<\/p>\n He had similarly modest expectations for a tune he wrote in the early 1970s for his pub-rock group, Brinsley Schwarz: \u201c(What\u2019s So Funny \u2019Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n \u201cI remember quite clearly, I woke up one morning and had this idea for a song called \u2018(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding,\u2019\u201d he told Guitar Player in 2024. \u201cI thought, That’s a real mouthful. It doesn’t exactly trip off the tongue, but it is actually an original idea. I couldn’t believe that I’d actually made up something that no one else had done before.\u201d<\/p>\n \n Nick Lowe performs with Los Straitjackets at Antone\u2019s, in Austin, December 15, 2024. (Image credit: Amy E. Price\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n Brinsley Schwarz recorded it for their final studio album, 1974\u2019s The New Favourites of\u2026. Their version was decidedly folk rock, sung earnestly, if somewhat languidly, by Lowe. Released as a single, it failed to chart.<\/p>\n As far as Lowe was concerned, it had its chance \u2014 and blew it.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the Brinsleys split up, that should’ve been the end of it,\u201d he told Stereogum<\/a> in 2021. \u201cThat’s what happens to bands’ songs when they split up, the songs go in the dustbin of history. The song was never a hit, it never caused much of a stir at all when we did it originally.”<\/p>\n The track, however, had one very devoted admirer: Elvis Costello. By 1977, Costello was a rising star in Britain\u2019s punk and new wave scene, and Lowe was producing his records. While working on Costello\u2019s third album, 1979\u2019s Armed Forces, the singer suggested to Lowe that he and the Attractions cut a version of it.<\/p>\n In his 2015 memoir, Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink, Costello wrote that Lowe\u2019s original \u201cseemed almost tongue-in-cheek, a take on that brief period after flower power when Tin Pan Alley staff songwriters seemed to say \u2018Hey, let’s get in on some of this crazy \u2018peace\u2019 and \u2018love\u2019 stuff that the kids are digging today.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n It was Lowe who proposed reframing the song as something far more forceful \u2014 a full-throated rebuke of war, belligerence and bigotry.<\/p>\n What to read next<\/p>\n The result was a powerhouse track, arguably the closest thing to an anthem in Costello\u2019s deep catalog. Over the Attractions\u2019 taut groove, his heavily reverberated voice carries a mix of urgency, anger and sincerity rarely heard before or since in rock and roll. In his reworking, the song\u2019s title shifts from a question to a challenge \u2014 and by the final refrain, a demand.<\/p>\n Elvis Costello & The Attractions – (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding – YouTube Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n Despite its obvious punch, the track made its debut months before the release of Armed Forces, and in unlikely fashion: as the B-side of the 1978 Lowe single \u201cAmerican Squirm,\u201d where it was credited to Nick Lowe and His Sound. The snarling vocal and stampeding rhythm section were unmistakably Costello and the Attractions. The only visual clue was the sleeve photo, which showed Lowe wearing Costello\u2019s horn-rim prescription sunglasses and holding the singer\u2019s Fender Jazzmaster electric<\/a> with his name emblazoned on its fretboard.<\/p>\n \n Lowe holds Costello\u2019s Fender Jazzmaster on the picture sleeve for his 1978 single \u201cAmerican Squirm\u201d b\/w \u201c(What’s So Funny \u2019Bout) Peace Love and Understanding.\u201d (Image credit: Picture Sleeve)<\/p>\n It might have languished there were it not for Costello\u2019s American label, Columbia. Fearing U.S. listeners wouldn\u2019t connect with the strictly British themes of the Armed Forces track \u201cSunday\u2019s Best,\u201d the label replaced it with \u201c(What\u2019s So Funny \u2018Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n It was an uncharacteristically astute move. The song quickly became a fan favorite, and Costello\u2019s rendition emerged as the definitive version.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was he who really popularized that song,\u201d Lowe told journalist Shawn Conner<\/a> in 2017. \u201cIt’s been covered by loads of people, and it would’ve disappeared if it wasn’t for him.\u201d<\/p>\n \n Lowe and Elvis Costello perform at El Mocambo, in Toronto, March 6, 1978. (Image credit: Peter Noble\/Redferns)<\/p>\n Even so, the song\u2019s most consequential windfall arrived years later \u2014 courtesy of the 1992 romantic thriller The Bodyguard, starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston. Its soundtrack became a commercial juggernaut, selling 10 million copies in its first year, fueled by Houston\u2019s towering rendition of the Dolly Parton<\/a> song \u201cI Will Always Love You.\u201d<\/p>\n Tucked among the album\u2019s tracks was \u201c(What\u2019s So Funny \u2019Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding,\u201d covered in an uptempo Northern Soul vein by vocalist Curtis Stigers.<\/p>\n What can I say? It was just the most enormous stroke of luck.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 Nick Lowe<\/p>\n Lowe had no idea the song was in the film, let alone on its soundtrack.<\/p>\n Then the checks started arriving.<\/p>\n He remembers the first one vividly. He assumed it was a mistake.<\/p>\n \u201cA million dollars. I won\u2019t be coy. A million fucking bucks,\u201d he told Mojo<\/a> in 1994. \u201cWhat can I say? It was just the most enormous stroke of luck.\u201d<\/p>\n What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love And Understanding – YouTube Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n The windfall changed the practical realities of his career.<\/p>\n The check \u201cpaid for a couple of tours, a decent bus and some good hotels \u2014 ones where we wouldn\u2019t get our stuff stolen and we could have separate rooms,\u201d he told Music and Musicians<\/a>. \u201cAlso, I could pay the band. And I could start making another record. Without the check, I don\u2019t think it would\u2019ve happened at all.\u201d<\/p>\n Ironically, the song\u2019s appearance in the film is almost imperceptible. While interviewing Lowe, Fresh Air host Terry Gross asked where it was used.<\/p>\n Even my mother has sat and watched it, and she said she couldn\u2019t hear it anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 Nick Lowe<\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t got a clue,\u201d he replied. \u201cI haven\u2019t even seen it. I know lots of people who have seen it, and they all tell me that my song isn\u2019t in it at all.<\/p>\n \u201cEven my mother, who has ears like a Mum, has sat and watched it, and she said she couldn\u2019t hear it anywhere. But I presume that it\u2019s on a car radio or something playing in the background.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Nick](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/58EX7kY9Z8Sdtdmqb4Gw84.jpg\")
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