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Rating: Only that pretentious guy Elvis Costello, with that nerdy rock 'n' roll quiff, those glasses of a top student of modern songwriting, that face that says: "I'll show you how to write an immortal song," could name an album "Get Happy!!". Yet, twenty-seven years after its purchase, if there's one album that still makes me happy, amused, carefree every time I listen to it, it's this one.
It's the summer of 1979, Costello is touring the States and has already recorded three albums that have outlined all his coordinates as an almost perfect pop author. The last one, "Armed Forces" has reached second place in the UK charts and is the well-known gem. He begins writing songs for the new album, between a hangover and a concert. Whenever there's a free moment, he records them. Despite being in one of those golden periods where every three chords become a rough diamond, he's not convinced, the songs are too similar to what he has previously released. So, what to do? He's always loved a certain Stax-Motown '60s sound, but has never paid it due respect. He starts going to flea markets and buys all the 45s he can find from those labels, with one condition: they must not have been printed after 1967. At the end of the tour, he takes them home to London and listens to them repeatedly. He even forces his band, the Attractions, to spend their days with him wearing out the record player. The drinking, of course, continues. Our guys decide to move to Holland, theoretically for some peace and quiet.
In under a month, October 1979, the album is recorded and finished. It will be released in January 1980. There's enough material for a double album, but the punk-new wave ethic forbids it (the Clash will eventually overturn it). Elvis simply decides to pack as many songs as possible, ten on one side, ten on the other. Ironically, he says there's only enough space left for the hole in the center of the long-playing record. Those left out at the time, and they're not few, can be heard, along with some alternate takes, in the 2002 Rhino reissue. The twenty chosen for the original edition, are all one better than the other. The album seems like a collection of singles, twenty side A's of twenty forty-five records. Verses that enchant and choruses that bind. The initial soul blueprint (the rhythm section, undoubtedly indebted to Phil Spector's productions, like Steve Nieve's organ à la Booker T. Jones) is reworked with Costello's immense writing ability, whose most apparent greatness seems to me to be its simplicity. Whether the rhythm is fast-paced, or we're presented with some poignant ballads. Blue-eyed soul, it's commonly defined, soul sung by whites. For me, it's simply a wonderful pop album. In this case, I feel like saying: enjoy!
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
02 Opportunity (03:14)
Born in the middle of the second big baby boom
Those noisy boys just might have spoken up too soon
Now I'm looking for a little girl, I wonder where she's gone
Big money for families having more than one
Opportunity, opportunity
This is your big opportunity
They shop around. Follow you without a sound
Whatever you do now don't turn around. Don't turn around.
Whatever happened to the pride of the nation?
They say, "just wait until you break formation"
She was sitting pretty on a velvet cushion
But her bedroom eyes were like a button she was pushing
She said, "When they get to Dover they'll be be taking over"
I said I'd come to her defense and then she pulled me over
Opportunity, opportunity
This is your big opportunity
They shop around. Follow you without a sound
Whatever you do now don't turn around. Don't turn around.
I'm in the foxhole, I'm down in the trench
I'd be a hero but I can't stand the stench
The Fitness Institute was full of General Motormen
And the "Hello House of Beauty" wouldn't stand a chance with them
The chairman of this boredom is a compliment collector
I'd like to be his funeral director
Opportunity, opportunity
This is your big opportunity
They shop around. Follow you without a sound
Whatever you do now don't turn around. Don't turn around.
Please don't turn around...
03 The Imposter (01:59)
Trying to be too bad
Trying to talk too tough
Trying to jack the lad
You'd think he'd had enough
But he's not the man you'd think that he can be
I just don't know why you can't see
That he is only the imposter
That he is only the imposter
Never been this far
Always been too smart
And you know all our boys
Are really girls at heart
And he's not the man you'd think that he can be
I just don't know why you can't see
That he is only the imposter
That he is only the imposter
When I said that I was lying I might have been lying
Never let me hear you say you're not been trying
This is your big decision
Hope you're not disappointed
He's got double vision
When you want him double jointed
And he's not the man you'd think that he can be
I just don't know why you can't see
He'll only bring you souvenirs
It's only gonna end in tears
And he is only the imposter
06 Possession (02:05)
If there's anything that you want
If there's anything that you need
There's no need to be evasive
Money talks and it's persuasive
Possession
Now you're sending me your best wishes
Signed with love and vicious kisses
You lack lust, you're so lacklustre
Is that all the strength you can muster
Possession
Even when we are out of touch
Now I know that I've seen too much
Seen too much
So I see us lying back to back
My case is closed my case is packed
I'll get out before the violence
Or the tears or the silence
Possession
08 Clowntime Is Over (03:01)
Tears on your blackmail
Written to ransom
A point of the fingernail
Says he's so handsome
Clowntime is over
Time to take over
While others just talk and talk
Somebody's watching where the others don't walk
Clowntime is over
A voice in the shadows
Says that his men know
He don't step back as expected
He's otherwise and unprotected
Chorus
Almost too good to be true
Who do you? What do you? Why do you do?
While everybody's hiding under covers,
Who's making lover's lane safe again for lovers?
10 High Fidelity (02:28)
Some things you never get used to
Even though you're feeling like another man
There's nothing that he can do for you
To shut me away as you walk through
Lovers laughing in their amateur hour
Holding hands in the corridors of power
Even though I'm with somebody else right now
High fidelity
Can you hear me?
There's a new kind of dedication
Maybe you'll find it down the tunnel
Maybe I got above my station
Maybe you're only changing channel
Even though you're nowhere near me
And I know you kiss him so sincerely now
Even though the signal's indistinct
And you worry what silly people think
Who just can't wait to feel so frozen out
I bet he thinks that he was chosen out of millions
I suppose he'll never know about
Chorus
13 5ive Gears in Reverse (02:36)
Five gears in reverse
For girls looking for the big lift
Somebody send out for the night nurse
Please don't stick me on the late shift
If you don't know by now
Nobody's gonna tell you
If you don't know by now
The shock will probably kill you
But if your patience is exhausted and you still cannot decide
You're sitting in the garage contemplating suicide
And you have no motivation you can't even catch your breath
All of this acceleration is driving you to death
Five gears in reverse
You think I don't know what I'm doing
Another fashionable first
Like walking down the road to ruin
But if you're safe and sound
Don't let me interrupt you
And if you're gagged and bound
Well how can I corrupt you
14 B Movie (02:04)
I found a miracle hiding in the corner of my wallet
It's a well kept secret, thought that I had better swallow it
Before they make me spit out the truth
Before they find you're lying about your youth
B movie, that's all you're to me
Just a soft soap story
Don't want the woman to adore me
You can't stand it when it goes to reel to reel
Too real too real
You can't stand it when I throw punch lines you can't feel
All the time, there's a rule book in Brittania
That no one ever waives
And everybody's on the make
It's not your heart I want to break
Turn out the lights
I'm thinking that I wanna go to sleep now
Just give me a promise that I'm supposed to keep now
I don't want some fool asking me why
When I find you're finally making me cry
15 Motel Matches (02:32)
Somewhere in the distance I can hear "Who Shot Sam?"
This is my conviction, that I am an innocent man
Though you say I'm unkind
I'm being as nice as I can
Boys everywhere, fumbling with the catches
I struck lucky with motel matches
Falling for you without a second look
Falling out of your open pocketbook
Giving you away like motel matches
I wake with the siren in an emergency
Though your mind is full of love
In your eyes there is a vacancy
And you know what I'll do
When the light outside changes from red to blue
Chorus
18 Temptation (02:35)
Who's this kid with his mumbo jumbo
Living in air-conditioned limbo
Though they treat him just like a guest
He's living under threat of arrest
Now that he's finally trying to make some sense
He drinks in self-defense
Give me temptation
The subtle touch of authority will
Take you anytime down to the station
You say that it's alright by me
Now you're living with the curse of sophistication
Now that you're shackled up to the rigmarole
With absolute control
I see you lying so wide awake
After I've given you all that you can take
So for heaven's sake
Give me temptation
Still you want to succeed so badly
Finding your life will not be deadly
You tell me you can take it or leave it
Sometimes I think that you really believe it
You're just itching to break her secret laws
As you go from claws to clause
Give me temptation
20 Riot Act (03:35)
Forever doesn't mean forever anymore
I said forever
But it doesn't look like I'm gonna be around much anymore
When the heat gets sub-tropical
And the talk gets so topical
Riot act - you can read me the riot act
You can make me a matter of fact
Or a villain in a million
A slip of the tongue is gonna keep me civilian
Why do you talk such stupid nonsense
When my mind could rest much easier
Instead of all this God damned insolence
I would be happier with amnesia
They say forget her
Now it looks like you're either gonna be for me or against me
I got your letter
Now they say I don't care for the colour that it paints me
Trying to be so bad is bad enough
Don't make me laugh by talking tough
Don't put your heart out on your sleeve
When your remarks are off the cuff
Riot act - you can read me the riot act
You can make me a matter of fact
Or a villain in a million
A slip of the tongue is gonna keep me civilian
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