(write it) like disaster

A camp counselor got my best camp friend into Elvis Costello, and so I bought “My Aim Is True” on cassette at a flea market in Boston late one summer. Then I got “The Very Best of Elvis Costello and the Attractions” on CD from Rykodisc and “Beyond Belief” was my favorite song on it.

Anyway, I’d love a mix of Beyond Belief, Give & Take, and something by Ian McShane.

williebhines:

curtisretherford:

connorratliff:

ELVIS COSTELLO & THE ATTRACTIONS:  ”Beyond Belief (Give & Take Remix)”

Okay, so “Beyond Belief” is one of Elvis Costello’s best songs, but one weird thing about it is that Costello completely re-wrote the vocal part after the backing track was completed, so there’s this earlier version of it called “The Land Of Give And Take” with the exact same music but the words and the way he sings it are different in a lot of places. 

This is a mix I made where you have one set of vocals in one ear and the earlier version in the other. I think the effect is kind of like The Velvet Underground’s “The Murder Mystery.” 

The only people who have ever heard this mix are a few friends who are also Costello fans. I think it is fun.

This sounds much better than you’d think, given the description.

There are many reasons I love listening to Elvis Costello, but one of the inspirations I take from him is his ability to completely scrap or revise a song. (Case in point: Beyond Belief/The Land of Give & Take.) If it’s not perfect, it’s not good enough. Fix it. Rewrite it. Destroy it. Creativity is cheap; perfection is expensive.

We have a hit here, folks. Side note: “Beyond Belief” is an Elvis Costello song that lots of non-Elvis Costello fans seem to really like when their Elvis Costello-liking friends force them to listen.