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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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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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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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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You do have to be a bit careful with your voice. It is an instrument.
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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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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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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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Somebody should clip Sting around the head and tell him to stop using that ridiculous Jamaican accent.
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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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There's no such thing as an original sin.
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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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Life for me is about movement.
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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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I've never felt British. I'm just not interested in national identity. I don't know why.
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Writing about music is like dancing about architecture - it's really a stupid thing to want to do.