Elvis Costello

His live TV debut on SNL has gone down as maybe the most famous moment in late night music history. But the decades that followed were just as surprising, rebellious, and at times baffling. It's ELVIS COSTELLO week! Joining the show is comedian, actor, and Elvis Costello historian Connor Ratliff (Dead Eyes, Tiny Dinos, The George Lucas Talk Show)! Connor does his best to walk the guys through the overwhelming twists and turns of Elvis' 50 year career. We of course begin with Elvis and the Attractions act of rebellion on SNL in 1977. Joan Rivers has Elvis on The Tonight Show in 1984 and lots of tissues are involved. The 90s bring collaborations with string quartets and Burt Bacharach, plus a very public feud with bassist Bruce Thomas that plays out on late night. And we end with Elvis as the elder statesman fronting The Roots on Fallon in 2009. Want to watch along with us? Check out the links below for the performances discussed this week! Watching the Detectives/Radio Radio, 12/17/1977 on Saturday Night Live I Hope You're Happy Now/Peace in Our Time, 12/12/1984 on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson (Joan Rivers guest hosting) Taking My Life in Your Hands/Jacksons, Monk, and Rowe with The Brodsky Quartet, 3/16/1993 on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno You Bowed Down, 8/26/1996 on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno I Still Have That Other Girl with Burt Bacharach (4:25 mark), 9/29/1998 on The Late Show with David Letterman 45, 9/29/1999 on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno High Fidelity / (I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea with The Roots, 11/20/2009 on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

Elvis Costello’s thirty-first studio album, “Hey Clockface,” will be released this month. Recorded largely before the pandemic, it features an unusual combination of winds, cello, piano, and drums. David Remnick talks with Costello about the influence of his father’s career in jazz and about what it’s like to look back on his own early years. They also discuss “Fifty Songs for Fifty Days,” a new project leading up to the Presidential election—though Costello disputes that the songs are political. “I don’t have a manifesto and I don’t have a slogan,” he says. “I try to avoid the simplistic slogan nature of songs. I try to look for the angle that somebody else isn’t covering.” But he notes that “the things that we are so rightly enraged about, [that] we see as unjust . . . it’s all happened before. . . . I didn’t think I’d be talking with my thirteen-year-old son about a lynching. Those are the things I was hearing reported on the news at their age.” Costello spoke from outside his home in Vancouver, B.C., where a foghorn is audible in the background. This segment originally aired on October 16, 2020.

Elvis Costello, Marisa Monte, Jorge Drexler and Leo Sidran discuss how to create emotional lyrics, shouting to make yourself heard, arriving at the idea of a song through its title, competing with the scale of music, and working in multiple languages. Elvis Costello is a singer, songwriter, and producer who has sold millions of records both as a solo artist and with his amazing bands. His diverse genres and thoughtful lyrics have earned him various accolades including two Grammys, and an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Marisa Monte is widely recognized as one of the greatest Brazilian singers and composers of all time. She completely shook up the role of women in the Brazilian music landscape, by becoming her own producer, business, and artistic director. She’s received four Latin Grammys so far, and is one-third of Brazilian supergroup Tribalistas. Jorge Drexler is a musician, singer, and composer from Uruguay. He trained as a doctor, but soon realised he wanted to dedicate his life to music. He’s been releasing records for over 30 years, combining styles from across the Iberoamerican world. Latin Grammy-winning producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Leo Sidran's fascination with Spanish culture has led him to a celebrated career in music producing, composing and podcasting. Early in his career, he was “guided” on the drums by James Brown’s drummer Clyde Stubblefield.

Hey Clockface was recorded in Helsinki, Paris and New York and mixed by Sebastian Krys in Los Angeles. The assembled album is “An Elvis Costello & Sebastian Krys Production” following on from their work together on Elvis Costello and The Imposters Grammy-winning album Look Now . Buy Hey Clockface at Rough Trade Sign up to the Rough Trade newsletter Enjoy Rough Trade Q&A? Why not check out the Rough Trade Edit Podcast. Intro/outro: Let's Talk About It by White Denim

Elvis Costello’s thirty-first studio album, “Hey Clockface,” will be released this month. Recorded largely before the pandemic, it features an unusual combination of winds, cello, piano, and drums. David Remnick talks with Costello about the influence of his father’s career in jazz and about what it’s like to look back on his own early years. They also discuss “Fifty Songs for Fifty Days,” a new project leading up to the Presidential election—though Costello disputes that the songs are political. “I don’t have a manifesto and I don’t have a slogan,” he says. “I try to avoid the simplistic slogan nature of songs. I try to look for the angle that somebody else isn’t covering.” But he notes that “the things that we are so rightly enraged about, [that] we see as unjust . . . it’s all happened before. . . . I didn’t think I’d be talking with my thirteen-year-old son about a lynching. Those are the things I was hearing reported on the news at their age.” Costello spoke from outside his home in Vancouver, B.C., where a foghorn is audible in the background.