Today’s slow drag is with “Motel Matches,” from “Get Happy!!,” released in 1980. The songwriting is credited to Elvis Costello. In a graduating class of 19 other smash-and-grab jobs from “Get Happy,” “Motel Matches” remains a soft spot in many hearts for its candid level of nostalgia, sex appeal, and confessed naivety. It’s a piece that is just another reminder of how allusions are able to stack beautifully one upon the other. And, of course it’s a piece that showed the world just a glimpse of the depth of encyclopedic music knowledge Mr. Costello has at his fingertips. Somewhere in the distance I can hear "Who Shot Sam?" This is my conviction, that I am an innocent man Though you say I'm unkind I'm being as nice as I can The first line of this first verse was famously written three years before it found its final home here. The lore of it has become part of a post-punk time capsule, one that includes a post script of the first encounter with the patron saint of seedy motels, Tom Waits. Before that story, however, it’s always a joy to trace the finished product to its humble, and sometimes awkward beginnings. The slant end rhymes of this verse deftly pairs the assonance, Sam/man, then goes the extra mile to accomplish a clever slant rhyme of the consonance, kind/can. An early live version, recorded in North Hollywood in early 1979, and released on the 2004 “Almost Blue” Rhino/Edsel Reissue, reveals an ever so slight chip in the bone China. After the first line, instead of professing his innocence through employing keen polar opposites with “this is my conviction that I am an innocent man,” the line reads, “someone’s crawling ‘round your door,” evoking perhaps a bit of “Miracle Man,” from “My Aim is True,” that finds him “crawling around on all fours,” and then continues with “I suspect it is the insect man.” There’s no contraction in this line as you might expect in casual conversation, just “it is the insect man.” Afterward, as it returns to the familiar with, “though you say I’m unkind,” interestingly there is a two-word line inserted in order to accomplish a straight rhyme: “Though you say I’m unkind / you’ll find,” just before it finishes with the flourish of, ‘I’m being as nice as I can.” There’s something thrilling, in a wordy-nerdy slow drag sort of way, to see how the poet has opted for the slant rhyme in the final version, rather than the safer sounding matching end rhyme. The first line, the one jotted down in Mr. Costello’s notebook three years earlier, as the story has been told many times, and in many places, came to him in the Tropicana Motel in Los Angeles. “Somewhere in the distance I can hear “Who Shot Sam.” Had this been 20 miles away at the Hacienda Motel, the story he was told of how Sam Cooke was shot in the room that he occupied might have been accurate. As it was, the young genius who wasn’t familiar with the US yet, took the story to heart. Sleeping in the room where Cooke was reportedly shot kept him up all night. Was it a ghost he was concerned about? Or was it the fear of history repeating itself? Either way, true to his poetic prowess, the details of a sleepless night, listening to distant alarms, got usurped by another clever reference. “Who Shot Sam” is the title of a 1959 George Jones’ song about Sammy Sampson and his jealous killer, Silly Milly. Another obvious connection between this reference and George Jones is the haunting “Good Year for the Roses,” sung by Jones, and written by Jerry Chestnut. All these peripheral connections that are made thanks to one perpendicular allusion has turned “Motel Matches” into an instant classic, one that can be enjoyed on many different levels. Boys everywhere, fumbling with the catches I struck a lucky with motel matches Falling for you without a second look Falling out of your open pocketbook Giving you away like motel matches This catchy chorus sports a solid aa/bb/a rhyme structure as it incorporates phrasal verbs that create three or four solid metaphors before rounding off with a poignant simile. The Urban Dictionary cites this chorus in its entry for the term “motel matches.” And, as with everything Urban Dictionary, it concerns itself with the lowest hanging fruit. “Motel matches,” the entry begins, “used to be matchbooks with the motel’s name on the cover. If you met a girl or a guy in a bar…and saw them use motel matches to light their cigarette… then it would be possible to assume that this person was a frequent ‘visitor’ to that particular motel…or some sort of sex worker.” The entry concludes that “giving you away like motel matches” is to imply that “he’s falling in love with a hooker.” So, while it’s great to see Mr. Costello’s work being cited, this definition has done little to capture the nuance and innocence that flows throughout this piece. Simply put, or innocently put perhaps, motel matches were readily available souvenir tchotchkes of a budget minded traveler. Big enough to scribble a number on, and unsentimental enough to share as indiscriminately as you’d like. The matches, the brand of cigarette that doubles as a term for bedding a person, and the implication that this is a fleeting situation that can be indulged recklessly, and a multiple of other interpretations from these five lines is truly inspired. The mention of the boys and their sophomoric attempts situates this entire chorus in the realm of the childish, the inexperienced. I wake with the siren in an emergency Though your mind is full of love In your eyes there is a vacancy And you know what I'll do When the light outside changes from red to blue The stout rhyme of emergency/vacancy unites both the allusion to Sam Cooke’s shooting as it remains squarely in motel terms. The opposite of vacancy, of course, is full, and then there’s the imagery of a red light and what it means when it turns blue. Urban Dictionary browsers of course might cite prostitution. However, I feel it’s far more poetic to consider that a “no vacancy” sign is most often red, while the vacancy sign typically shines blue. “And you know what I’ll do when the light outside changes from red to blue.” The answer to which might very well be “check out,” which itself can play victim to double entendre. As with the first verse, there are more alternate lines found in the early live version of this second verse. Instead of this allegorical filled five-line verse, you’ll hear, there once lived a peculiar four-line verse: I remember thinking as I was crawling to the door That I will make my move if I can only jump this chequered floor And I know that quite soon You'll see more of me than just a cartoon Your opinion might be different, but I can only imagine that this might be a very rare set “place holder lyrics,” that don’t seem to hold up well under scrutiny. Or not; maybe you find joy and meaning in this as well. I’m thankful for the finished project, of course, yet, as always I’m also tickled to see early drafts. Boys everywhere, fumbling with the catches I struck a lucky with motel matches Falling for you without a second look Falling out of your open pocketbook Giving you away like motel matches — Dig it Again, this has been a slow drag with “Motel Matches” from 1980’s “Get Happy!!” Decades of history, the mindset of the budget traveler, and the propensity for young men to attempt difficult maneuvers, and so much more, has been captured in a narrow real time of 2:28. This is not surprising, of course, given that it is the median length of most of the pieces on “Get Happy!!” For as often as Mr. Costello’s work is lovingly referred to as “wordy,” there is also a case to be made for his genius economy of words. What he’s done is layer meaning over meaning over simile over grammar point, over metaphor, elongating its reverberation that could triple its running time. In this piece we have seen a healthy example of the revision process, as well as caught a glimpse into a more gullible and childlike state of mind. The back- and the side- stories that accompany this piece are riveting, of course, yet there’s always the joy of boys who will always, intrepidly, fumble with the catches. And that’s it for today’s slow drag, my friend. Thank you for listening. Other gems from “Get Happy!!” you’ll enjoy a slow drag with are episode 15, “A Villain in a Million,” a slow drag with “Riot Act,” episode 28, “The Face of Your Affection,” a slow drag with “Men Called Uncle,” and episode 46, “Lust,” a slow drag with the delightful, “Possession.” 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, “Motel Matches”: http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/index.php/Motel_Matches “Motel Matches”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLh-5onrgfQ “Who Shot Sam” (1959) George Jones: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItJp3mJSoKE “Who Shot Sam” lyrics: https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/8152751/George+Jones “Another Saturday Night,” Sam Cooke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O8m0mMDpHw “Sam Cooke dies under suspicious circumstances in LA”: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/sam-cooke-dies-under-suspicious-circumstances-in-la “Why Mystery Still Shrouds Singer Sam Cooke’s Shooting Death 60 Years Later”: https://people.com/movies/why-mystery-still-shrouds-singer-sam-cookes-shooting-death-nearly-60-years-later/ Urban Dictionary entry for Motel Matches: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Motel%20Matches Comments are closed.
|
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 |