Elvis Costello Quotes
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People become so deeply attached to the sound of one period that they blow a fuse when you move on. I've heard people complain bitterly about recordings they haven't even heard.
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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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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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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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Songs are more powerful than books.
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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'm just the mere shadow of my former selfishness. I crave the silhouette of your kiss.
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I find humming is very useful.
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I find it to be the ultimate backhanded compliment when you are compared against yourself.
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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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Living a very long time would be a very scary thing.
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You do have to be a bit careful with your voice. It is an instrument.
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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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Somebody should clip Sting around the head and tell him to stop using that ridiculous Jamaican accent.
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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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I've never felt British. I'm just not interested in national identity. I don't know why.
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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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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.
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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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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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There's no such thing as an original sin.