Costello had an interesting, and notorious, American TV debut. In December 1977, Elvis Costello and the Attractions were invited to play on Saturday Night Live as last-minute fill-ins for the Sex Pistols (who had visa problems or some such). Costello wanted to play "Radio, Radio," off of This Year's Model. The song made a statement and included a Pistols reference. The SNL folks said no, however, as they wanted Elvis to play a single in anticipation of the U.S. release of his first two albums. Well, Elvis started out playing "Less than Zero," but only a few seconds into the song he stopped the band and called for "Radio, Radio." Word is this resulted in a "ban" from SNL for over a decade thereafter. Here's the video, and here is a taste of the lyrics:
Some of my friends sit around every evening
and they worry about the times ahead
But everybody else is overwhelmed by indifference
and the promise of an early bed
You either shut up or get cut up;
they don't wanna hear about it.
It's only inches on the reel-to-reel.
And the radio is in the hands of such a lot of fools
tryin' to anaesthetise the way that you feel
one of my favorite pieces of elvis writing is the Bill Wyman Piece from 1999: Elvis Costello: The king of the unforgiving is the rock star who never was.
I'm curious for anyone that might know the answer to this. Elvis always pronounced the word in the last above captioned passage with a hard e sound - aneesthetize. Is that a dialect variation, or did he do it deliberately? I've always wondered.
order goes (all attractions, obviously): armed forces, get happy, trust, this years model, my aim is true
The eponymously named imposters are very much so!
Radio is a sound salvation
Radio is cleaning up the nation
They say you better listen to the voice of reason
But they don't give you any choice 'cause they think that it's treason
So you had better do as you are told
You better listen to the radio
And Allyson is the perfect desolute not-quite-romatic beginning of the AIDS era slow dance.
Kovarsky: that pronunciation is standard in Canada. EC now has Canadian wife.
If only he didn't try to sing.
Until I was 17, all I knew was the top 40 pap most of us grow up with. The epiphany came upon hearing EC's album "Armed Forces" while on a visit to an older friend who was then in college. I have been a grateful fan ever since.
Search youtube "elvis costello radio"