Quote

I've had a lot of different experiences in music over the years.And not everything you do can satisfy everybody's idealised version of you.

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
Different
Idealised
Years
Satisfy
Version
Versions
Experiences
Everybody
Music
Everything

More quotes by Elvis Costello

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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.
Elvis Costello
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It's the damage that we do and never know. It's the words that we don't say that scare me so.
Elvis Costello
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Obviously the people that I admired, like the Beatles, were really into rock'n'roll, but it was already a little past rock'n'roll when I started listening and making my own choices about music.
Elvis Costello
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Even in a perfect world where everyone was equal. I'd still own the film rights and be working on the sequel.
Elvis Costello
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I've always felt writing a song was a bit like going on location. That's true in an almost literal sense. Where you are seeps in somehow.
Elvis Costello
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When they finally put you in the ground, I'll stand on your grave and tramp the dirt down.
Elvis Costello
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I'm drawing from two generations back how to think about music, how to think about why you travel to make music, what the possible pitfalls of that are for the way your life is structured. The good and bad of all of it get into the mix of what's created, what you're creating.
Elvis Costello
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It's not crazy to want to have certain songs be developed harmonically and still want to make noise with the guitar. And you can have both.
Elvis Costello
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It's a dangerous game that comedy plays. Sometimes it tells you the truth sometimes it delays it.
Elvis Costello
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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.
Elvis Costello
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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
Elvis Costello
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Certain songs have been written years apart, but they have a natural continuity to my mind.
Elvis Costello
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My dad had a steady job with a really major dance band from '54 till '68, and then quit because he wanted to play different music. He wanted to sing about peace. He believed in these things.
Elvis Costello
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I feel like a juggler running out of hands.
Elvis Costello
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Why'd you have to say that there's always someone who can do it better than I can And don't you think that I know that walkin' on water won't make me a miracle man
Elvis Costello
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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.
Elvis Costello
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Oh I used to be disgusted and now I try to be amused. But since their wings have got rusted, you know, the angels wanna wear my red shoes.
Elvis Costello
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Music is more like water than a rhinoceros. It doesn't charge madly down one path. It runs away in every direction.
Elvis Costello
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I'm just the mere shadow of my former selfishness. I crave the silhouette of your kiss.
Elvis Costello
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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.
Elvis Costello