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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Really the only thing holding a lot of records together is the personality of the singer, and the will to write all of these different things.
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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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I used to be disgusted; now I try to be amused.
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I find humming is very useful.
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Songs are more powerful than books.
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I find it to be the ultimate backhanded compliment when you are compared against yourself.
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Living a very long time would be a very scary thing.
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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 need a platform upon which to release an orchestral record, otherwise it's just going to be an obscurity.
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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 can't actually play any instrument properly. I can't read music. And here's the New York Times calling me the new George Gershwin. It was so ridiculous, really embarrassing. It was embarrassing to watch these people fall into the trap of their own critical conceits.
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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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Happiness isn't a fortune in a cookie. It's deeper, wider, funnier, and more transporting than that.
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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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You do have to be a bit careful with your voice. It is an instrument.
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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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Somebody should clip Sting around the head and tell him to stop using that ridiculous Jamaican accent.
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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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I'm a working travelling musician, but just on a bigger scale.
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Life for me is about movement.
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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.
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There's no such thing as an original sin.
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I know that when I make a record like The Delivery Man as a contrast to even Il Sogno, this is going to reach a wider audience, because it communicates in that very direct way.