I have been an Elvis Costello fan since I 1st discovered my name in a song. I was obsessed. And I was right to be. Even though I was in the single digits I was already cultivating my punk rock sensibility. It was in my blood. My Dad a musician and my mom 1/2 British what else was there? So I begged for anyone around to play it for me… on a stereo or on a guitar the recorder or harmonica. Fuck- if you could whistle… make it Alison. One day while digging around in my fathers front hall closet I found the GOLD. Apparently Elvis Costello had come through town because I found a HUGE box of “Elvis lives” buttons and Elvis lives tee shirts in white with black font and in black with white font. My new uniform. My cousins and I would parade around head to toe in Elvis Lives buttons. You could hear us coming a full 5 minutes before we would arrive. Clickity clacking and bleeding from design flaw (the sharp point of the pin came down past the edge) We did’t care.. ELVIS LIVES.
In my early teens I became an even bigger fan, serenading friends with this track when I would invite them over. Yes I was a weirdo, Everyone else was listening to the radio top 40 and I was listening to “Radio Radio” (I remember I skipped school and went to the local record store and bought 10 albums… Kiss Rock and Roll Over, Lou Reed (best of (a double album)) The Velvet Underground VU, Elvis Costello My Aim is True, T-Rex Electric Warrior, Jimmy Hendrix Are You Experienced, David Bowie Hunky Dory , Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, MC5 Kick out the Jams.) I was in love with a different decade.
I listened to those 10 albums like my life depended on it.. and it did. The only cure for puberty is music you can relate to.
I posted it before with my ode to Bowie.. You’ve got Green Day and GAGA I’ve got Elivs Costello and Bowie
But this is about Elvis. And ELVIS LIVES!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tondtut3dOc&hl=en_US&fs=1&
