Today’s slow drag is with “No Flag” from “Hey Clockface,” released in June, 2020. The songwriting is credited to Elvis Costello. Reportedly jetting off to far flung Finland in order to “go somewhere nobody knew” him, “No Flag” is the first installment of what has been dubbed the “Helsinki Sound.” To help prove this assertion, Mr. Costello is credited with playing everything on the piece: “drum, Fender Jazzmaster, Hammond organ, Fend Jazz bass,” and of course, “mouth.” Always relevant, precise, and ahead of his time, “No Flag” was recorded in February, 2020, in what could be considered isolation, just one month before the entire world followed suit. The result seems to have become some sort of anthem for the undercurrent of angst that accompanied the rest of that year and into the next, and maybe still. I've got no religion I've got no philosophy I've got a head full of ideas and words that don't seem to belong to me You may be joking but I don't get the gag I sense no future but time seems to drag The stealthy slant rhyme found in religion/philosophy launches this first verse into orbit as the rest of the lines seem to justify his need for time alone, finishing with the thesis statement of the entire album of “Hey Clockface.” It tells almost an entire story at the same it showcases Mr. Costello’s stellar word play. The dual meaning of gag makes the joke that much more interesting. The use of “but,” sends the time that drags into overdrive. The brave first-person perspective is a relatively late edition to Mr. Costello’s canon. Time was when he’d mitigate the word “I” into “you” within a verse or two. No time for this kind of love No flag waving high above No sign for the dark place that I live No God for the damn that I don't give The mention of the word dark, to many Elvis Costello fans, puts us in mind of his collaboration with Brian Eno, “My Dark Life.” Well, it does for me anyway. “And you think you’re a guest, you’re a tourist at best, peering into the corners of my dark life.” Sure, it’s just a mention of a single word, yet isn’t very often that one of his pieces will stir comparison with any of his other 600+ creations. There are only so many words to go around, and he knows how to get around them with them all. So, what kind of love, exactly? As ever, he leaves it up to the listener to qualify it, perhaps. Which flag? Is it a starry one that’s a drag to salute? Pulling apart the ordinarily collocated words “god” and “damn” to usher in a new meaning is a bit jarring and, well, genius. I've got no illusions I've had no epiphany Why should anybody listen to me She said I'm tearing up the sheets that your love letters stained All of your magic powers have drained Two verses in and we’re still in the first person, yet with a slight mitigation there at the end. Old habits are hard to break, it seems. While I’m references lines from other Elvis Costello pieces, I might as well include the stinging line for the sultry and unforgiving, “Poisoned Rose” in reference to the “sheets where your love letters stained.” “The poisoned rose that you wear at your best, that I keep pressed between the white sheets where you lie half undressed.” The sexy has now become the tawdry, or visa versa. The answer to “why should anybody listen to me” can be summed up in this challenge: just try to stop us, you superb bastard. There's a line in the sand A word or two in the aftermath I'm an arrow that shoots up and down on an advertising graph I could write you verses and recite more than one But they're not worth the paper that they're written on Graph/aftermath are great rhymes, but check out one/on. It doesn’t have to be fancy to astound. All the beautiful, maddening contradictions in this verse. As with, “why should anybody listen to me” from above, no one’s really buying the notion that the words aren’t worth the paper that they’re written on, but it is a good exercise in measuring one’s worth, I suppose. Remember as well from above that he can write verses, but they don’t seem to belong to him, unless he’s quickly come around to his senses. We want everything and we don't want to share Out-o space for the faces we fear Look in the mirror and see who I used to be Made out of plastic in a factory No flag No flag Here’s another clever turn of phrase, rhyming share/fear. It is possible that we need more time to mull over the meaning behind “out-o space for the faces we fear.” Well, until then, it’s just a lovely sounding series of words. Made out of plastic, you say? Like some sort of doll revolution, maybe? “You can pull and pinch him till he cries and squeals, you can twist his body till it faces backwards, plastic features.” —Dig it Again, this has been a slow drag with “No Flag” from 2020’s “Hey Clockface.” It’s a piece with 189 words, if you only count the chorus once, that were absolutely worth the paper that they’re written on, but that was never really in doubt, was it? In this piece I’ve had the rare joy of referencing other Elvis Costello pieces, no matter how fleeting: “My Dark Life,” with the mention of the word, “dark,” “American Gangster Time” with the mention of a flag, “Poisoned Rose” with the mention of “tearing up the sheets,” and “Tear off Your Own Head” with the mention of a being made out of “plastic.” As for the piece itself, “No Flag” has been, or will most certainly be placed in the enduring rarified air of the driving, breathy anthem of a lockdown that seemed to have no god for the damn that the pandemic didn’t give. And that’s it for today’s slow drag, my friend. Thank you for listening. This has been the first slow drag with a piece from “Hey Clockface,” so check out my back catalog of 98 other slow drags I’ve done with Mr. Costello’s impeccable work. 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, “No Flag”: http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/index.php/No_Flag “No Flag”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7aQtVfB-88 Elvis Costello Drops Second “Helsinki Sound” https://www.977theriver.com/2020/07/10/elvis-costello-drops-second-helsinki-sound-track-hetty-ohara-confidential/ “My Dark Life” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw9boaOLnvI Definition of collocation: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/collocation Purchase “The Most Terrible Time in My Life…Ends Thursday” 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 |