e.c. talks

[girl out of time]

from the Guardian........(interview)


........I tell him that I love so many of his songs, even though I don't have a clue what they are about. Fair enough, he says, neither did he. "I don't see any reason why you should have to understand them. I would always defend the right to create a vague picture, or a blurred picture with words that adds up differently to different people because I've done it countless times. It's like the chance Polaroid that is better than the sharp-focus, well-taken photograph.There's a song on the last record, Tart, that doesn't make any sense at all."

He comes to a stop, but not for long. "In the case of North I don't think people will have that problem because it is pretty damn clear what's going on, y'know. I can tell you how I did it, when I did it, but I can't tell you more about what it is, because everything is in there. I'm not saying I won't answer any more questions, but... " It seems like a pre-emptive strike. Costello hates talking about his private life.

The first songs are incredibly painful. The album starts with a track called You Left Me In The Dark. Before I ask the question, he answers. "I think people will assume that it is about romantic loss, but it is actually about bereavement. It is about someone contemplating the last loving thing said by someone who has gone. Y'know, people always assume that love happens detached from other realities. But other realities happen concurrently with changes in the heart. Whether or not these songs happened exactly as they appeared to happen to me doesn't matter in my opinion. It doesn't make it better to listen to, it doesn't make it more authentic." He's still not mentioned any names, so I take the plunge. In the first half of the album there is the sense that you can't understand how your relationship with Cait has ended, I say. Silence.

"I've got to say, Simon, and I want to really stress, it's entirely at your discretion to mention her name, but I very much want to be respectful of her independence as a person. And one of the things you have to say when you part with somebody is that they have the right not to be drawn into the consideration of your life. It's really important that I don't say anything that puts her in the public focus. It's not fair, she didn't ask for it. [Pause.] Then there is the other side of that equation, which is I write, that's what I do, I draw on personal experience. [Pause.] But as I keep saying, the importance to me is that people see themselves in the songs rather than pore over them as voyeurs would. I think that would be a fairly dissatisfying listen, frankly."..........

[girl out of time]

you can check out the full interview at http://www.elviscostello.com

[girl out of time]

you can check out the full interview at http://www.elviscostello.info