Elvis Costello

26/03/2009

Bespectacled pop genius

If I knew then...
What would you say to your 16-year-old self if you could go back in time? We ask another well known celebrity to offer their younger self some words of wisdom.

At 16 I had just moved from London to Liverpool with my mum. I was still at school with a part time job in a green grocers.  I listened to alot of music – social music, like Tamla Motown, Trojan label reggae at parties – and at home I was listening to Joni Mitchell, The Band, Van Morrison. I still like alot of the same artists. I was lucky to have access to alot of music because of my dad when I was young, he had lots of curiosity about music and he would pass records on to me.

I had been playing the guitar and writing songs since I was about thirteen. My first song was about winter and it was in E minor, which gives you an idea what I was like. I wrote about girls, too , though mainly in the abstract.

I was an only child and I was quite used to being alone. I didn’t live in the same neighbourhood as many of my friends. I spent alot of time with my mum ‘cause my parents had separated a few years before and we were pretty close. When we moved to Liverpool it took me some time to feel at home – my family were from there so I didn’t feel a complete outsider but people at school didn’t see me as a local. They did laugh at my accent, which was something of a mishmash of northern and southern.

I did worry about whether I would get a girlfriend – I think you always worry about that, about being lonely.  I might have been quite shy but I was also quite self-sufficient, I still am. I have some friends, but not that many. I’m happy to only have a small group of friends, its quality not quantity that I care about, people I can actually count on.

People thought I had success at an early age but I’d been writing and performing for years so finally releasing a record at 22 didn’t feel early to me. I’d been taking my songs around publishers and record companies since I was 18. I thought maybe someone else might sing them. I don’t feel I’ve become more savvy about the industry. I was very earnest, I didn’t think about making a living out of music, I just wanted the chance to play my songs.

I never ever wanted to be famous, I still don’t care about it. People think I’m ambitious but I’m not at all. It was all an accident. I think the emphasis on the attainment of fame which is prevalent today is regrettable – many of these people who sing on these TV talent shows have never actually heard singing which is an expression of genuine soulful emotion.

I didn’t choose the Elvis Costello look and the name wasn’t my idea, it was my manager’s. I didn’t feel I had any say in it really, it felt like it was happening to me. Was it a good idea? Probably not? Do I care? No. There were crazier things going on around me, I got off pretty lightly. (The early marketing) all felt like a huge prank, which it still does. It seemed so ludicrous – I’m not even a big Elvis Presley fan.

I did say some stupid things  when I was young but even then I knew I didn’t really mean them, it’s just what I said when someone asked me a question when I was drunk (Costello apologised for allegedly ‘racist’ remarks in 1979) and I had enough bravado to give journalists something provocative. They didn’t tell people anything real about me so I wouldn’t tell my young self not to say them, they weren’t important.

There’s a re-assessment of the ‘80s in Britain, maybe because we’re approaching the same grim scenarios, even if the trigger’s different now. I still have sympathies for the songs I wrote then, I don’t reject the sentiments of any of them (Tramp the Dirt Down famously saw Costello savouring the idea of Margaret Thatcher’s death.) You don’t easily forgive. I got hate mail for some songs, I was told ‘You can’t say that kind of thing in a song’. I never cared about alienating fans, I don’t care if they love me or not.

There’s a sadness in watching beautiful young children grow up but I’d tell my younger self about the joy of having older children. I have boys who are toddlers but I also have a 34 year old son and I count on his advice more than anyone else’s. At the other end of bringing up children you can find this complete grown up person who might be the best person you know. That can make you feel very happy, it gives you great pleasure.

Interview: Jane Graham

Elvis Costello joins The Brodsky Quartet at the Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, April 26