Today’s slow drag is with “I’ll Wear it Proudly,” from “King of America,” released in 1986. The songwriting is credited to Elvis Costello’s birth name. As a shining example of thoughtfully arranging songs in a particular fashion, “I’ll Wear it Proudly,” is the ultimate end of side 1 piece that leaves the listener eager for more. It’s earnest, imploring, melodramatic. Yet, it stops short of being vulnerable or sappy. It’s a piece that wears its heart out on its sleeve without drowning in the shallow end of lugubriousness. It isn’t hyperbole when I say, this is one of my absolute favorite songs. I hate these flaming curtains they're not the color of your hair I hate these striplights they're not so undoing as your stare I hate the buttons on your shirt when all I wanna do is tear I hate this bloody big bed of mine when you're not here The repetition of the word “hate” that introduces what is without question a love song is a stroke of genius that goes on to be framed by a simple aa/bb structure. The end rhymes are not put through any verbal gymnastics. Rather, hair/stare, tear/here leave the heavy lifting to the incredible embedded imagery and other tricks of language found in this verse. Flaming curtains clearly depict a sweetheart’s red hair, strip lights guide your way down a darkened theatre aisle, finishing with the stunning use of alliteration that links buttons/bloody/big/bed. This closing vision of a full-grown person’s tantrum is delightful on many levels. Well, I finally found someone to turn me upside down And nail my feet up where my head should be If they had a King of Fools then I could wear that crown And you can all die laughing because I'll wear it proudly The steely, childish confidence that flows through this chorus, at its core, is what makes this piece so likeable, so relatable as we recognize the universal struggle with overwhelming spikes of romantic adoration. It’s charming and pugnacious at the same time. You seem to be shivering dear and the room is awfully warm In the white and scarlet billows that subside beyond the storm You have this expression dear no words could take its place And I wear it like a badge that you put all over my face As with the template set down in the first verse, this second verse clings to warm/storm and place/face as it dances double time in the middle. The conjured images continue to tell an epic tale that is captured by strategic words, even if it protests to the contrary. Hot and cold feelings, a fever dream perhaps, gloom and doom battling a sunnier day, the use, or perhaps even overuse of a term of endearment as the narrator proclaims the unspeakable situation they’ve found themselves in. It is overwhelmed infatuation that is tangled up with flirting, swooning, and escalating carnal desires. I'll wear it proudly through the dives and the dancehalls If you'll wear it proudly through the snake pits and cat calls Like a fifteen-year-old kid wears a vampire kiss If you don't know what is wrong with me Then you don't know what you've missed Is there a more poetic way to demonstrate the second part of the familiar “for better or for worse” vow than with actual examples of impending strife? This helps create the added caveat of fair play. Promises are easily made; they’re not so easily kept. I’m sure we’re all familiar with a vampire kiss, or a hickey as it might also be called, is, but the description is too fun to pass up. And I quote from an article describing 20 types of kisses. It’s not technically a kiss. Instead, “it’s the result of an aggressive [kiss]. The familiar reddish mark is a bruise left on the skin after someone sucks hard enough on it. Hickeys hurt a little to get, but people think the sucking feels good, especially on the side of the neck. Hickeys scream to the world that you’ve been up to some hanky-panky, and walking around with one can be embarrassing. Ask permission before giving one.” It’s difficult to imagine anyone over the age of 15 indulging in this sort of kissing, which helps to augment the imagery of the head spinning romance taking place. With this wonderfully silly and juvenile picture of a kiss fully ensconced, the last three lines in this verse are simply without peer. It conjures frivolous acts as it strikes at the heart of the human, mortal condition of seeking a connection on a much deeper level. It’s important to have our faults understood and embraced. There are few gestures more heart wrenching and endearing in my opinion. We are your arms and legs wrapped round more than by memory tonight When the bell rang out and the air around turned blue from fright But in shameless moments you made more of me than just a mess And a handful of eagerness says "What do you suggest?" Tonight/fright, mess/suggest. The poetic structure remains unwavering throughout this entire piece as it pulls at your heartstrings from the inside. The confessional moments feel nearly wrapped in a protective layer that inhabits just enough bathos to ward off a complete collapse into vulnerability. What do you suppose a “handful of eagerness” looks like? In all the busted idioms Mr. Costello weaves throughout his canon, this is the express I was most surprised to learn has been constructed solely from his inspired imagination. Of all the fantastic turns of phrases we have been afforded through each album, one of the most touching, melodic, and chilling still remains, “but in shameless moments you made more of me than just a mess.” After a moment to recognize the beautiful sound these words have strung together me, the mind is then able to reel with what more than a mess is. “What do you suggest?” It’s extending a hand. It’s putting yourself in the firing line. It’s the moment you allow someone else to love you. Well, I finally found someone to turn me upside down And nail my feet up where my head should be If they had a King of Fools then I could wear that crown And you can all die laughing because I'll wear it proudly — Dig it Again, this has been a slow drag with “I’ll Wear It Proudly” from 1986’s “King of America.” When you flip the vinyl or the cassette tape over after this piece finishes, the journey continues with the sorry history of GI brides. And while the content found on this singular album might be dire and a bit dour, the holistic feeling it evokes is hopeful, introspective, and utterly human. “I’ll Wear It Proudly” could be a vow to be one’s self, and however difficult that might be, it’s still worth the effort. I meant it when I said this is one of my favorite songs. Every time it’s played it just seems to come at you at the very right time. And that’s it for today’s slow drag, my friend. Thank you for listening. Other precious gems from “King of America,” you’ll enjoy a slow drag with are episode 4, “The Hangover This Morning,” a slow drag with “The Big Light,” episode 33, “Friends Think of Her Fondly,” a slow drag with “Our Little Angel,” episode 43, “It’s Better to Confess,” a slow drag with “Glitter Gulch,” and episode 62, “The Present Tense,” a slow drag with “Brilliant Mistake.” 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, “I’ll Wear It Proudly”: http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/index.php/I%27ll_Wear_It_Proudly “I’ll Wear It Proudly”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0fLW4OpNyM “20 Different Ways to Kiss”: https://www.liveabout.com/different-ways-to-kiss-better-3196326 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 |