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I find it to be the ultimate backhanded compliment when you are compared against yourself.

Elvis Costello

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Elvis Costello
Age: 69
Born: 1955
Born: August 25
Composer
Guitarist
Record Producer
Singer-Songwriter
London
England
Declan Patrick MacManus
Declan Patrick Aloysius MacManus
Declan MacManus
Compliment
Compared
Ultimate
Find
Backhanded

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I feel like a juggler running out of hands.
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My ultimate vocation in life is to be an irritant, someone who disrupts the daily drag of life just enough to leave the victim thinking there's maybe more to it all than the mere hum-drum quality of existence.
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You must hold on to the sort of finger-painting aspect of music. That's something I learned, particularly from listening to Neil Young. Tom Waits is another one, because Tom's music is incredibly sophisticated and beautifully arranged, but he's using a toolbox that's unlike anybody else's.
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I started with rock n' roll and...then you start to take it apart like a child with a toy and you see there's blues and there's country...Then you go back from country into American music...and you end up in Scotland and Ireland eventually.
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Morrissey writes wonderful song titles, but sadly he often forgets to write the song.
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Serious music usually doesn't pay.
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I've never felt British. I'm just not interested in national identity. I don't know why.
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What do we care, if the world is a joke? We'll give it a big kiss, we'll give it a poke. Death wears a big hat cause he's a big bloke.
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And obviously, when I started out, I had a little bit more curiosity than some, and went seeking out the original artists, or in some cases searching up country music.
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If I am frightened then I can hide it If I am crying, I'll call it laughter If I am haunted, I'll call it my imaginary friend If I am bleeding I'll call it wine But if you leave me then I am broken And if I'm broken then only death remains
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It's what I do. I don't deserve any awards for this, it's just music. It's just writing songs. You sit down, you write a song, you record it. You tour and play the songs live, dress them up a bit differently, or dress them down.
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Songs are more powerful than books.
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Now I just don't know who to tell to go to hell Who put the old devil in the distorted angel?
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I wish you luck with a capital F.
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When you work with new people, I think that it throws all of the matters into relief, because you have to explain yourself every time. It's like crossing a new border. They want to see your documents.
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Smokey Robinson writes the heartfelt songs, whereas it was my job to write the songs about weakness and failure in love.
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The Internet is overrated. It's much smaller an innovation than people think it is. I don't think it's changed the way anybody makes music.
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I've been lucky to listen to lots of different types of music.
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Writing about music is like dancing about architecture - it's really a stupid thing to want to do.
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It's what's on the record not what labels on it. You know, that's like getting a box of cornflakes and eating the cardboard.
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