Recently, I had a 45-minute phone conversation with Elvis Costello about Accidents Will Happen for my "Anatomy of a Song" column in The Wall Street Journal (go here). I've always been fascinated by the 1979 song that opens his album Armed Forces. It has an urgent pop structure and a new-wave delivery, but there are tensions within its lyrics that were never fully explained in Elvis's 2015 memoir, Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink. [Photo above of Elvis Costello by Ray Di Pietro, courtesy of Shore Fire's press page]
I last interviewed Elvis at length in 2015, when we talked about (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes. This time, I was looking for the full story behind the enigmas in Accidents Will Happen, the song's influence and how it was recorded. Elvis was remarkably candid and confessional. In his book, he had hinted that the song was inspired by a dalliance with a female cab driver in Tucson, Ariz., in early 1978. During our interview, he said he had fabricated the encounter and used artistic license to concoct an anecdote that stood in for multiple dalliances.
We talked about the bad judgment he used at the time and the price he paid—a broken marriage. As Elvis put it, "I needed to construct a single episode in print to stand in for the truth, which was much less funny and much more embarrassing." Continuing, he talked about a bad decision he made that few rock stars regret: "Back in ’78, I was young and newly famous, and I didn’t have any sense of responsibility. Temptation came along, and I gave in to it more than I should have. That’s what this song is really about."
My job isn't to judge Elvis or anyone else. This is art, and sometimes art is found in real-life errors once they're given a spin. What I found fascinating was Elvis's willingness to talk about it and how he feels now. Equally intriguing was how his regrets about his dalliances fed into the song's lyrics. A revealing conversation about an artist's emotional tug of war and the creative process behind pop songwriting.
We also talked about the inspirations behind his song: Burt Bacharach and Hal David's Anyone Who Had a Heart, Randy Newman's I Don't Want to Hear It Anymore, the Four Tops' version of Walk Away Renée and the Beatles' Girl. None of these songs were cribbed. They were muses: Anyone Who Had a Heart's "and one" pauses to build drama; Newman's defensive line in a song that appears on Dusty Springfield's Dusty in Memphis; Walk Away Renée's descending bass line; and the first two words of the Beatles' Girl (Is there...) that John Lennon sings a cappella. (Elvis opens Accidents with the words Oh I... sung a cappella.)
I found Elvis's reflections compassionate and the details about his songwriting process revealing and eclectic. He remains one of the finest songwriters of the new-wave era and his lyrics are neatly enigmatic and biting, weaving together stories about romantic struggles and other personal issues. The result is always a personal puzzle, so unpacking Accidents was gratifying.
Elvis has two new albums coming—one available today called Hey Clockface and a box, Complete Armed Forces, due November 6. For those who may not be completely familiar with Elvis Costello, here are five of his songs:
Here's Elvis performing Accidents Will Happen with the Attractions in 1979...
Here's New Lace Sleeves in 1981...
Here's Everyday I Write the Book in 1983...
Here's Veronica in 1989...
Here's Elvis singing Toledo—his lyrics, Burt Bacharach's music and arrangement, in 1998...
And here's Elvis at the White House in 2010 paying tribute to Paul McCartney with Penny Lane...
