{"id":620784,"date":"2026-10-05T00:24:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T00:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/620784\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T00:24:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T00:24:16","slug":"elvis-costello-interview-inside-my-aim-is-true-box-set","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/620784\/","title":{"rendered":"Elvis Costello Interview: Inside ‘My Aim Is True’ Box Set"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tElvis Costello<\/a> made his instant-classic debut, 1977\u2019s My Aim Is True<\/a>, in just over 24 hours, while he still had a day job as a computer operator. But as Costello discusses in the new episode of Rolling Stone Music Now, the music on the album only hinted at what he was up to in his earliest years as an artist \u2014 all of which is finally revealed on his just-released new box set, the five-disc My Aim Is True (49th Anniversary Edition). Alongside a remaster of the album, the set includes The Blue Print, acoustic recordings from 1975 and 1976; demos and outtakes, including the country songs he kept under wraps at the time; live recordings that trace the birth of the Attractions; and a 2007 San Francisco benefit concert where he\u2019s backed by the musicians from the original sessions.<\/p>\n

\n

\n\tIn the Rolling Stone Music Now interview, Costello breaks down the box\u2019s long-buried early recordings, and goes deep on the making of My Aim Is True, including the real story behind \u201cAlison,\u201d and much more. To hear the whole episode, listen on Apple Podcasts<\/a> or Spotify<\/a>, or just press play above. Here are some highlights from the discussion:<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\n\tCostello started writing \u201c(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes\u201d on a train to his mother\u2019s house, then ran upstairs to find a guitar before he could forget it. \u201cI was on my way to visit my mother, and the song came into my head,\u201d he says. \u201cThere were no tape recorders or anything like that that you carried around in your pocket, no phone, no way of memorizing it other than through repetition. So I had to make my way as swiftly as possible to my old house, and I said hello to my mum, kissed my mum on the cheek, and ran upstairs and found this old battered guitar that was on top of the wardrobe, and sat there for about an hour until I had it drilled into my brain and I wouldn\u2019t lose it.\u201d As for where the red shoes came from: \u201cI have no clue. I just figured they were something that didn\u2019t feature in my wardrobe, and those angels would definitely want them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCostello almost released his earliest recordings 35 years ago, then backed off. \u201cI cannot for the life of me think why I felt they revealed too much, which is why they were never released until now,\u201d Costello says of the 1975 and 1976 recordings on The Blue Print. \u201cI was on the verge of releasing them like 35 years ago, and then I thought, \u2018No, \u2026 everybody will see.\u2019 It was like showing your pictures, you know, in clothes that you now know don\u2019t suit you.\u201d He hears them differently now. \u201cThey just sound like somebody learning, and there should be nothing to be embarrassed about that. Everybody has to start somewhere. I would be delighted if some younger writers listened to those songs and it gave them any confidence in what they were doing, because you can hear the ambition to do something, and it isn\u2019t quite formed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen his label, Stiff Records, told Costello they were changing his name, he thought it was a prank. \u201cThey were the ones that held the cards,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was a modest company, but I didn\u2019t have any company except that one. So I went along with it.\u201d The label\u2019s photo shoots, he says, \u201ckinda played up my ordinariness, you know, my unfashionable clothes, and the glasses became Superman glasses, you know, Clark Kent glasses or Buddy Holly or Phil Silvers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tCostello never bought the \u201cnew wave\u201d label. \u201cI never felt part of any gang,\u201d he says. \u201cI hated the whole new wave thing. It was completely made up. It was just journalists trying to explain bands that had energy and a little edge, but were something different than punk, which in itself was a term borrowed from another culture.\u201d He also rejects what he calls \u201cthe big book of history version\u201d of 1977, \u201cthat punk sort of swept everything in its path, and that just isn\u2019t true.\u201d \u201cMost of the other great groups were struggling down there in the 30s and 40s,\u201d he says, \u201cbecause the charts were completely full of disco records or Fleetwood Mac or Rod Stewart singing a song from 10, 12 years ago already.\u201d Once he and the Attractions started turning up on TV, the exposure didn\u2019t always help. \u201cWhen people got a look at us, the record usually went down the charts the next week,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m not being falsely modest. \u2026 That was the way it was.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n

\n\tCostello now regrets being rude about Linda Ronstadt\u2019s hit cover of \u201cAlison.\u201d \u201cIt was on a very big hit record by Linda Ronstadt,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd not a version that I initially was very polite about. But that really wasn\u2019t Linda\u2019s singing. It was more the arrangement \u2026 seemed very, very much of its location, which was Los Angeles, and I was just allergic to that sound. And I really feel embarrassed now that I was ever so rude about it, \u2019cause \u2026 that I would be chosen in the company of Lowell George and Warren Zevon and Smokey Robinson \u2026 and Buddy Holly, all the people that Linda chose, was a tremendous compliment, and I just didn\u2019t know how to take it gracefully, frankly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAsked whether he had more in common with the Ramones or the Muppets, Costello picks the latter. Around the time My Aim Is True came out, the Ramones and the Muppets were in the Top 20 at the same time. \u201cIt\u2019s up to us to decide which is which,\u201d Costello says. \u201cThe Ramones were just a thing. They were just fantastic. \u2026 But the Muppets are the Muppets, man. The Muppets had great songwriters, too. Paul Williams.\u201d His own Muppet counterpart: \u201cI was closer to Oscar the Grouch, actually, initially, and then I gradually was working towards Sam the Eagle as time went on. I tell you, I sang with Kermit, and it\u2019s the most extraordinary thing.\u201d
Download and subscribe to Rolling Stone Music Now, hosted by Brian Hiatt, on Apple Podcasts<\/a> or Spotify<\/a> (or wherever you get your podcasts). Check out 11 years\u2019 worth of episodes in the archive, including in-depth interviews with Mariah Carey, Bruce Springsteen, Questlove, Halsey, Neil Young, Snoop Dogg, Brandi Carlile, Phoebe Bridgers, Rick Ross, Alicia Keys, the National, Ice Cube, Taylor Hawkins, Willow, Keith Richards, Robert Plant, Dua Lipa, Killer Mike, Julian Casablancas, Sheryl Crow, Johnny Marr, Scott Weiland, Liam Gallagher, Alice Cooper, Fleetwood Mac, Elvis Costello, John Legend, Donald Fagen, Charlie Puth, Phil Collins, Justin Townes Earle, Stephen Malkmus, Sebastian Bach, Tom Petty, Eddie Van Halen, Kelly Clarkson, Pete Townshend, Bob Seger, the Zombies, and Gary Clark Jr. And look for dozens of episodes featuring genre-spanning discussions, debates, and explainers with Rolling Stone\u2019s critics and reporters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Elvis Costello made his instant-classic debut, 1977\u2019s My Aim Is True, in just over 24 hours, while he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,258678,156,305528,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-620784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-elvis-costello","tag-entertainment","tag-my-aim-is-true","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}