Elvis Costello, who has just published his memoir Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink, has said the only reason to write about a life in show-business "is to point out the absurdity of it all, because very little is consequential.”
Speaking to the Guardian newspaper, the 62-year-old singer said, “I do have a fairly scary memory. I had to look up dates, and people will alight on mistakes, but that’s not the important thing - the memory of how things felt is what’s important. The absurdity of things. The only reason to write about a life in showbusiness is to point out the absurdity of it all, because very little is consequential.”
In the course of the book, he reveals that his 1978 hit Pump It Up was written on hotel notepaper on a fire escape in Newcastle. He also says that his much-loved song Everyday I Write the Book was written in ten minutes “for a lark.” Another Costello gem, Alison, was composed when he was earning £30 a week while working in a computer firm
Aside from the story of his English childhood, adolescence, the early days and the formation of his key band The Attractions, Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink faithfully records the details of his many encounters with musical legends such as Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Paul McCartney and Burt Bacharach.
