Famed new-wave pop singer-songwriter Elvis Costello (or Declan McManus if you prefer) has had a few reasons to break into the headlines since the new year. First, there’s the continued controversy over his 1979 single (and one of his best-known tracks) “Oliver’s Army“, a song which concerns itself with ‘The Troubles’ over in Ireland.
A racial slur is used in the song, inspired by something McManus’ own grandfather was apparently called when serving in the British Army. He asked radio stations not to play the track in future, saying “people hear that word… and accuse me of something that I didn’t intend“. For more on this, you can look here.
On the bright side, McManus has released a new record with his touring band – The Imposters. It came out last Friday and is titled The Boy Named If.
However, as if distancing himself from the rest of contemporary music being released, the songwriter made his opinions known on the state of rock music today, speaking to Rolling Stone in a recent interview.
In a rather frank statement on the genre today, McManus said that “I don’t like much rock music. I like rock & roll. I think if you lose the roll part, a lot of the fun goes out of it.” He argued that most electric-guitar records from the past thirty years suffered because “the beat is so square. I like things that float a bit or swing a bit, whether it’s rock & roll or actual jazz that swings, or even the way Hank Williams records lope.”
He took special aim at the music coming out of Nashville, describing it as unable to “float if you filled them full of water. They just don’t; they’re square and they sound like bad rock records from the Nineties.”
On the bright side, it turns out he doesn’t hate all music. He took a moment to praise 90’s rock icon Jeff Buckley, who died aged 30 whilst swimming in the Mississippi River. In particular, he envied Buckley’s ability to sing a wide variety of genres, from Led Zeppelin and Morrissey to classical greats such as Mahler and Purcell. Having curated the festival that would be Buckley’s last performance in London, McManus said that “it’s very poignant because it was his last performance in London, but we didn’t know that then. His life was ahead. There was all these great things that he was still going to do. That was just a very sad coincidence.”
Other artists he talked of included Paul McCartney, whom he worked in the eighties with, describing their songwriting process as spontaneous; “One of us would start strumming a rhythm and then some harmony would emerge.“ And his collaborations with classic sixties icon Burt Bacharach were also touched on. If you want to read the full interview, which includes details on the inspiration behind his latest album, you can look here.
