Elvis Costello - Clubland

[TheJedgeworth]

I like how at 2:19 Costello mimics Marilyn's pose.

[jzenman]

@TheJedgeworth 2:19 nothing happens. It's just Nieve playing the piano. Did you write the time wrong?

[TheJedgeworth]

@TheJedgeworth Sorry. I meant to write 2:09. The mimic is subtle but there. Thanks for the correction!

Joyce

[WickedGravityVideo]

kind of a shitty video, but the song kicks major ass.... remember the thrill of buying TRUST when it came out in mid 80s.

[TheKenfig]

@WickedGravityVideo You MIGHT have bought it then, but it actually came out IN 1980

[thenewmexican64]

Brilliant, genius, and everything other earth shaking compliment. Its EC. Expect nothing less.

I saw him perform this in concert.

[hypocrite23]

#1 All time fave Costello song. Closely followed by "Chelsea"!

[siangoodwin]

JOHN TUCKER MUST DIE

[Castallantel]

Wow....been a longtime EC fan but never really heard those lyrics til now...awesome...the man is a master of double entendre...I'm always hearing something new in his songs...

[keonewstuff]

Last night (12-19-10) I heard this song on the simpsons. I was so surprised I started singing along until I realized just how inaccurately they were using it. Great song but horrible missuse. Very brief but still nice to hear as a fan.

[vidycz]

finally found this song jeez. took long enough. :P

[BabyBeastie1]

Cool!

[JazzJonnie]

Saw him on this tour. Met him in town the day after. He signed a poster which is long since lost. Great memories: thanks so much for posting!

[elbparker]

A favorite 80's song. :D

[11xzxzxz]

Oh and Elvis all of a sudden became much much more popular with women in the 80s. Women go more for the cole porter sound , in general, than men. No offense to women and I know many like him before the change BUT IF SOMEONE DOESN'T SEE THE STARK DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THIS YEARS MODEL" AND MOST OF HIS RECORDS SINCE 1982 .. EXPLAIN HOW YOU MISS THIS.

ELIVS GOT SOFT. HIS SONGS GOT WEAKER - SONGS LIKE SHIPBUILDING ARE OK BUT LACK PUNCH OR MIGHT NOT EVEN BE ROCK.

[jehouse]

@11xzxzxz

I liked him every since Oliver's Army. The Imperial Bedroom album was definitely much smoother and orchestrated, but it was still good. The crap that came afterwards, not so much. I am a woman, btw.

[11xzxzxz]

@jehouse But you didn't like My aim is true / This Years Model / Get Happy ?

[jehouse]

@11xzxzxz

Of course I did. I just think this is the last good album he put out, even though it was smoother. The really weak stuff came later.

[11xzxzxz]

@jehouse So we don't differ. I think this was Clubland was Elvis' last good record to. The crap, not just weak stuff, came later and now the only decent listening is Spectacle the TV show with his spectacles on; the last remnants of what he once was. He's a joke to me now. I don't get him.

[apowell65]

@11xzxzxz

I thought he still has some good material after Clubland. Parts of Punch the Clock and Spike. (Veronica!). Most of Blood and Chocolate and King of America.

[11xzxzxz]

@apowell65 What are you two or three favorite songs after this, and all the better if they are on YT.

[11xzxzxz]

@jehouse I still remember how Get Happy! had so many good songs.. enough for Get Happy 2!

[ignaciomasllorens]

@11xzxzxz Get Happy! is one of the best records of all time.

[11xzxzxz]

@ignaciomasllorens Absolutely one of the best of all times. Elvis is not so fond of it .. he wants to forget his clever ingenious songs in favor of his punch-less clock songs. Even Clubland still was a great record compared to most but I could whisper or scream all day and few know what I mean about this. Rarely has anyone done such an about-face though he puts out a few good songs now and then and his TV show is good.

[kevtruth]

@11xzxzxz EC to me killed during the My Aim Is True thru Imperial Bedroom period. He loses me when he punches the clerk and says goodbye to the cruel world. Then recovers with King Of America/Blood & Chocolate. The Warner Bros. period is thorny. Spike, Brutal Youth and All This Useless Beauty are cool. Just my two cents.

[tony45261]

@kevtruth Agreed - pretty much nailed it there I think. This song is sublime.

[FatArsedScouser]

A shame, but loads like you just don't get it.

Go'eadElvisla... I jumped off at Edge Hill an all.

[11xzxzxz]

Talk of loads .. Fat Arsed ?

And I still liked 100s of Elvis' song.. just not after Imperial Bedroom when he turned from New Wave to where my Mom could like him more than me. But from my Aim to Trust, Well, very few singer songwriters have attained his peaks. No one was better in the 70s

[MarkSentMe]

@11xzxzxz

I agree. I loved Elvis in his angry punk days. After "Imperial Bedroom" I quit buying his records. I discovered The Smiths, talk about "killing me softly with his song..."

[11xzxzxz]

@MarkSentMe Then you did a fine segway to another great band, The Smiths.

[11xzxzxz]

I get it . you're fat and Elvis went to a more Cole Porter style after 1981. Before that he was a real rocker. I guess you jzenman will erease this too.. sorry, jzenman if you didn't . What I am writing gets said all the time on youtube .. Fat did call me a LOAD and set himself up for an easy retort.

[timeclimber]

i hate elvis - he wrote all the songs i wanted to write.

tc

[goldbugjoey]

watch EC's Hands at 1:55 to 2:02 Nice Play!!!

[goldbugjoey]

watch EC's hands at 1:55 to 2:02 Nice Play!!!

[backtoharmony]

An Elvis classic, simply timelessly beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[verbusen]

EC's early stuff was some of my favorite to listen to for 20 years but man the videos were just soooo bad. LOL. He's best viewed in a live performance I think in a video. I wanted to see what Barney Bubbles who directed this did. Now I know....not much. Thanks for posting!

[mommyimadeapoopy]

downright AMAZING lyrics right here

[TheOtherRoger]

at 2:53 and again and 3:00 poster of Buddy Holly on the wall - OMG I so cried when BH died in 1959. Obviously EC dug him as well. Audio level on this is deficient, but any EC is better than no EC at all, no?

[spmrulez]

trust has got to be in my top 5 albums of all time

[KingCast65]

I know, right!

[OMGica36]

lol i heard this in john tucker must die :)

[MichaelJChicago]

Flash back to 1989 Chicago, Ill Belmont Avenue, This song was the Theme song for a Hot Chicago Night Club- Clubland at the Vic Theater. What Memories!

[videostrategies]

You've come to shoot the pony . . . you've come to do the jerk!

OK, how many different ways can you slice the innuendo of THOSE lines?!

[ThisYearsGirl1377]

one of the best double meanings ever. love it.

he's so slick with those.

[gobbaf]

(1:02) Drunk chick dancing like Elaine from Seinfeld!

[harlequingirl101]

john tucker must die :)

[jadethecoolbabe]

@harlequingirl101 saw it today, went on the hunt lol :)

[videostrategies]

"The long arm of the law slides up the outskirts of town . . . Meanwhile in Clubland, they are ready to pull them down!" Maybe I'm a lyrics nerd, but that is just brilliantly clever and sarcastic. And the instrumentals here might be even better.

[xrockangelx]

So many (all?) of his lyrics are brilliantly sarcastic. That's a big part of what draws me to his music. And I'm definitely a lyrics nerd. =)

[MouthingWords]

@videostrategies Yeah, this guy alone made me a music snob. If I were one of these shit artists today like Lil Wayne I would be downright embarrassed in front of this lyricism.

[cunn9305]

If you grew up on MTV you saw this video three or four times a day. Nothin' like it nowadays.

[inkmansteve]

this song rocks!!!!

you guys are faggetts!!!!!!

[elwood0412]

Omg. The reason i LOVE this song is exactly the same reason as 74294. Saw john tucker must die. Thought It sounded cool. downloaded it and no LOVE it !

[moschops12]

Listen to the very end- after the curtain falls. If you turn up the volume you'll hear a brilliant little Steve Nieve exclamation point to the song.

[diskochimp]

The song's better than I remember (& how often can you say THAT?) but the vid's a bit of a BBC teatime style stinker...

[bluefinger43]

So many great songs '77-'82 particularly, including this one. Now his music is mostly pretty dull and his voice is so mannered, almost self-parody. Shame.

[gyroplanefdk]

Agreed, he was fantastic in that period.

[74294]

You know, I'm 14 and eversince I heard this song in the movie "John Tucker Must Die" I loved and had to check it out!!

[battleoneliac]

I'd love the version they used for the soundtrack, actually, but it's nowhere to be found. :(

[MusicJew158]

The way that Steve Nieve looks at the camera and shows off is so adorable and confident...he knows how good he is he doesn't have to be flashy heh heh

[Exilemainstreet]

I always thought of Steve Nieve as rock's mystery man. He was a huge force on EC's first four or five records, but no one really knows anything about him. I always thought his playing was extremely tasteful. Very 'musical,' but not too showoffy.

[wormwood67]

Wasn't Steve Nieve also playing in Madness and the Specials around this same time?

[Exilemainstreet]

Here's what I found: "Nieve attended the Royal College of Music and successfully auditioned for the Attractions in 1977 when he was 19. In between touring and recording commitments with the Attractions, Nieve did session work with numerous other fellow new-wavers, including Nick Lowe, Kirsty MacColl, Madness, the Damned, Tim Finn, Nick Heyward, Hothouse Flowers, Graham Parker, and Squeeze (who hired Nieve as their touring keyboardist in the early '90s)."

[ijustice28]

lol awesome

[Delphi333]

I love it at 1:57 - the piano on...fantastic...

[freedom8758]

He reminds me of Bogart in The Big Sleep in this video. Nice touch.

[galethio]

haha

agreed

[jazzfi]

great song, piss poor video

[eastakron]

"Piss poor video"? Compared to what? I'm no filmmaker, but I love the use of light and shadow in this video. It gives it a mysterious quality. I don't know if that makes sense, but that's my opinion.

[enossified]

seems like few videos from this time have survived without seeming dated. The club here reminds me of the Michael Palin sleazy club-owner character...

[123Scears123]

Yep, piss poor. Only beaten for early 80s tackiness by Dire Straights' 'Romeo and Juliet'. Now that really does get the toes a curlin'.....

[eae1939]

great song & great video - looks like he's eating a take away? yes it was an Indian takeaway - I know....... I was there!

[emobile505]

when i turned on MTV the first time, this is the first vid i saw. it blew my mind.

man do i love el. (and pete thomas).

[edu1828]

good song ilike elvis

[Spyggliuke]

greatest song !!!!!!!!!!!111(mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm­mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm)

[BuddyHollysEdselGirl]

There's a photo of Buddy Holly on the wall! I love this song!

[leeperryismerry]

they look exactly the same though!

[DarioLoren]

Great video of a great EC song. Anyone else notice what's behind the curtain as the song ends...looks like a giant c@(%...or my dirty mind :)

[jaghetermirela]

When I heard this song in the movie John Tucker Must Die, i totally fall in love in this song..

[Wenindoubtukisscraig]

haha same here

[Lucas311Revival]

Luv it! The first time I've seen this vid!And Trust was the first Costello record I stole from my dad!

[jimboquinn]

Lucas

Trust was the best LP in the early 80's every song on it was brilliant.... Imperial Bedroom before that was my favourite cassette....T,REX

jIMBO

[bwworld]

Agreed--Trust was an amazing because it showed El Fuss growing musically. A masterpiece.

[badbadsuperbad13]

creative genius..

[bhartzer1]

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

[Dejasanders18]

this song is so funky

[TarkusNYC]

love the hefty blonde. She steals the video IMHO.

[sylvia1800]

i heard this song on john tucker must die...wow i love it!!

[Nodubya]

Pokerbob1 thinks kids dying is funny. What an ass!!

[NowPleaseReadThis]

Elvis Costello and the ATTRACTIONS are the best band since the Beatles. I would not walk across town to see Declan Macmanus and his guitar.

[veggievicksberg]

i love him

[Meliqp]

squeeze that juice baby

[AlexandriaM]

jzenman, excellent lyric to single out! One of my favorites in EC's whole catalogue.

[markdcarter]

Love the meandering song structure!! Intriguing....

[felster]

im planning on it! if he comes to toronto that is...

does anyone know if he plays his old songs at his new gigs?

[nowdid]

He has great concerts.The women at his shows are just as hot as the women that you see at a Prince or Justin Timberlake concert.He sings old an new songs and he speak alot to the audience.I like to sit up close because you can see the sweat and saliva coming out of him.That might sound gross but it is actually the most emotional part of the concert.

[lovelymess]

I have a great live Elvis story:

Saw him at the Greek Theater in LA, 3rd row center.

He was playing "Give me Temptation" and his left hand slppied, he played a sour note. I looked up at him, shrugged my shoulders as if to say "Hey no big deal, it's live." He shrugged his shoulders, smiled and played the next lick just fine. It nice to see performers who are that in touch with the audience.

[januarymick]

cool moment, lovelym

[level242]

Everyone should see an Elvis Costello concert before they die.

[NewWaveMaster]

... and a fine tribute to Buddy Holly in the video, to whom Elvis owes more than just a pair of glasses.

[ketzele]

is he feeding a man in the floor??

[veggievicksberg]

yeah he is.lol

[TarkusNYC]

and he's passed out too!

[danelectroman70]

wow. didn't know this one existed. great song. one of my favs.

[radicalsmurf]

Cool video man, thanks for posting it!!