Today’s slow drag is with “Nothing Clings Like Ivy,” from “The Delivery Man,” released in 2004. The songwriting is credited to Elvis Costello. Each verse, bridge, and chorus create a delicate yet sturdy interlocking set of puzzle pieces that have been placed in their perfect location in order to reveal a complicated allegory of strength, bravery, and bouts of fierce softness. Within the wordplay between the plant’s name and woman’s name, there seems to be a deeper conversation going on between obscure participants. As with so many Elvis Costello pieces, there’s so much just lingering in the periphery. Nothing clings like Ivy Frightened by the dark Though she cuts deep It never leaves a mark This lovely piece will begin and end with a chorus that masquerades as a verse, bookending a story that is set up using the polarity of strength and weakness. It’s a four-line introduction that bounces between the two efficiently as it makes a meal of the slant rhyme, Ivy/deep, that’s then paired with the simple end rhyme of dark/mark. It’s all a part of the discreet charm of the so called “southern bell,” I suppose. That is to say, it’s easy to embroider Ivy with this moniker with very little else to go on, especially given Emmy Lou Harris’s angelic vocals in the background of the finished song. Whether this accurately describes Ivy herself is left up to interpretation. You may ask how we even know that’s her name, and not the plant he’s referring to? Simply, Ivy is capitalized. Therefore, it’s a proper noun. Also, notice how Mr. Costello suggests she’s more thorn than rose petal when he puts forth that, like the ivy plant, she has sharp edges. The ivy leaf, however, is soft to the ouch. No one quite like Ivy Everyone gets it straight What she believes She won't negotiate Here we have another beautiful slant rhyme of Ivy/believes. We’ve also learned quite a bit about Ivy the person in a quick 8 lines. An image of a clever and stubborn woman with a range of wiles is emerging. But when has Mr. Costello’s heroines ever been shrinking violets? Using the allusion of the scaling green leafy plant to evoke many of the characteristics of Ivy, there is a sense that she is fragile looking yet unstoppable and potentially dangerous. The ivy berry is attractive yet toxic if touched. And once you have ivy, it’s very difficult to get rid of. All the words of tenderness That never quite got through She says, "You know how young girls are From my contempt for you" The description in the verses that have come before this one is starting to be bleed into the environment as well. Sometimes mental and emotional kicking and screaming can drown out anything good. Slant rhyme is forsaken for the clever cutting remark in this verse. Take note that this is the first of three quotes in this piece. This one starts with “She says,” in the present tense. It’s quite lovely to think of her insult as a reflection of her own life of delusion, given that Ivy might not be as young as she may view herself to be. Outside in the hollow She may dare herself For there may be A serpent in the grass Nothing clings like Ivy Trying to scare herself And it may strike or Wait for her to pass The word “hollow” gives us another clue into Ivy’s southern roots. Often thought of a rather clannish place, a hollow is a “small, sheltered valley,” that is typically found in southern US states, such as North Carolina and Tennessee. Ivy seems both fearless and frail, the product of being isolated from and surrounded by loved ones who may not always love her, but who will always protect her nevertheless. How else is she able to be brave enough to scare and dare? All the words of tenderness That she never possessed "So, what's the use of promises?" "I had my fingers crossed" Now, instead of the words of tenderness that didn’t get through, the words of tenderness were never Ivy’s to begin with. Subtle shifts in perspective such as this seem able to create seismic shifts in meaning. In addition, here we find the second of three quotes. This time it is attributed to no one, but has a double set of quotes, denoting two speakers. The answer to what use promises are seems to be answered with a petulant past tense remark: “I had my fingers crossed.” There is something wonderfully inscrutable about crossed fingers. It is, at once, a gesture meant to bring good luck, yet when held behind your back, the same gesture means you are lying. How they live in the same universe has always tickled and stymied me. All the words of tenderness that never quite got through She said, "I laughed behind your back When I told them to you” Repeated once again, the words of tenderness that “she” never possessed in the verse just before, now goes back to how they never quite got through. Another small shift that calls attention to itself enough to at least make you wonder about the significance between the two. What a wonderfully impossible scene to imagine. Laughing behind someone’s back at the same time they’re telling them something. What exactly is going on to create such a scenario? My golly that’s a great line. A lesser poet might get tripped up in the sticky syntax, but when you’re the master, it’s a walk in the park. Nothing clings like Ivy Frightened by the dark Though she cuts deep It never leaves a mark — Dig it Again, this has been a slow drag with “Nothing Clings Like Ivy” from 2004’s “The Delivery Man.” Perhaps partly owing to where this album was recorded, Oxford Mississippi, or partly the reason it was recorded there, there is a devilish “Southern Gothic” charm to this album in general and to this piece in particular. It’s as if Ivy could plunk herself down in a Flannery O’Connor story and feel right at home. “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” indeed. This piece uses devices such as repetition and quotation that shifts from verse to verse with great precision. It’s the small details of using the different tenses that adds texture and depth to a story of a southern bell and what sounds like her complicated relationship with the world around her. And that’s it for today’s slow drag, my friend. Thank you for listening. Other gems from “The Delivery Man” you’ll enjoy a slow drag with are episodes 16 and 17, “I Might Recite a Small Prayer,” and “The Quickening Art,” they are a slow drag and a supplemental episode of “Bedlam,” episode 27, “Or Maybe I Really Love You,” a slow drag with “Needle Time,” and episode 52, “The Worthless Bum,” a slow drag with “Monkey to Man.” As always, thank you for helping to get the word out about this little passion project. Truly, it means the world. 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, “Nothing Clings Like Ivy”: http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/index.php/Nothing_Clings_Like_Ivy “Nothing Clings Like Ivy”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Bs4Sjma6PI “The Pros and Cons of planting English Ivy in the Landscape”: https://blog.gardeningknowhow.com/gardening-pros-cons/pros-and-cons-of-planting-english-ivy/ Hollow: https://artsandsciences.sc.edu/appalachianenglish/node/492 “Southern Gothic Literature”: https://oxfordre.com/literature/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190201098.001.0001/acrefore-9780190201098-e-304 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 |