Added: 5 years ago
From: jzenman
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  • Brilliant beyond words. The song, the proformance, the emotion. So raw and real and omg, wonderful.

  • Wow. Where did this video come from? It's so intimate that you can literally see the sweat beading up on Elvis and the various Attractions.

  • Thank you! GREAT version of this wonderful song.

  • Baby Elvis...how adorable

  • It would be great to hear Ronnie Spector cover this song. I've always suspected that it might have been inspired by Ronetts songs like "Be My Baby" and "Walking in the Rain". Of course, if Phil wants to produce it, he'll have to telecommute from his cell.

  • 2:42 ... Costello at his youthful best ... contorted expression and piercing eyes ... revenge and gulit indeed. This is a gem of a song which, whilst live, is performed with all the precision of a studio recording. It takes true talent to blur that divide.

  • Sexiest fucking Nerd that I have ever seen.

  • ELVIS IS KING !

  • i too agree best songwriter and cleverest in the world today....no doubt

  • Never get tired of this song, even after 30 years of listening.. The album version reminds me of "Be My Baby" in some ways..

  • Ignore the song until 1:30 then pay closer attention than you ever have regarding a rock song. Unparalleled.

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  • Part of this song reminds me a bit of the Beatles' "I'll Get You."

    Great performance, nevertheless.

  • cool hammond sounds mad ill !!!!! cool skool !

  • A bit old school... so what? That's how I like it!!

  • Long live the king. thanks

  • Nice, thanks for posting!

  • Brilliant song. Always been a favourite.

  • "the greatest songwriter of all time"?

    have you ever listened to Morrissey?

  • @HangLoosecaca Dislike.

  • Elivis Costello, one of the great british singer /songwriters of all time, up there with Roy Wood,Ray Davis,Pete Townsento name but a few!

  • I have been an Elvis fan for 32 years and I had never seen this video. I love it. I have been trying to learn to play this too. Where is it from?

  • @Bikessmurf It's from the The Right Spectacle DVD. It's in the extras section.

    It's G -D -G- D- G D G then C Flat minor to G - D - C - G

    Chorus is C D C D C D C Flat minor to G

    The bridge is D Sharp then G minor (twice) then D Sharp - A Sharp to D7 aug - D7

  • @jzenman Hi, ah so that's why I was confused by the video. The original on My Aim is True was in D. I have the "Singing Dictionary" book which has PVG for all the early Elvis stuff. I must ask for "The Right Spectacle" for Christmas!

  • @jzenman Ah, so it has been transposed for the Attractions. According to my book "The Singing Dictionary" the original was in D, which is how I have been learning it. You are right about this version though. I'll give it a try in G! I must get the DVD too.

  • @Bikessmurf Yeah I forgot to tell you I transposed it. It was just easier for me to play in G. It's a pretty simple song. The hardest one to transpose are Accidents Will Happen or some of the stuff on Punch The Clock.

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  • El segundo mejor Elvis de la historia.

  • @retromentodo No! He's number 1!

  • oh my god did someone ask if he was dead! ? horrible.

    i love this man!

  • HOT

  • I remember the first time I heard Elvis. Wow! It is impossible to explain how much different he was, and still 30+ years later, still fresh. Fantastic!

  • "After all these nights with just a paper striptease he's caught it like some disease." Amazing lyrics!

  • The one thing that ticks me off about the Attractions is that none of these guys ever sing the amazing backing vocals that accompany songs like this one. Can't one of these guys learn how sing and back up Mr. Costello just a bit?

  • @pattyd908 - They're busy being the best backing band in the world.

  • Don't know I love this song

  • The name suites you properly my friend. Thank you again and again.

  • "Once he's glanced at the jackets of some of paperbacks, how he's read read every one.He's such a drag." Elvis is the Lyric king and his aim is right on target.

  • EC + The Attractions were made for each other. What A Sound!

  • Old School rocks;) fantastic song! I LOVE IT!!!

  • Rad. I love this song. One of the greatest musical talents ever

  • A rare gem indeed. Excellent post. 5****.

  • Wow..... beautiful.

    Anger & passion is insane and yet - it's so simple. Dig 2:00 crazy!

  • great comment.

  • I agree "the greatest singsongwriter of the world".

  • get a room, wetty

  • @granda365 Absolutely Agree!!! 

  • @granda365 I agree, but add that Elvis, like the beatles before him, also delivers the best renditions of his own songs, as this clip demonstrates. Great songwriter, arranger, producer and performer. The King.

  • @granda365 Yup

  • lovely!

  • wow , what a fantastic singer! great early find. feels like i'm right there!

  • wow- great find. thanks.

    i love the tie shirt.

  • I love this man!

  • aaaaigh! look how cute he was!

    *squealing, screaming, swooning & jumping up and down, maybe throwing some panties, more squealing...*

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  • this is the only time ever i've seen Bruce singing along - unlike Pete who is always at it.

  • 1:02

    bruce looks so bored. -_-

  • thank you for posting!

  • This man the greatest thing that ever came down the pike. Fact.

  • who dances at home anyway? ...what's that? oh... ohhhhhhhhh...

  • Back then, Elvis had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline, I tell you what...

  • nice post. anyone know of an l.a. bar where one can hear good tunes like this, say, from a jukebox? i know many spots have that digital box now. anywayz, just checking.

  • shit im looking for that too. where have all the good jukeboxes gone?

  • Golden Gopher. Olive & 8th. DownTown.

  • I like this WAY better than the album version - it's more of a ballad here, which makes the story a bit sadder, but at the same time the Attractions lineup makes it a lot rawer and heavier. Elvis, of course, sings it incredibly.

  • yeah "Clover" his backing band on MAIT arent exactly suited to elvis costello. but the attractions were great

  • wow, this is the kind of angry young costello i've been looking for.

    many thanx!

  • This is one the best live clips I've ever seen. One of my favorite Elvis Costello songs as well.

  • great!!! wow, how did you get this?

  • Superb - thanks for posting this.

  • Must have been a seriously early performance with The Attractions this one. Class and classic.

  • WOW ! I love this song , Elvis Costello is very good !

  • this version seems to be a note below what the recorded song is played at

  • The tempo is slower as well.

  • God ! I love this guy!

  • i just started listening to him and if i do say so myself this guy is AWESOME and is this song on the footloose soundtrack?

  • He looks sad at times

  • I LoVe It!

  • So this was from the soundtrack of footloose?

  • Is He dead?

  • no he just came out with a new record this year.

  • I've never seen this footage nor heard this arrangement before. Fantastic find!

  • good call. Armed Forces is probably his best album.

  • He is amazing!!!!!

  • I advise u all 2 go out buy a copy of the Elvis Costello album, GET HAPPY! No matter wat ur doing...it'll get u moving.

  • Agreed. Check out "Armed Forces", too. Classic Elvis, in his prime.

  • This is a gem!

  • he is really good.

    how old is this video?

  • the album this is off (My Aim is True) was 1977-78, but the band on this footage didn't play on it. Legend has it that Graham Parker's band, the Rumour, backed him on that record (if you like this, check out Graham Parker). This video would be from that era, i would guess late '77.

    I'm assuming your very young and if so it's very inspiring (for an old fart like me) that you would get into this.

  • thank you so much for the information.

    i appreciate it a lot :D

  • Actually, It's Huey Lewis and The News who played on the first Elvis Costello album. They were called "Clover" back then.

  • Huey Lewis's band played (Clover) but Huey did not participate.

  • Only started listening to him in the last 8 years.  Never liked him in the early days. But I just LOVE him now!

  • a true english hero

  • i have never listened to him before, but i actually really like his stuff

  • je compent mieu les choses.

  • he kicks so much ass

  • Britney Spears fan, no doubt.

  • Hahaha, you are my new hero

  • After 30 odd years i still never get tired of his songs!!

  • great club Erics in Liverpool, I saw Elvis there in 1978, is this that show i wonder

  • I like this...but...he looks like he will burst a blood vessel:)

  • Where is the rest of this show? I'd pay money to see what else they do!

  • cool

  • this is great

  • this is great

  • EC looks a little warm in his suit, it must've been 85 degrees on that stage the way he's sweating. the drummer's wearing a sleeveless t shirt, lol.

  • The jacket and tie were a part of his image at that time. Another was that they did everything they could to keep any pictures of him smiling from bieng published.

  • true.

  • Thanks! That was a great version.

  • great version! the attractions arrangement here is so much tighter than the huey lewis (aka clover) arrangement found on "my aim is true". so glad he was able to ditch them!

  • wonderfulllllll

  • they look like mods

  • Great vocalist whats this about limited vocal range?

  • thanks for posting. that's one of my fav EC songs. it's unbelievable that people are now saying that he's "riding on his wife's coattails". i never even heard of her until they got married. dumbasses.

  • Hard to find on vinyl?? It is on "My Aim is True," his first LP. Elvis is probably thee best songwriter ever. Due to his limited range and rough voice, people tend to put him below John Lennon and John Fogerty, but he is brilliant. His 90s and 2000s stuff is his strongest, best.

  • Hard to find on "video" it says. I glanced at that note and thought it said "vinyl" too at first, but no... great clip, by the way.

  • limited range?  you mean vocally? check out his work with bacharach. he has a pretty good range. Musically he has crossed genres as much and as well as anyone.

    Best songwriter ever? matter of taste I suppose.

  • lol he has a hauge vocal range... He sings really low in alot of songs liek She and he sings really high in some likve veronica XD

  • What a great video. So clear but raw presentation of EC's early work.

  • gerry2k,

    You just let us all know how little you know about anything by indicating how much time you've spent with Hall & Oates albums.

    I hope they were gifts, and you didn't spend money on them. Especially since you've confused their drivel with Elvis.

    Now bow down to E.C. or just go back to your drivel.

  • Ya know, the trouble with claiming ownage is that it means absolutely nothing. And after coming to the video of an artist you obviously haven't figured out or liked, then who really is owned? I'm here because I like the music. You? You're here to claim, what? Ownage? LOL, Goodnight Irene.

  • This is weak,anyone but a fan of mcmanus knows it

    Hall and Oates have tons of material like this tucked away on old albums (album fillers)

  • Gerry2k, you my friend, are an idiot. elvis is better than just about everyone except for my man Buddy Holly. So shut up, you just wish that you had the talent. If you really think that he is bad then why were you even watching this video?

  • Costello fans don't just proclaim to be geniuses; they are geniuses by nature. Trust me. It's The Origin of Species

  • I love this clip. Much better rendition of the song than what appears on My Aim Is True IMO. Tell you what else rocks and that's the performance of Lip Service, which I believe is from this same show

  • cool !

  • G'damn Inman... again you are on top of the Elvis game. Thanks for posting this.

  • He's given us some great songs although in recent years he has followed the pattern of most aging stars and begun to get pretentious, silly and maybe a little bit desperate too. That's the way it goes. I think it was a bit daft renaming himself at this late stage.

  • I kind of think that you've missed the point. Music is art not sport. You cannot 'win' or 'lose'. True, some artists pick-up more silverware than others. Costello will never be up there in the medal haul. He plays a different game.

    The best singer/songwriter of all time? Now, yes, that is a big call - I agree. But he is right up there with Dylan, Lennon et al (& we should also be going a lot further back than that).

  • Not to mention 23x grammy award winning Stevie Wonder! hehehhe

  • I just called to say I love you....

    I rest my case!!!!

  • you may well rest your case but the facts speak for themselves

  • You declared/stated as fact mcmANUS is the best songwriter of all time,so typical of you mcmANUS fans

    What about John Lennon ? Dylan? Leonard Cohen? et etc

  • Are you Joe Jackson in disguise ?

  • gerry spams costello videos with his nonsense.

  • nonsense?....You Wish

    In my world (THE REAL WORLD)it's TRUTH,deal with the fact that mcmANUS will never get 23 grammy awards.... let alone be regarded as one of the worlds renowned mainstream songwriters

  • it's a matter of opinion, give it a rest already. my inbox is spamming gerry2k responses that arent worth the electricity it takes to view them.

  • the grammy's mean fuck all

  • he is regarded as one of the worlds greatest songwriters, mainstream or not.

  • Yeah of course he is,like there is no one else writing better material...yeah

  • What about them? They were good to, but depending on your worldly views, any could be the best.

  • See Hillary Clinton has secured Elvis Costello for her 60th,now he has sold his credibillity out too,along with his back catalogue cheap re-issues

    Not only has he no sense of rythm , no soul either, but now he has totally discredited any anti war notion/lyric that has ever come out of that rather large drug infused cranium of his,mcmANUS is a total FRAUD and a PHONEY

    As he unashamedly ***** the corporate ****

  • Maybe Hillary is a fan you dumbass. If I had that kind of money I'd have him play at my birthday too!

  • Try Prozac!!!!1

  • Now i know whats going on,you got Phil spector esque style of 60's(not wall of sound i mean "Be My Baby" type beats,singing,aka Ronnettes,but it comes down to this,do you want this that touches the surface,or the real thing complete,and with dare i say it better vocals? and harmonys etc

    But granted this is ok

  • Try English grammar and punctuation.

  • *tears*

  • Thanks for sharing. =)

  • cool. no dancing in slo mo, i love it

  • Interesting video, thanks for sharing. I had to watch this several times!

  • Great clip of an often overlooked number. Bruce and Pete must have really liked this song, you can see them both mouthing along to the words.

  • this is a brilliant video

  • I haven't heard this great song in so long..it reminds me of nights of summer of '84 and i'd get in '71 p1800 and drive down to the Jersey shore and 'have this album(cassette) playing ...so looking to partying & picking up hotties..ahh those were the days...great clip bro

  • God, they are all so young. Even then, he was obviously a genius. I'm fortunate to have been alive and aware for his entire career. And he'll be releasing records and touring when he has to roll his wheelchair on stage.

  • Time just makes it clearer what a fantastic band Elvis assembled in Mssrs. Thomas, Thomas and Nieve. THANK YOU for this great clip.

  • Is it just me or is Elvis in classic form here? Absolutely stellar. I can remember singing this song when I was a kid with all the anger and frustration I could muster. In a word, great.

  • Excellent video! I had almost forgotten how good this song was, I mean 'is'. It looks like an early session to me - around the time of its original release.

    By the time 'Trust' came out, he already had an image. This is early, snarly, nerdy, 'raw' Costello. And nothing wrong with that ...

  • Actually he recorded his first album with an American band called 'Clover', a loose group of studio types who ended up being the thoroughly unexciting 'The News' of Huey Lewis fame. But The Attractions, they are another story. Excellent group.

  • This is a fantastic clip! Quality sound, well filmed, and a great rendition of a great song. I'm curious as to what year. He look a bit like he did around the time of the "Trust" album. I could be wrong, might be a lot earlier than that.

  • "looks" not "look", sorry.

  • This had to be 77 or 78, I would think.

  • God! I love Elvis's early work. Why does it seem like most of the really great works are done by a young, hungry artist trying to make their mark in the world?

  • He was and still is the master of song writing and poetry!

  • Peter Bruce and Stevie and Patrick all terrrific

  • Thanks so much for this! My fav from the first record.

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  • I love, love, LOVE this clip. I wish I had everything recorded from this performance. Thanks jzenman!

  • One of the greatest foursomes to eber hit the stage...EC proves himself as thew leader and on and on with this circular thing, which is what ringingly great music is...which is what "This Year's Model" was.

  • First time I have heard the Attractions do jusice to any of the songs on My Aim is True. I've never quite understood why he didn't go back to Clover - the band he played with. He hit a much less dirgey sound with them than he ended up being remembered for.

  • Have you not heard "Watching the Detectives"? That is on "My Aim is True", but was recorded by the Attractions. I have to say I think the Attractions were perhaps the greatest back up band in history.