HOW he sings things

LessThanZero · Post by **LessThanZero** » Wed Jul 09, 2003 7:54 am

Don't you guys love it when Elvis sings You've Really Got a Hold on Me, and at the end of every chorus, he sings out: "HOLD MEEEEE!!"

Man, he just seems so vulnerable and real, and the emotion is PERFECT!

I also like how on Brilliant Mistake he sings: "I WISH that I could push a button."

pip_52 · Post by **pip_52** » Wed Jul 09, 2003 12:31 pm

I like when he's singing YRGAHOM and he gets to the part where he sings "squeeze" with that little shiver in his voice . . .

oh yeah . . .

firebetty · Post by **firebetty** » Wed Jul 09, 2003 3:39 pm

i used to have a list, but all i can remember now is how he cries out in Battered Old Bird. oh my...
and basically when he starts any song without instrumentation- hope your happy, no action, what is it? as i stepped out upon the landing my heart was already down the stairs... yes, now i have it next time around, and lately how he's been singing PLU with almighty vehemence and vengence. the way he freaks me out is the best.
side note- when i sing yrgahom to my son (who went nuts in utero when we went to hear elvis sing it), his mood will change dramatically and he laughs this really full wide open toothless mouth chha-chaa-chaa (that is the throaty jewish ch, not the chocolate ch) and i am a big big star.

SoLikeCandy · Post by **SoLikeCandy** » Wed Jul 09, 2003 3:42 pm

I love it when his voice is just a hair beneath the pitch. It's very honest and endearing...

Also, "Poisoned Rose": "when a single becomes a pa-a-a-aaair"...sexy, mournful, soulful. I lurve it...

DrJ · Post by **DrJ** » Wed Jul 09, 2003 5:10 pm

I like it during I Hope Your HAppy Now when he scratches his beard during the line "He's acting innocent..."

DrJ

lipstickvogue · Post by **lipstickvogue** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 4:34 am

I am quite sure this makes me a sick little puppy groupie BUT I must own up to my fixation with the shape of EC's mouth when he sings ... something about the thickness of his tongue.

beyond that rather indigo observation... there is not a singer out there whose voice gives me the same shivers and I believe a lot of that is a reaction to the emotive quality of his golden vocal cords - my brain quivers when he gets the slight tonal slips offset by the raspy thang rolling (Uncomplicated in my mind presently)

<purr>

laughingcrow · Post by **laughingcrow** » Fri Aug 01, 2003 6:08 pm

Listening to the PTC reissue reminded me of how cool it sounds when he sings the word brave on King of Thieves...

really haunting

HungupStrungup · Post by **HungupStrungup** » Fri Aug 01, 2003 7:47 pm

In the final verse of the album version of "Sulky Girl," I love the way he spits out the line, "Your money's no good in here!"

A rope leash · Post by **A rope leash** » Fri Aug 01, 2003 11:21 pm

How about Two Little Hitlers?

"...we can look so long as we don't have to talk at all" - how he sharpens the word "all". Then,

"...you say you'll never know him, he's not a natural man" - he flattens the word "man".

LessThanZero · Post by **LessThanZero** » Fri Aug 01, 2003 11:27 pm

YEAH ROPE! It sounds like the Cars based their entire career on how he flattens the word "MAN"!!

A rope leash · Post by **A rope leash** » Fri Aug 01, 2003 11:36 pm

You know what? I heard My Best Friend's Girlfriend on the radio today, and "...my best friend's girlfriend" is pretty flat, eh?

Cars were cool.

Gillibeanz · Post by **Gillibeanz** » Sat Aug 02, 2003 7:05 am

His singing in 'Last Boat Leaving' floats my boat....or should this be under the string title for that?

SweetPear · Post by **SweetPear** » Sat Aug 02, 2003 12:26 pm

A rope leash wrote: Cars were cool.

Very cool.
They were the first concert I ever went to. I was 14 and my (6'4") father was away for 2 weeks. Of course my mother said I couldn't go. So of course I climbed out of my bedroom window and went anyway. It was at the Spectrum in Philadelphia and we were on the second level in the first row, right smack in front of the stage. It was a great view. I can remember sitting on the egde with our feet dangling through the railing.

Yeah, it was worth it.

SweetPear · Post by **SweetPear** » Sat Aug 02, 2003 12:28 pm

I like the way Elvis does I Wanna Be Loved.....in that sad, achey, painful kind of way.
Poor baby, let me take care of you.

laughingcrow · Post by **laughingcrow** » Sat Aug 02, 2003 5:35 pm

Gillibeanz wrote:

His singing in 'Last Boat Leaving' floats my boat

in total agreement, it's so tender and in the last verse, you can hear genuine sadness at the same time as contempt...

magical stuff

PlaythingOrPet · Post by **PlaythingOrPet** » Fri Aug 08, 2003 8:38 pm

I've just noticed the way he sings 'boots' on the Wendy James Demos -- "'Cos you're not fit to lick my lovely little leather boOOots". Funny.

tokyo vogue · Post by **tokyo vogue** » Mon Aug 11, 2003 9:24 pm

mmm. boots. licking.

must...keep...kinks...away from...fandom...

heh. what was i gonna say again? oh, right. "...Dust" - the way he says "sonny" in the juggernaut verse. all low-down and growly and mmm.

of course, nothing beats "I Want You" for smash-head-against-wall agony.

Stripped Jack Naked · Post by **Stripped Jack Naked** » Tue Aug 12, 2003 3:14 pm

Far to many cool variations, but in general:

The intonation during parts of Episode of Blonde are Dylanesque.

The vocals on Distorted Angel have a sound that, to me, sounds like a homage to Paul Weller.

On the 5 CD live set, Costello And Nieve...the vocal play with the keyboards is, in places, magical.

Lipstick Voque...the chorus has a sarcastic, sassy, almost southern twang that I think is planned as a Valley Girl type dialect: "Yooooooouuuuuuur, Not jus anuther mowth of lypsschtick vowque"

verbal gymnastics · Post by **verbal gymnastics** » Wed Aug 13, 2003 8:47 am

Over the years I always listen to the way he says "true" when he sings the line "Alison, my aim is true" for the last time in the song before he usually goes onto a medley. I like the variations in the way he elongates the word.

MegJS · Post by **MegJS** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 1:29 pm

I like almost every line in Episode Of Blonde, and how the chorus flows into the verse, the way he sings "...of blonde" when the verse has already begun. I adore all I Want You, 45, Alibi, Tart and 20% Amnesia. The verse and chorus of Hurry Down Doomsday that follow the solo. The line "but if you come back to see me" in Too Blue. "Listen to the decent people" in Sunday's Best. And "your money's no good in here" in Sulky Girl and "sonny" in Dust too. The chorus of Just About Glad, the one closer to the end. and "When you say 'no', she says 'why not?'"

Monkey Girl · Post by **Monkey Girl** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 7:58 pm

I LOVE in Kinder Murder how he sings:

"...dreaming of the pigskin seats and the walnut dash and the KNICKERS and the handbag and one false eye lash..." that low throaty voice...

And Meg...I love ALL of I Want You....what a sexy sound

MistakenForLilies · Post by **MistakenForLilies** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 10:34 pm

I think there's also something about the way he sings "knickers" in Just About Glad...it has a mischievous edge. I also like the emotional way he sings the line "let him dangle" before the part that begins "from a welfare state...." And frankly it's impossible not to love I Want You.

Monkey Girl · Post by **Monkey Girl** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 7:23 am

MistakenForLilies wrote:I think there's also something about the way he sings "knickers" in Just About Glad...it has a mischievous edge. I also like the emotional way he sings the line "let him dangle" before the part that begins "from a welfare state...." And frankly it's impossible not to love I Want You.

I love this thread!

It's inspiring me to go back and listen to songs I haven't heard in a while. Just About Glad...great song. (Thanks Mistaken!) You're right...he sings "knickers" with that same throaty intensity as in "I Want You". So alluring.

Maybe it's the only way he can say "knickers"! Is there another EC song with "knickers" in it?....I bet it would be sung the same way!

SweetPear · Post by **SweetPear** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 9:56 pm

A rope leash wrote:You know what? I heard My Best Friend's Girlfriend on the radio today, and "...my best friend's girlfriend" is pretty flat, eh?

Cars were cool.

the Cars were definately cool.

My first concert. Snuck out my bedroom window to go. It was freakin worth it.

(I believe I've mentioned this previously.)

SweetPear · Post by **SweetPear** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 10:07 pm

Ah! Here's one of my all time favorites....when he says "You're so tough, you're so hard" in Watch Your Step.
Just so cool. As a matter of fact, I love how he sings the whole darn song!

Elvis Costello Fan Forum

HOW he sings things

HOW he sings things

I'm sorry to say that I knew all along . . . .

Emphasis

By jove, I think he's right...

Re: By jove, I think he's right...

Knickers...

Re: By jove, I think he's right...