Please let him sing....

laughingcrow · Post by **laughingcrow** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 4:24 am

What are your top 5 tracks that you've never heard EC sing live? Everyone goes to a concert thinking 'please can he do X'..I was lucky, last concert he did Indoor Fireworks and Sleep of the Just...my prayers were answered (always knew God preferred the real Elvis).

Here's mine, in no particular order...

Battered old bird
American without tears #2
This town
Toledo
Secondary modern

billyboy2674 · Post by **billyboy2674** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 4:35 am

sniff***

sniff***
this post makes me angry,sad and upsets me in general.(j/k)
reason:I've never been to an e.c concert.
anyone have an idea when he's bringing his troops...erm sorry elvis for the term...to chicago,ill.
there's no escapin' elvis-you shall sing for me this year.(next year I suppose anyway)

Gillibeanz · Post by **Gillibeanz** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 7:23 am

I'd like to hear........

You tripped at every step

I'll wear it proudly

All this useless beauty

Red shoes

All grown up

Elfslut · Post by **Elfslut** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 9:05 am

Oh...let's see

Just About Glad
Lovable (wonder if he'll sing any of Cait's songs anymore)
This Town
Blue Chair
Next Time Round
Jack of All Parades

Is that enough or should I go for a whole setlist?

pip_52 · Post by **pip_52** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 10:49 am

Im Not Angry
Battered Old Bird
Talking In the Dark
Shot With His Own Gun
Favourite Hour

Post by **BlueChair** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 11:51 am

You Little Fool
Shipbuilding
Clowntime Is Over
High Fidelity
(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes

so lacklustre · Post by **so lacklustre** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 11:57 am

Big Boys
King Horse
Seconds Of Pleasure
Just Another Mystery
Kinder Murder

Watching_Detectives · Mon Nov 03, 2003 12:11 pm

Big Boys
King Horse
The Greatest Thing
Living In Paradise
All the Rage
Hand in Hand

There are more. I'm just destracted by sparkly things called paper clips right now.

billyboy2674 · Post by **billyboy2674** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 12:14 pm

two little hitlers
seconds of pleasure
you little fool
big nothing
poor fractured atlas
imperial bedroom

and a host of others but I'd need the whole forum.

Jackson Monk · Post by **Jackson Monk** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 2:57 pm

I have a great bootleg of EC at London Theatre Royal (86) doing:

Battered Old Bird
Jack of all Parades
Blue Chair
Next time round

You are right to want to hear him doing these....the birst two are my favourite live recordings of his.

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 3:14 pm

I'm sure a lot your wishes will be fulfilled, since I've heard EC do most of these songs. (I think you're going to be particularly lucky about "Red Shoes" which he does a lot.)

But here's my list of things I've never heard him do.

Battered Old Bird (I think I've heard that EC hates this song. No idea why.)
Baby Plays Around (yeah, I too wonder if they'll be an unspoken Cait ban)
Black Sails in the Sunset
Hoover Factory
Ghost Dance
Toledo (heard him do this with Burt B. -- but would love to see how he'd do it with the Imposters -- "Tears at the Birthday Party" or "The Sweetest Punch" would be just as good, almost)
Chewing Gum
Tramp the Dirt Down (I don't remember him ever doing this....)
The Crimes of Paris
(covers)
Psycho
Cry, Cry, Cry
Gloomy Sunday

Jackson Monk · Post by **Jackson Monk** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 4:21 pm

Bobster

I'm surprised that you've never heard 'Tramp the Dirt Down' live. He played it a great deal in the late 80s/early 90s. He did a famous re-write (sub-titled 'ding dong the wicked witch is dead') after Thatcher was ousted using the following lines:

And now the the cynical ones say that it all ends the same in the long run
Well I pity those who forgot and forgave
I believe she should be hounded down into her grave
along with the glove puppet they put in her place (Major)
The simpering chump with the wimpering face
and his 'classless society' we all might applaud
on the day he gets around to shutting down the house of lords
and kicking the royal cuckoos out of the nest
and placing the queen mother under arrest.

The last two lines got a huge cheer in Tipperary in 91!

laughingcrow · Post by **laughingcrow** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 4:27 pm

Blue...you never heard Shipbuilding? I thought this and Whats so funny about PL&A were always on setlists....

which one has he done most often you reckon?

Post by **BlueChair** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 4:49 pm

Well, I've only seen him twice, and he didn't do "Shipbuilding" either time.

Songs he did both times:

Beyond Belief
(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding
Pump It Up
I Hope You're Happy Now
Tear Off Your Own Head (It's A Doll Revolution)
Uncomplicated
Radio Radio
Clown Strike
(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea
Dust 2...

Jackson Monk · Post by **Jackson Monk** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 4:53 pm

7 songs that Elvis does a little too frequently and are starting to get on my tits a little:

1. Pump it Up
2. Detectives
3. I Want You
4. Shipbuliding
5. Accidents
6. 45
7. PL%U

Post by **BlueChair** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 4:54 pm

Jackson Monk, can I borrow one of your Shipbuildings?

Jackson Monk · Post by **Jackson Monk** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 6:24 pm

BC

If he does it on Friday night, I'll let you have that one!

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 7:26 pm

Oh Jackson, the heresy! Well I'd like to hear the jazzed up Detectives he was playing on the last US tour with the Imposters. Just wait till he does Accidents and 45 on Friday (though I guess you heard them at the Sold On Song recording). They're great in this format. there's something so breathtaking about him just appearing on stage and launching into a perfect Accidents. I never tire of hearing it, guess he never tires of singing it. Shipbuilding was far more striking with the Imposters than just with SN, I thought (others commented on it being a bit flat, I recall). I could happily never hear Pump It Up live.

My choices, though I may have heard some of these in the 1980 and 1983 gigs I attended and forgotten:

Lisptick Vogue
King Horse (with the horns)
The Bells (ditto, just as on the PTC bonus, I love this)
Temptation (as per the EC/SN box set)
So Like Candy
New Lace Sleeves
Town Cryer
This House Is Empty Now
Brilliant Mistake

Maybe I'd hear the last two if I made it to Birmingham this Friday...

Goody2Shoes · Post by **Goody2Shoes** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 7:54 pm

1. My Little Blue Window
2. The slow High Fidelity
3. Home Is Anywhere You Hang Your Head
4. Beyond Belief
5. You Little Fool
6. Black Sails In The Sunset
7. Shot With His Own Gun

That's more than 5, but most of you have seen him more than I have.

LC--saw him with the Impostors back in July when they did Toledo--so very nice, and with some extra lyrics, I thought at the time.

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 11:26 pm

Jackson Monk wrote:Bobster

I'm surprised that you've never heard 'Tramp the Dirt Down' live. He played it a great deal in the late 80s/early 90s...

The last two lines got a huge cheer in Tipperary in 91!

I guess he might have done it when I saw him on the MLAR tour with the Rude 5 (actually, my least favorite live show of his -- the night I saw it the band didn't feel very tight and there was the bizarre tick of them lots of obscure tunes from the catalogue and from the new album, but they were all non-favorites. Every one. Weird.)

But he may not have -- since that song is so much about English politics, he might have decided not to sing it here. Actually, it's hard to imagine any really well known American singer writing such pointed words about our politics....and let us again invoke the Dixie Chicks. (It is now a verb, btw, as in to be "Dixie Chicked.) Even Bruce Springsteen gets #$@##$ from conservative talk show hosts like Joe Scarborough who claim to be fans for his relatively very mild remarks. There's a best selling book out right now by one of conservative pundits (Laura Ingraham) called "Shut Up and Sing." You get the picture.

It is, indeed, a long way to Tipperary. (Sorry. Couldn't resist.)

Boy With A Problem · Post by **Boy With A Problem** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 1:07 am

1. Little Savage
2. American Without Tears
3. Pay It Back
4. Psycho
5. Color Of The Blues

PlaythingOrPet · Post by **PlaythingOrPet** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 3:07 am

I remember being *so* excited when he played TINY STEPS and YOU LITTLE FOOL, in the same concert, last year. So they're ticked off my list.

New Amsterdam
Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down
Favourite Hour
King Horse
I Want To Vanish
The Loved Ones

So many more....

pip_52 · Post by **pip_52** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 11:33 am

Last year in Nashville he played Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down as well as a whole heap of other country songs.

It was a nice change . . .

firebetty · Post by **firebetty** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 3:33 pm

jackson,
you think 45 and PL&U too much?
i wish he'd play 45 a bit slower. i still get excited when i hear that one.
and i as i go about trying to act normal, i guess pl&u is always underlying my mood these days. with lots of blood and vengence i would never turn that song down.

Post by **spooky girlfriend** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 5:32 pm

I kinda like country Elvis.

Pip, I know we're still waiting on EC's Nashville return and I'm hoping it still works out - eventually.

Elvis Costello Fan Forum

Please let him sing....

Please let him sing....

mine would be