Elvis Costello Quotes:
But there are things in Il Sogno that the methods of The Delivery Man could never achieve.
Elvis Costello
I used to be disgusted; now I try to be amused.
Elvis Costello
There’s no such thing as an original sin.
Elvis Costello
I’d been to Memphis before, but we stayed out of Memphis early on in the late 70s for obvious reasons. People were very sensitive about Elvis Presley, and my stage name obviously would be provocative to some people in that area at that time.
Elvis Costello
And I don’t feel any form of music is beyond me in the sense of that I don’t understand it or I don’t have some love for some part of it.
Elvis Costello
And over the last ten years, after my work with the Brodsky Quartet, I had the opportunity to write arrangements for chamber group, chamber orchestra, jazz orchestra, symphony orchestra even.
Elvis Costello
I find humming is very useful.
Elvis Costello
I found with this record I had to really be strong-willed, because in the past I’ve tended to tinker and add a thing or take a thing away, and nearly always been wrong.
Elvis Costello
I know that when I make a record like The Delivery Man as a contrast to even Il Sogno, this is going to reach a wider audience, because it communicates in that very direct way.
Elvis Costello
My family calls me Declan. But most people call me E.C. I think it comes from my dad. It’s an Irish convention. You usually call the first child by the initials.
Elvis Costello
I’ve been lucky to listen to lots of different types of music.
Elvis Costello
Maybe I just never learned my harmony part, because what everybody says sounds odd to them sounds perfectly natural to me.
Elvis Costello
Mention Hubert Sumlin, as well, because Hubert’s a great man, and again, you know, I don’t play the guitar very good, but when I’m playing this kind of music, I always have him in my mind. I wish I could play like Hubert.
Elvis Costello
Obviously I got known for some other songs early on, and some of those were rock’n’roll songs. Some of them were melodic pop songs. And I’ve done lots of different things, as you know, but every so often I get drawn back.
Elvis Costello
I believe that music is connected by human passions and curiosities rather than by marketing strategies.
Elvis Costello
People tend to repeat the same quotes at me that I said when I was 23. And of course, you say things then, and sometimes they’re ill-advised.
Elvis Costello
And obviously, when I started out, I had a little bit more curiosity than some, and went seeking out the original artists, or in some cases searching up country music.
Elvis Costello
I’ve worked hard, every single day since I left school. I think I have a Protestant work ethic.
Elvis Costello
‘Content’ is a word that has never sat well with me. Like ‘maturity’. They are two words I’ve never liked. I think they imply some sort of decay. A settling.
Elvis Costello
I’m a working travelling musician, but just on a bigger scale.
Elvis Costello
I don’t think I was ever particularly mean. I can certainly think of some idiotic exchanges I’ve had. I was accused of destroying pop music, like Wagner destroyed opera – a guy in Germany started ranting that at me.
Elvis Costello
I’ve always felt writing a song was a bit like going on location. That’s true in an almost literal sense. Where you are seeps in somehow.
Elvis Costello