spots Mug shots, machine slots Till you don't know what's what You don't know what you got The verbal summersaults of “I don’t mean to be mean much anymore” both exemplifies how gorgeous words can be, and confirms how difficult it can be to keep track of what they’re actually meant to convey. All these words represent snippets of life as they blur by, as if from a fast-moving bus or limousine. Clearly, written in a heady time, it’s reasonable to see how it’s difficult to not know what’s what. Curious women running after curious men Curiosity didn't kill the cat It was a poisoned pen But there's not much choice (it's Hobson's choice) Between a cruel mouth and a jealous voice I can only speak for myself, of course, but it’s familiar lines like these that seem to have embedded themselves deep under many Elvis Costello’s fan’s skin, like a tattoo needle prick or the grey lead from a sharp pencil that’s been stabbed into your wrist. This verse uses a recursive adjective to describe the foolish act of adventure, which in itself is curious. It then fades into the noun statement of how the pretty words of a sharply written piece is to blame for all the above-mentioned attraction. “But there’s not much choice,” Mr. Costello writes, before going on to cite the technical name of a choice. It’s a “Hobson’s choice,” meaning that there is no choice. Having no choice, as it were, actually means there are two choices: take it or leave it. This phrase’s etymology is a little murky, but one of its origin stories that helps define “Hobson’s Choice” is from an early seventeenth century man from Cambridge who rented horses, named Thomas Hobson. Renters were not permitted to choose their own horse; instead they were only permitted to rent the horse closest to the stable door. Therefore, it was on a take it or leave it basis. On a side note, “Hobsons,” I read, is a Cockney rhyming slang word for “voice.” What does a Hobson’s choice add to the final line of choices in this verse? “Between a cruel mouth and a jealous voice.” Is it all or nothing, then? Got back to London Picked a paper from the mat No words of consolation Just cartoons and chitter chatter Well, well, fancy that Millions murdered for a kiss me quick hat No backbone, blood and guts Better keep your big mouth shut Ah, the wonderful mundane futility of it all. In a much later piece, Mr. Costello will go on to observe that “travel broadens your mind till you can’t get your head out of doors.” Well, it seems to begin with a slight disconnect from what we see for ourselves and what we are told by the media. As with the stanzas before it, this fourth verse deploys the device of the quick cut world of lists. Or in this case, perhaps it goes on to delineate what has gone unseen by many. The cartoons and chitter chatter have edged out the real news of the world. “Millions murdered for a kiss me quick hat, no backbone, blood and guts.” It’s such a lyrical way to express destruction. Whose big mouth do you suppose needs to keep shut? Well, let’s just thank whatever’s in the sky above that that didn’t happen. Pretty words don't mean much anymore I don't mean to be mean much anymore All I see are snapshots, big shots, tender spots Machine slots, mug shots Till you don't know what's what You don't know what you got — Dig it Again, this has been a slow drag with “Pretty Words” from 1981’s “Trust.” It certainly can be thought of as a meta piece of writing, drilling into how the poetry of rock and roll might sometimes be washed over by all the loud noise. I can imagine this is part of the DNA of “Pretty Words,” but with its 40 year and counting shelf life, it’s clear there is more to the story. I’d venture that it’s the inscrutability that has become so endearing about this piece. And, despite how well I thought I knew this piece, doing a slow drag with it has helped to add even more layers; in particular, the “Hobson’s Choice” of having no choice, when in actuality there are two choices. Did you know this was the line? Or, like me, had you always assumed it was structured as a repetition like “surprise surprise” in the previous verse? And that’s it for today’s slow drag, my friend. Thank you for listening. Other gems from “Trust” you’ll enjoy a slow drag with are episodes 18, “Rowdiest by Slightest,” a slow drag with “Luxembourg,” episode 41, “Money’s Gone Already,” a slow drag with “Clubland,” and episode 66, “A Lifer at Large,” a slow drag with “Fish n Chip Papers.” So, until next time, adieu, my little ballyhoo.
Show Notes:
---------------------- Appreciation written, produced, and narrated by Remedy Robinson, MA/MFA Twitter: https://twitter.com/slowdragremedy Email: [email protected] Podcast music by https://www.fesliyanstudios.com Rate this Podcast: https://ratethispodcast.com/slowdrag ---------------------- References: Elvis Costello Wiki Resource, “Pretty Words”: http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/index.php/Pretty_Words “Pretty Words”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5jV7LmNeVk “Hobson’s Choice”: https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/hobsons-choice.html Purchase “The Most Terrible Time in My Life…Ends Thursday” https://www.amazon.com/Most-Terrible-Time-Life-Thursday-ebook/dp/B07XLXS5PL/ref=sr_1_1?crid=Y4SGCT62WPEK&dchild=1&keywords=the+most+terrible+time+in+my+life+ends+thursday&qid=1608873405&sprefix=The+Most+Terrible+Time+in+%2Caps%2C195&sr=8-1 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 |