Elvis Costello Quotes
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It's a petty thing, but I wouldn't join the Scouts when I was a kid, 'cause you had to swear allegiance to the queen. I'm just not a royalist. I think it's idiotic, a hereditary principle.
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It's a dangerous game that comedy plays. Sometimes it tells you the truth; sometimes it delays it.
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I used to be disgusted; now I try to be amused.
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You need a platform upon which to release an orchestral record, otherwise it's just going to be an obscurity.
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Songs are more powerful than books.
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I find humming is very useful.
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Living a very long time would be a very scary thing.
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But there are things in Il Sogno that the methods of The Delivery Man could never achieve.
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I find it to be the ultimate backhanded compliment when you are compared against yourself.
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I'm just the mere shadow of my former selfishness. I crave the silhouette of your kiss.
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You do have to be a bit careful with your voice. It is an instrument.
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Don't try to touch my heart, it's darker than you think. And don't try to read my mind, because it's full of disappearing ink.
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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.
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Happiness isn't a fortune in a cookie. It's deeper, wider, funnier, and more transporting than that.
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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.
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Mention Hubert Sumlin, as well, because Hubert's a great man, and again, you know, I don't play the guitar very good, but when I'm playing this kind of music, I always have him in my mind. I wish I could play like Hubert.
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The first song that most people picked up on, particularly in America, of mine, was a ballad, not a rock'n'roll song. It was 'Alison', and that's an R&B ballad. I don't think there's any other way to describe it.
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My family calls me Declan. But most people call me E.C. I think it comes from my dad. It's an Irish convention. You usually call the first child by the initials.
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Life for me is about movement.
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There's no such thing as an original sin.
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I don't think I was ever particularly mean. I can certainly think of some idiotic exchanges I've had. I was accused of destroying pop music, like Wagner destroyed opera - a guy in Germany started ranting that at me.
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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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I've never felt British. I'm just not interested in national identity. I don't know why.
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And over the last ten years, after my work with the Brodsky Quartet, I had the opportunity to write arrangements for chamber group, chamber orchestra, jazz orchestra, symphony orchestra even.