Today’s slow drag is with “My Most Beautiful Mistake” from “The Boy Named If,” released in 2022. The songwriting is credited to Elvis Costello. This beauty is nestled knowingly between the more acerbic “Mistook Me for a Friend,” and the barn burner, “pain of desire” “Magnificent Hurt.” “My Most Beautiful Mistake” is high concept in nature, in that it’s ostensibly about a man ceasing upon a waitress for cinematic inspiration. It’s the sort of rich and textured piece that doesn’t need to obfuscate its main intentions. When its verses and choruses are built with journeyman precision, it’s a piece that continues to breathe new life with each subsequent, and in my case, obsessive listening. It’s built on such solid ground that the flourishes Mr. Costello adds in feel like some sort of reward for being a loyal fan of his. Believe me when I say I am absolutely besotted with this piece. From brilliant to beautiful, this is the sort of mistake I can get behind. She was a part-time waitress with a dream of greatness That nobody knew or even suspected Though it was sometimes reflected in the slant of a mirror It was buried so deep and so dear Waitress/greatness, mirror/dear. We’re already off to a rousing start. These rhymes are not wrought from verbal gymnastics, yet their pairings seem so novel. This is as straightforward as an introduction to an Elvis Costello piece we’re apt to find, and still, it stacks up to present at least three or so peripheral avenues to explore. This greatness that’s spoken of, how has it gone so unsuspected? What happened to bury it “so deep and so dear”? If the slant of the mirror reflects her greatness sometimes, what greatness is there that’s not tied to physical beauty? It then becomes a circular discussion about what beauty is and how to recognize it, perhaps. She caught the eye of a guy passing by who said, "My, if I prove to be faithless, you'll surely know why Oh, why? You'll probably know why" Then again you may say "Mister, you've got a nerve Most of us never get just what we deserve" I'll smile sweetly, "I'm here at your service" Take all that we’ve gleaned in the first verse, the buried deep and dear greatness that nobody suspected. All that is now either superseded or confirmed by the guy who’s just caught her eye. “If I prove to be faithless, you’ll surely know why.” Oh, there’s a familiar awkward tango that is apt to break out between these two, but who can tell these days? With all of the back-and-forth quoting in this verse, it seems as if it’s a piece that would lend itself beautifully to a snappy duet, such as scratchy “There’s a Story in Your Voice,” with Lucinda Williams, from 2003’s “The Delivery Man.” Not content with a more pedestrian approach, however, this beautiful mistake has apparently reimagined what we consider dialogue. And the camera walks us through into a sunlit room Where a one-hit wonder lives And he says, "Action" and "That's a take" You are my most beautiful mistake This chorus reveals more of the “guy’s” background as it deftly tells us nothing about him. Is he tall? Short? Old? Young? He’s little more than a distrustful voyeur with dubious “one hit” credentials at this point. There’s little need to give him more of a starring role in this production just yet anyway. Trust the writer, so they say. The language used in this chorus amazes me, and not just because the title line of “you are my most beautiful mistake” sends a whisper of a chill up the spine. The language helps take us back to the first verse, to the slant of the mirror, perhaps. What does he see when he calls “action”? And what has it changed after he calls cut? In addition to imponderable titles and short quips, I simply love the first line, “and the camera walks us through into a sunlit room.” This is due in part to its remarkable use of two prepositions in a row that rhyme with each other, “through” and “into.” I’ve said before how Mr. Costello’s work is remarkable for its grammatical correctness and lexical exactness. In this instance, he certainly knows how to wield the superfluous. "It's not your reputation I'm trying to besmirch" "I'm here undercover, I'm writing this screenplay" "You might be my inspiration, it's beyond my control" "So, it's my soulful and wounded expression, that you'd like to console?" This exposition helps inform what I meant earlier by “high concept.” The “guy’s” intentions are laid bare. It leaves little room for awkward guessing or even more awkward second guessing. It wouldn’t matter to our protagonist waitress either way, it seems, since she understands that “it’s my soulful and wounded expression that you’d like to console?” There’s a grown-up sense of self-awareness on the part of both characters that is candid, forthright, and not as world weary sounding as they could be portrayed as. Then, of course, as I mentioned before about the reimagined duet, there is the way Nicole Atkins gives voice to the key words in the waitress’ quote. The sound is there and gone just as quickly as it arrived. It’s as if she’d found her own fleeting way “through into” the slant of the mirror. There's a hand that lingers a little too long There are lies you will hear, that they're singing right now, right here, right here in this song This catchy bridge breaks the fourth wall as it rat-a-tats its confessional voice over. Rhyming long/song, with a familiar tactic of rhyming a word with itself, except in this case the words are homophones. The word nerd in me wonders if this still counts as an “identical rhyme.” There’s always a hand that lingers too long, isn’t there? That’s never the lie. Yet the lies that you will here, “that they’re singing right now, right here, right here in this song” explains well that there is an unreliable narrator lurking about this worldscape. And the lens pulls the focus on his magnum opus He's a one-hit wonder kid And he says, "Action" and "That's a take" You are my most beautiful mistake A “magnum opus” is a large or important work of art. In this case, however, it sure seems as if it’s a measurement of something else that’s potentially large. Brilliant. As I mentioned, the flourishes speckled throughout this piece feel like a reward. There is so much charm and boyish mischief embedded throughout. I might have been mistaken to call the chorus above a “chorus,” but I’m not really sure what else it would be called. For, as you can hear, this iteration of the chorus deviates from its predicate by changing the first two lines. The previous lines, “and the camera walks us through into a sunlight room where a one-hit wonder lives,” are different words, yet nevertheless fill the same syllable space, 20 syllables in all, with “and the lens pulls the focus on his magnum opus, he’s the one-hit wonder kid.” If there’s a name for this shift, please let me know. A wunderkind literally translates to a “wonder child,” or some sort of child prodigy. Reporting that our character is a “wonder kid,” written out in two standard English words, suggests there’s a difference between who he is, how he wants to be viewed, and what he really is. This is especially telling when it is proceeded with “one hit,” a moniker that has already been bestowed upon him. He made a portrait of her face out of burnt-out matches She said "The trouble is, Sunshine, I know what the catch is… You'll offer me nothing, you'll offer me riches I've seen your kind before in courtroom sketches" If you are wise enough to follow Mr. Costello on Twitter, you may have noticed that he, or at least someone who mans his account, sends up impertinent tweeters from time to time by using “sunshine” as his salutation for them. It’s as cutting and withering as it is hilarious for those of us fortunate to not have fallen fowl of his witty Twitter banter. Each line ends with a word or phrase that goes on to just rhyme with the next end line. Matches/catch is/riches/courtroom sketches. It’s simply brilliant, but not without precedence. Mr. Costello has used this clever rhyming devise before, in “The Element within Her,” from 1983’s “Punch the Clock.” “It’s just a part of it / like your fine tresses / you know what my guess is.” It melds sound and alliteration into a smooth pat of butter; “it” connects with the beginning sound of “tresses,” “tresses” then mingles with “guess is,” just before “is” wafts back up to combine with the schwa sound in “it.” “You’ll offer me nothing, you’ll offer me riches” speaks once again to the grown-up nature of this exchange. Absent (or buried) is any naïveté or bitterness that flavors many of our favorite “guilt and revenge” pieces. This piece proves itself to be as clear-eyed and self-aware as any rock-n-roll piece out there, I’d say. From the booth in the corner From a different perspective Where a man plays the fool or a private detective He wrote her name out in sugar on a Formica counter "You could be the game that captures the hunter" Then he went out for cigarettes As the soundtrack played The Marvelettes Perspective/detective, counter/hunter. Is this action in front of or behind the camera now? Either way, it sounds as if they’re “Watching the Detectives,” as a bit of word play. It’s more reward for devoted fans, I’d say. There are a few stage directions in that song as well. The person in the scene knows the woman’s name. Is it written on a nametag she’s wearing, or have they become close? Going out for cigarettes never ends well, does it? Let me check the script Check the continuity You'll be up on that screen for eternity The billboard will spit: "That look! That's it!" Take a little pill and you will get over it The light will hit you If you drop that hint Now "Cut" and "Print" It was all so straightforward. I was following the plot perfectly well, or so I thought. The directions were logical and expected. But then, “the light will hit you if you drop that hint.” Words to mull over for eternity, it seems. The rat-a-tat delivery of this verse is infectious. And the camera walks us through into a low-lit room Where a one-hit wonder lives And he says, "Action" and "That's a take" You are my most beautiful mistake Now, for this third iteration of the chorus, we’re sent back to the original, only to find that time has passed. So now instead of a sun-lit room, the camera “walks us through into a low-lit room.” Ah, I still love that double preposition use. She left a tip in the jar and a note at the door It said, "I'm going away, I won't be back anymore If the call should come later to commute my sentence" "Dance a little jig for my repentance" "Dance a little jig for my repentance" "Dance a little jig for my repentance" This last verse blows the whistle on the whole design, or so it seems. The greatness seen in the slant of the mirror might well have been tinged with femme fatale prowess. The script, so to speak, has been flipped. She leaves the tip, money or otherwise, she leaves a note, advice or otherwise, at the door of the sun-lit/low-lit room. We’ve been told she’ll “Be up on that screen for eternity.” Would the commuted sentence, then, come in the form of a one hit wonder of her own? Destined to fade into obscurity? It’s all “so deep and so dear,” isn’t it? The poetry, the story, the allusions, and the construction of “My Most Beautiful Mistake” are masterful, confident, and playful. There’s a reason I’m so besotted with this piece. It’s as close to perfect as you can get. — Dig it Again, this has been a slow drag with “My Most Beautiful Mistake” from 2022’s “The Boy Named If.” Perhaps you have noticed by now that Mr. Costello has set a precedent for this topic. “Possession,” “Shoes without Heels,” and maybe even “King’s Horse,” among others, all find a funny fixation on this occupation. Years on the road, in hotels, bars, and restaurants might help provide a certain cinematic preoccupation that was as good as a screenplay. I’m always keen to point out how rich and strong so many of Mr. Costello’s female characters are written. This lavish piece is another great example of the fine texture, the depth of appreciation and understanding of the human and female condition this genius possesses. And that’s it for today’s slow drag, my friend. Thank you for listening. 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 |