SUIT OF LIGHTS

[King_of_Spain]

Without any kind of doubt, my favourite song from the KOA original album is that one called Suit of lights. Here in Spain, a Suit of lights is, literally, the strange dress bullfighters use, but since this song is a clear tribute to EC´s father, the great Ross MacManus (mainly great because of being Declan´s father) I think that Suit of lights Elvis refers to that glitter jacket some kind of crooners wore in the past. What do you think about it?

By the way, has anyone noticed two fantastic musical effects...?

1) The way the song begins, as if it was a record stopped with our fingers that suddenly we let turn.

2) The marvellous piano line that Steve Nieve develops just when Elvis sings "Anyway they say that she wears the trousers.."


GRRRRRRRRRRRRREAT SONG !!!!!

[A rope leash]

Let's all sing along now...

Well it's a dog's life,
in a rope leash or a diamond collar

it's enough to make you think right now
but you don't bother...

[King_of_Spain]

And I thought I heard the working man´s blues...

Oh, I love this song!

[Otis Westinghouse]

Me too, but I always felt it sat awkwardly with the rest of the LP on account of the very obviously different Attractions sound. Will have to reappraise on the reissue. Isn't the suit of lights drawing a comparison between the matador in his (or her!) traje de luces and the popular entertainer?

Cool to have our first Spaniard, or one who's resident in Spain, not Australia, at least! Your English is dead impressive. I love Seville and its Arabic streets (and love that song, too). I wonder has Elvis ever played there? He's playing Granada soon, I know. Hope you're going and can give us a full account. I just missed by a day or two the chance to see Elvis at the Ventas bull-ring in Madrid on the Mighty Like a Rose tour. Huge regret. I saw The Cure there, which was fun, but undeniably not the same.

[King_of_Spain]

Yeah, Otis, that´s my intention (about going to Granada to see Elvis by the end of October) and of course you all have to stand a full account of that concert!

You´re right when you talk about the comparison between the suit of lights of the matador and the one of the crooner. I have never thought about it (the idea of the "public execution" has much to do with it). I once read Elvis saying that this song was for his father, but secially in the sense that a lot of rude people were to see him singing but they don´t really care about the music. His literal statemente (more or less, you know) was "this is why you can´t feel yourself any kind of sympathy to the working class: I mean, they are so rude, you understand you should support them, but you can´t stand their lack of politeness, they are not sensitive at all". It´s exactly what happens with the bullfighting.

[Jackson Doofster]

Great song, but it belonged on B&C and not KOA IMHO.

[King_of_Spain]

Great song, but it belonged on B&C and not KOA IMHO.

Sorry, Jackson, but Suit of Lights DEFINITELY did belong to KOA.

In fact, it´s the only song performed altogether with The Attractions in this record (maybe this is why it´s the best in the album).

PS What is IHMO, by the way?

[Jackson Monk]

You misunderstand me KoS (or maybe you just disagree with me)

I meant that Suit of Lights is better suited in style to Blood and Chocolate as opposed to KOA. A point made also by my good friend Otis (see above).

IMHO = In my humble opinion

JM

[Uncomplicated]

This song has ALWAYS been my favourite off of KOA. And is somewhere in my All Time Elvis Top 10! (around 6 or 7)

It was during the first listen of this song back when it was released that I proclaimed...."Elvis will someday be regarded as highly as the likes of Bob Dylan"***.......the song left that strong of an Impression on me.

Blood & Chocolate was yet to be released, so it was hard to say that it belonged somewhere else. And the fading keyboards at the end just kill me!

Great Song!!

***It was at this time I knew he was a "Folk Legend"

[Copenhagen Fan]

I always thought of Elvis Presley when I heard that number...Elvis in the Fat Vegas years...!

[King_of_Spain]

I meant that Suit of Lights is better suited in style to Blood and Chocolate as opposed to KOA. A point made also by my good friend Otis (see above).

Well, OK: If we take KOA as a kind of "dictionary" through every style into american music (from blues or R&B to zydeco, including country-rock or whatever), then Suit of lights doesn´t have much to do with the rest (neither has the first song, Brilliant mistake, in my opinion).

But, on the other hand, the sound from B&Ch is rawer: a so ellaborated song like Suit of lights isn´t definitely on the same line than those direct punchs to the nose called Next time ´round or Crimes of Paris (not to talk about Uncomplicated or the bitterer I want you).

[spooky girlfriend]

Eeeeeek! This thread was obviously started while I was out of town last week, or I would have chimed in sooner.

Oh, how I love Suit of Lights. I suppose, Jackson, it could have it's place on B&C, but I love that it ended up on KOA. It doesn't really musically match anything else on the album, but it's one of those songs that makes KOA the well-rounded album that it is.

I remember this being the first song on that album that I craved knowing all the lyrics to when I first realized how much I loved the song. Thanks KoS for bringing up this song.

I've heard so many different descriptions of it's meaning, including that it was written in part about Bruce Thomas. Ironically, he is playing on that one particular track of KOA. Regardless of what it is truly about, I never ever ever ever get tired of hearing this one. And lets not forget about Steve and his absolutely fabulous piano on this song. Mmmmmmm. Sometimes the ending of the song is my favorite part.

[King_of_Spain]

It doesn't really musically match anything else on the album, but it's one of those songs that makes KOA the well-rounded album that it is.

Sorry, but I can´t completely agree with this: there is such a connection between the way Jack of all parades ends (as if the music was turning off slowly, forceless) and the way Suit of light begins (just in reverse, as if we had stopped the record manually and then we let it turn). It´s part of the magic of this song, I think: the way where it´s placed inside KOA.

[King_of_Spain]

Elvis´ dad: the one to whom the song is dedicated (in part).

[spooky girlfriend]

I did remember reading something about his dad and that song, I think it was in the KOA liner notes.

I'm certain that Elvis is such a perfectionist that he has reasons for which songs get placed in certain orders on the albums. I just always felt a more passionate energy from Suit of Lights and would have never really compared it to Jack of All Parades. Interesting perspective though. The piano is just so strong and the words so intense in Suit of Lights, I fall in love with it all over again every time I hear it.

KOA is so wonderful, and, as someone said on the board a long, long time ago, "my Elvis isn't your Elvis" and we all see him differently, even in the same songs.

I heard Elvis in an interview with BBC a few months ago and he mentioned how he thought American songwriters tended to have strong beginnings to songs with weak endings, but British songwriters had stronger song endings. He specifically mentioned Alison, where he says the phrase My Aim Is True over and over and over. He said he did it to intensify the sincerity of the words. Suit of Lights is one of those songs that doesn't have a strong beginning - it just sort of starts. But I love that.

And I'm happy to have someone else who loves Suit of Lights around here. Thanks, KoS!

[verbal gymnastics]

I though that Suit of Lights was about the [at the time] final days with the Attractions (or at least one of them). At the time I think Elvis was pretty depressed and some of the song was autobiographical when he was receiving a slating from the press about being tired and going through the motions. Hence he was going on stage and

"While Nat King Cole sings "Welcome To My World" (the intro music perhaps)

You request some song you hate you sentimental fool
And it's the force of habit "

Fans shouting for certain records (Alison perhaps?)

"He went out to work that night and wasted his breath
Outside there was a public execution
Inside he died a thousand deaths"

refers to not enjoying the concerts he was playing. he was trying different musical styles but fans wanted the hits

"In the perforated first editions
Where they advocate the hangman's noose
Then tell the sorry tale of the spent Princess
Her uncouth escort looking down her dress "

I think refers to the newspapers which report his concert in a negative way before going on about some Royal Family member

"Well it's a dog's life in a rope leash or a diamond collar
It's enough to make you think right now
But you don't bother "

could refer to Bruce Thomas and then the feeling is made clear

"For goodness sake as you cry and shake
Let's keep you face down in the dirt where you belong
And think of all the pleasure that it brings
Though you know that it's wrong

And there's still life in your body
But most of it's leaving
Can't you give us all a break
Can't you stop breathing ".

Following the split EC goes solo/with no regular band and goes back on stage

"And I thought I heard "The Working Man's Blues"
I went to work that night and wasted my breath".

Business as usual (or as usual as it was in 1987). The "He went to work" in the original verse refers to Elvis as Elvis Costello and the "I went to work" final verse refers to when he changed his name to Declan Patrick Aloycious MacManus and announced that Elvis Costello was dead.

See? Clear as mud!