A New Song For A New Week (Week 1)
I’m setting up a new weekly feature to help me in what is a bit of a writer’s block at the moment. At the beginning of every week I will stream and discuss a single song. It’s a bit cheesy, seeing as how every time I make a post I both stream and discuss several songs. But this will be different in that I will focus on one single track and…well, okay, it’s just an excuse to add music and add content.
You see, I tried writing some angry rant about various things that I don’t like, but I’ve recently found that I have no energy to write negatively. Just so no one thinks they’re missing out on anything, the piece essentially said this: Vancouver’s Zulu Records is a terrible record shop and you shouldn’t shop there; UK hip hop is almost uniformly awful; I like Broken Social Scene, but I hate everything else that the band is associated with (Feist, Treble Charger, etc.); the Arcade Fire are nothing but an emo band; Mute Math are nothing but a contemporary Christian worship band; and I don’t really understand the rabid following of Joy Division/New Order.
Now that that’s off my chest, let’s talk about the happy things in life. Namely, this week’s song:
Elvis Costello “Green Shirt (Demo Version)”
The original track, available on the magnificent Armed Forces, is a bobbing, keyboard driven shuffle (along with almost all of Costello’s songs during the time period) that is accentuated by a military snare roll. It’s a very solid track, with Costello’s silky smooth delivery and Steve Nieve’s trademark keyboard filling in all the gaps. Unfortunately, on an album that boasts unbelievable tracks like “Accident’s Will Happen,” “Oliver’s Army” and the dynamite “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding,” a song like “Green Shirt” runs the risk of getting lost in the shuffle. Although nowhere near filler, the official version of “Green Shirt” bears no impact on the overall success of Armed Forces.
This acoustic demo, available on Rhino’s reissue of This Year’s Model (along with the other brilliant acoustic demos of “Running Out of Angels” and “Big Boys”), lacks the musical dynamics of the official version, but more than makes up for it with an intimacy and immediacy that Costello was unable to recreate until Imperial Bedroom’s “Beyond Belief.” Being a demo, the production sounds unfussy, but that lack of studio wizadry only adds to the in-your ear-canal quality of Costello’s voice and acoustic guitar. You can practically hear each word and syllable forming on Costello’s lips. With this anti-production, a marble-mouthed lyric like “Somewhere in the quizzling clinic there’s a shorthand typist taking seconds over minutes,” sounds astounding, fit so tightly into such a small time frame. On the official version, the line stands out, but there’s no breathless elasticity to the performance.
Costello’s palm muted acoustic establishes that intimacy, though it’s more restrained punk rock than it is whispery coffee house folk. The low chug-a chug-a of the guitars is a hook in itself. The guitar never opens up, it stays in a low and persistent rhythmic focus. Where the keyboards gave the official version a spaciousness that almost feels laid back, every second of the demo is filled with a rushed and steady guitar. This “Green Shirt” is all about urgency and the economy of time.
Said urgency is further enhanced by a dropped bar in the chorus. On the Armed Forces version there’s a slight build to the wonderful chorus followed by a mid song instrumental gap, however on this version there’s simply no time to waste and the rush from section to section is exhilarating. Each lyric flows into the next with nary a breath taken.
It’s almost unfortunate that Costello’s earlier material wasn’t more lo-fi. I love his high-gloss, studio-tinkered tracks as much as anyone else, but as “Green Shirt” attests, there was a sharper, more punk version of Costello hiding behind it. If nothing else, the demo version of “Green Shirt” provides insight into the birthing process of Costello’s music. Fortunately, this song provides so much more than that. It truly is a highlight of Costello’s entire oeuvre.