At the time of Rodrigo’s single in 2021, Costello addressed comments on social media pointing out its similarities to ‘Pump it Up‘, saying, “This is fine by me… You take the broken pieces of another thrill and make a brand new toy. That’s what I did.” He pointed to the influence of Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” on “Pump It Up” and referenced Chuck Berry’s “Too Much Monkey Business” as a source for Dylan’s track. Speaking with Vanity Fair three years later, Costello reiterated his stance, stating that it would be “ludicrous” to seek legal action given the complex interplay of influences in the song-writing process.

Elvis Costello told Vanity Fair he wouldn’t sue or demand credit from Olivia Rodrigo over similarities between her song “Brutal” and his “Pump It Up,” calling it ridiculous.

— “Now, I did not find any reason to go after them legally for that, because I think it would be… pic.twitter.com/FM1Pc8I30G

— Rodrigo Times (@RodrigoTimes) October 30, 2024

“Without references or quotations, there’d be no Bach. There’d be no Mozart. There’d be no Sonny Rollins,” Costello said to Rolling Stone this week. He also remarked that while few other musicians perform his songs, his music often serves as an inspiration, as he believes was the case with Rodrigo’s track.

Costello’s position on music copyright stands in contrast to recent trends of retroactive crediting among pop artists. In 2021, Rodrigo added Taylor Swift, St. Vincent, and Jack Antonoff to her song “Deja Vu” after listeners noted parallels to Swift’s “Cruel Summer.” Similarly, Paramore’s Hayley Williams and Josh Farro were credited on Rodrigo’s hit “Good 4 U” due to its likeness to the band’s 2007 hit ‘Misery Business’. Rodrigo has since stated that the credit changes took her by surprise, telling Rolling Stone in 2023, “At the time it was very confusing, and I was green and bright-eyed… It was more team-on-team. So, I wouldn’t be the best person to ask.”

In the same Rolling Stone interview, Rodrigo also commented on the idea of taking legal action for similar musical overlaps, echoing Costello’s view on music’s collaborative nature. “I don’t think I would ever personally do that,” she said, “But who’s to say where I’ll be in 20, 30 years. All that I can do is write my songs and focus on what I can control.”

The LP was produced by Costello and Sebastian Krys and will feature six songs lifted from the old band’s set lists. With covers of “I’m Ahead If I Can Quit While I’m Behind” by Jim Ford and reimagining of Nick Lowe’s “Surrender to the Rhythm” and “Don’t Lose Your Grip On Love”. There will also be an arrangement which will incorporate the Neil Young Songs “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere” and “Dance, Dance, Dance” (the latter seeing Costello debut his skills on electric violin). Along with two original Rusty tracks “Warm House” and “Maureen and Sam”

In a statement, Elvis Costello reminisced on the memories of Rusty’s origins;

“In 2021, my pal and singing partner in the Liverpool clubs, Allan Mayes wrote to me from his home in Austin, Texas.  He wanted to remind me that it would soon be fifty years since I joined his band, ‘Rusty’, just after our first meeting at a party on New Year’s Eve, 1971.  The group was then a quartet, with Allan’s school friend, Alan Brown ‐ who would play bass until he left for university later that year ‐ and there was also another vocalist called ‘Dave’, whose main credentials as a singer were the ownership of a microphone and tambourine.  A month later, after a couple of pretty ragged gigs, Allan and I became the only vocalists and there was not a tambourine in sight.  Show business is a cruel game.”

He later added; “Allan Mayes has been a hard working musician for more than the fifty years since we met.  So, when he asked me if I wanted to celebrate this anniversary by getting together to play a few songs that we used to know.  I said, ‘Absolutely not!’- ‘Let’s make the record we would have cut when we were 18, if anyone had let us”.

The LP is set to drop on the 10^th of June 2022 via Capitol initially in CD format with a vinyl release later this summer. However, copies can be bought in person at any of Costello’s current tour dates.  To pre order your copy, follow the link here.

A racial slur is used in the song, inspired by something McManus’ own grandfather was apparently called when serving in the British Army. He asked radio stations not to play the track in future, saying “people hear that word… and accuse me of something that I didn’t intend“. For more on this, you can look here.

On the bright side, McManus has released a new record with his touring band – The Imposters. It came out last Friday and is titled The Boy Named If.

However, as if distancing himself from the rest of contemporary music being released, the songwriter made his opinions known on the state of rock music today, speaking to Rolling Stone in a recent interview.

In a rather frank statement on the genre today, McManus said that “I don’t like much rock music. I like rock & roll. I think if you lose the roll part, a lot of the fun goes out of it.” He argued that most electric-guitar records from the past thirty years suffered because “the beat is so square. I like things that float a bit or swing a bit, whether it’s rock & roll or actual jazz that swings, or even the way Hank Williams records lope.”

He took special aim at the music coming out of Nashville, describing it as unable to “float if you filled them full of water. They just don’t; they’re square and they sound like bad rock records from the Nineties.”

On the bright side, it turns out he doesn’t hate all music. He took a moment to praise 90’s rock icon Jeff Buckley, who died aged 30 whilst swimming in the Mississippi River. In particular, he envied Buckley’s ability to sing a wide variety of genres, from Led Zeppelin and Morrissey to classical greats such as Mahler and Purcell. Having curated the festival that would be Buckley’s last performance in London, McManus said that “it’s very poignant because it was his last performance in London, but we didn’t know that then. His life was ahead. There was all these great things that he was still going to do. That was just a very sad coincidence.”

Other artists he talked of included Paul McCartney, whom he worked in the eighties with, describing their songwriting process as spontaneous; “One of us would start strumming a rhythm and then some harmony would emerge.“ And his collaborations with classic sixties icon Burt Bacharach were also touched on. If you want to read the full interview, which includes details on the inspiration behind his latest album, you can look here.

This release comes with exciting news, as a UK tour has been recently announced via Elvis Costello’s Twitter, as seen below:

Catch Elvis Costello & The Imposters, as well as Charlie Sexton, on tour in the UK next year! Tickets on sale this Friday.
Pre-order ‘The Boy Named If’ on any format from Elvis's official UK store to get exclusive pre-sale access to his 2022 UK tour. https://t.co/dSujiEdq5Y pic.twitter.com/E1Y5IwJuFm

— Elvis Costello (@ElvisCostello) December 6, 2021

The June tour will compromise of 14 dates ranging from Glasgow to Swansea and will see Texas native, Charlie Sexton, in the support slot for each show.

This latest single combines the energy and soul of Costellos usual style, combining the energy of punk with hints of new wave and modern tendencies. Costello is renowned for his songwriting and artistry, even earning his place in the Grammy’s Hall Of Fame and receiving an OBE in 2019. This track is no exception to his songwriting talents, with lyrics such as “Ran my hand in the rhythm along the ballroom wall” seizing listeners and wrenching them through the sonic landscape of the enthusiastic instrumentals. Costello has a talent for songwriting that offers no flaws, yet his lyricism always has that quick, scribbled on a napkin, naturalism to it. Not to mention the ever eclectic visuals that centre the captivating music video.

Costello himself has described the track as “a blurred gaze, a drink too much, an accidental punch and a kiss goodnight all in the tumult of a dancehall.” Perfectly summarising the feverish narrative that encases the track. This energy seeps further into the instrumentals of the track as well, with Costello’s distinctive vocal delivery being effortlessly homogenised with chattering guitars, poppy keys and over-reverberating drums, courtesy of band members Steve Nieve, Pete Thomas and Dave Faragher. ‘Farewell OK’ seems to hold nuances of cheesy 70s rock, but in the most harmonically pleasing way.

Fans expressed their feelings towards the track and upcoming album in comments under the music video, with one individual stating “Fabulous song, so happy to hear it again before purchasing this fantastic new album” and another writing “E.C. is the best songwriter of our time. I can’t wait until my vinyl copy of “The Boy Named If” arrives later this month upon release.”

Elvis Costello is one of Britain’s most influential music icons. Beginning his music career in the early 70s, he continues to revolutionise his sound and pen the most complicated feelings and stories into each of his lyrics. As he releases his first album in two years many fans are highly anticipating this new soundtrack and upcoming shows.

Tour Dates are as follows:

05/06/2022-Dome- Brighton
07/06- Royal Concert Hall- Glasgow
08/06- O2 City Hall- Newcastle
10/06 – Philharmonic- Liverpool
11/06-  Opera House- Manchester
13/06- Symphony Hall- Birmingham
14/06- De Montfort Hall- Leceister
16/06- New Theatre- Oxford
17/06-  The Forum- Bath
19/06- Guildhall- Portsmouth
20/06- Swansea Arena- Swansea
22/06- Regent Theatre- Ipswich
23/06- Eventim Apollo- London

Tickets can be purchased here.

You can also preserve the upcoming The Boy Named If album here.

Image Credits go to Mark Seliger.

The London-born singer-songwriter’s newest single which has a relaxed almost laid-back feel to it whilst also bringing in heavy and introspective thoughts as he told Rolling Stone, it’s the “account of someone who has long-courted theatrical darkness, only for its violence and cruelty to become all too real. In its wake, a bereft couple learn to love again.” The video is available to view below and on all streaming platforms.

In addition to this release, Costello also shared a new video for his song “Magnificent Hurt,” the lead track with a rather bizarre music video featuring marionette figures made by Tony Sinnett, who conceived the idea along with Costello himself. The Animation is then done by Arlo McFurlow with artwork by Eamon Singer, and the video was edited by Elliot Thomas. You can view the full video below.

The forthcoming album which will feature both singles is the group’s fourth and has been described as an upbeat affair which the singer stated to Spin: “I started The Boy Named If with just an electric guitar, some sharps and flats, high heels and lowdowns, with five songs in bright major keys,”  and then “carried on to write a whole new record for the Imposters to play.”

Costello has been releasing albums somewhat frequently since the start of the pandemic, beginning with Hey Clockface in October of 2020.  Then this March, he put out an EP featuring new versions of six songs from that album sung in French which included various artists such as Iggy Pop. Also in September, he released Spanish Model, a Spanish-language version of his 1978 album This Year’s Model featuring famous Latin music artists.

The record is set to be released on January 14, 2022. Costello explained in a press release “‘IF,’ is a nickname for your imaginary friend; your secret self, the one who knows everything you deny, the one you blame for the shattered crockery and the hearts you break, even your own.”

He then went on to discuss the lyrical content of the record, stating that “Once upon a time, when I didn’t know what a kiss could do and didn’t even dare to caress, the way ahead was a mystery; a departing from that magic state called innocence for the pain that leads to pleasure and all that jazz. Don’t get me started about the guilt and shame and all those other useless possessions that you must throw overboard before you set sail with your dreamboat (and a runcible spoon).”

The album’s first single “Magnificent Hurt” has already been released and you can listen to it below.

Costello described the album as a collection of songs that “take us from the last days of a bewildered boyhood to that mortifying moment when you are told to stop acting like a child – which for most men (and perhaps a few gals too) can be any time in the next fifty years.”

The album will be released on EMI and was co-produced by Sebastian Krys and Costello. The Boy Named If will be available via CD, vinyl, cassette, download, streaming, and a numbered and signed, 88-page Hardback Storybook Edition. The book version will feature 13 illustrated short stories with titles that correspond to the song titles, with a release promising that some will set the scene for the tracks, while others are “sequels, or a clue or hint to what might have been going on before the music began.” Fans can pre-order the album here. You can also view the album artwork and tracklisting below.

The Boy Named If  Tracklist:

1. Farewell, OK
2. The Boy Named If
3. Penelope Halfpenny
4. The Difference
5. What If I Can’t Give You Anything But Love?
6. Paint The Red Rose Blue
7. Mistook Me For A Friend
8. My Most Beautiful Mistake (guest vocal by Nicole Atkins)
9. Magnificent Hurt
10. The Man You Love To Hate
11. The Death Of Magic Thinking
12. Trick Out The Truth
13. Mr. Crescent

NME describe the song as an ‘experimental, disconcerting track,’ and this is certainly a different territory for Costello who is best known for his New Wave hits like ‘Oliver’s Army,’ from the 70s and 80s. While he has always been lyrically out-spoken and unafraid to criticise the status quo, the reprove is much more subtle on this occasion, with the entire construction of the song reflecting the chaotic nature of 2020 as well as the lyrics.

While the lyrics are not wholly discernible for some of this new Elvis Costello track, the overarching seems to be of saying goodbye to the year as a whole and all of the difficulties which have been brought with it. While other songs this year have been more direct at the target of their anger, this song seems simply to be seeking to draw a line under the whole thing and move on.

It is likely an emotion shared by much of us in the UK to want to but such a bad year behind us, yet with difficult months still ahead of us it may seem that in fact the problems of the past year have not in fact disappeared with the passing of the clocks. While we continue to hope for a summer of live music and festivity, the whole country continues to struggle through a period of near-lockdown which no live music whatsoever.

It is reassuring, however, that even veterans of the industry like Elvis Costello are continuing to record and release music in their own ways despite the ongoing problems and even taking inspiration from the situation to create art. Despite over forty years in the industry, Elvis Costello is still going strong and has been productive this year, also recording an Iggy and the Stooges inspired track called ‘No Flag,’ which is unapologetic in its scathing take on Brexit Britain.

Aside from being overall more lyrically comprehensible than ‘Farewell, Ok 2020,’ in ‘No Flag,’ Costello is scathing in his criticism of nationalist jingoism with the lyrics ‘no flag waving high above, no sign for the dark place that I live,’ and simultaneously lamenting for the Britain that used to be and which could have been. Surely a sign of things to come, Elvis Costello is angry and still writing beautifully insightful lyrics and great tunes, as well as venturing into more avant-garde realms when the times dictate it.

His newly released song is the perfect song that encapsulates the situation we now find ourselves in. If artists like Costello keep releasing songs that raise awareness it will help a lot of more people recognise what is wrong in the world and it may help us find a resolution quicker. Fingers crossed that it does help.

Also released was an animated lyric video which was released onto YouTube and it shows the hard hitting song in a very different light. This is the first bit of new material we have got from Costello since 2019 and it shows us no sign of him slowing down after all these years in the business. Watch the video below;

More recently, he has been recording music with his new band the Imposters (his old band was the Attractions) and has also done a collaborative album with Burt Bacharach. He was also given an OBE in the 2019 Honours List.

Read his post announcing the single’s release on his Twitter;

Elvis Costello releases #NoFlag recorded in Helsinki, Finland.
Asked about the choice of recording location Costello, explained “I wanted to go somewhere nobody knew me. So, this is ‘The Helsinki Sound.’” Out Now! https://t.co/3r42FmkrMi

Watch Lyric Video https://t.co/AabhTUNk3Wpic.twitter.com/TRjlQg1ntF

— Elvis Costello (@ElvisCostello) June 5, 2020

His newly released song is the perfect song that encapsulates the situation we now find ourselves in. If artists like Costello keep releasing songs that raise awareness it will help a lot of more people recognise what is wrong in the world and it may help us find a resolution quicker. Fingers crossed that it does help.

Costello rose to prominence in the early seventies and released some of the decade’s most iconic and well received albums. On top of this he has also won 2 Grammy awards and been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Easy to say he has done alright for himself.

The 63-year-old was operated on in May, wherein doctors acted to remove an aggressive cancerous tumour. He decided to go ahead with the tour in June, but cancelled early dates in Plymouth and Southend in order to make a full recovery.

He has now decided to cancel all future dates, saying in a statement:

“Post-surgical guidelines for such surgery recommend three weeks to four weeks recovery depending on whether you are returning to a desk job or an occupation that involves physical work or travel.

It was impossible to judge how this advisory would line up with the demands on a travelling musician, playing 90-minute to two-hour plus performances on a nightly basis”.

Over the years, Costello has collaborated with everyone from Green Day to Paul McCartney, and was even nominated for an Oscar for his work on the music for Cold Mountain.

He emphasised in his statement the importance of reaching out to family and other loved ones if you doubt your health, saying:

“Take very good care of your loved ones but gentleman, do talk to you friends – you’ll find you are not alone – seek your doctor’s advice if you are in doubt or when it is timely. It may save your life. Believe me, it is better than playing roulette.”