17. “King Horse”
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One of the recurring themes found in Elvis Costello’s work is the deterioration of romantic ideals. You won’t ever find Costello sacrificing brutal truths, to use one of his own pointed phrases, in favor of artificially pretty, Hollywood-style portraits of what goes down between men and women, and we, as listeners, are all the better for this decision.
“King Horse,” from 1980’s sublime Get Happy!!, is practically anthropological in its dissection of the mating ritual between a bar-hopping predator and his drink-serving prey. That obviously doesn’t sound like typical material for pop-song glory, but, in the hands of the Attractions, it becomes just that, another example of the simpatico relationship between Costello’s lyrics and the accompaniment provided by his band.
Each of the supporting Attractions gets a chance in the spotlight early on, from Pete Thomas’ quick snare roll to open the song, to Steve Nieve’s dramatic piano flourish right on its heels, and finally to Bruce Thomas’ hiccuping bass that propels the verses. They really are disparate elements, but all of them, and you can throw Costello’s distant yelping for harmony vocals in that group as well, somehow work. The chorus, when everybody comes galloping in together, is the wonderful culmination of it all.
Costello takes one verse apiece to identify the cast of characters. The opening segment belongs to the less-than-chivalrous suitor, who revs up his engines as soon as he encounters the “Cheap cut satin and bad perfume” of his target. Yet, in spite of himself, he gets sentimental as he ponders his future with her: “He’d seen the bottom of a lot of glasses/But he’d never seen love so near/He’d seen love get so expensive/But he’d never seen so love so dear.”
The girl, on the other hand, has seen this movie enough times to know how it’s going to play out: “And still she knows the kind of tip that she is gonna get/A lot of loose exchanges, precious little respect.” She is reduced, almost dehumanized, into being nothing more than “someone else’s weekend.” It’s little surprise that, when this unlikely pair comes together in the final verse, there is no happy ending to be had.
In the chorus, Costello identifies the two extremes of this peculiar scene: “Between tenderness and true force.” “King Horse,” in keeping with so much of Elvis’ writings on romance, is ruthlessly effective in how it fills in the gaps between the two.
18. “Shoes Without Heels”
Throughout this countdown, I’ve made constant reference (and paid constant reverence) to the songs that Elvis Costello wrote and recorded but, for whatever reason, didn’t include on his official studio albums. For my money, only Dylan is in the same class with him in terms of the quality and quantity of these so-called “leftovers.” (Not even Springsteen can quite hang with that duo in that department; Bruce has a ton of outtakes and extra tracks, but, because of his uncanny ability to decipher what songs work best on his albums, he has a lower percentage of truly great ones than Bob or Elvis.)
“Shoes Without Heels,” a seemingly unassuming country shuffle recorded during the King Of America sessions, is, for my money, the finest of these cutting-room floor songs. Costello inhabits the country genre seamlessly on this song and creates a tale of exquisite romantic anguish out of a pair of shoes that are deafeningly silent.
According to the King Of America liner notes, Elvis wrote the song in ten minutes on the back of a napkin. For most other artists this would seem like false modesty, but Costello seemingly has lyrics oozing out of him at all times, so it’s easy to believe it. If only all of our neurons and synapses could fire in such a way that we could spin out such brilliance with a minimum of toil like Elvis does here.
Costello’s first line is a killer: “This love of mine is like a stepping stone,” he sings, insinuating that the narrator is about to be left behind in the petite tread marks of the woman he loves. While the narrator takes some diversions cataloging the evidence of her indiscretions, the depth of his torment is rendered in almost harrowing fashion, as he sings, “And now I’m driven ’till I’m crying or I’m dreaming ’till I drown.”
In the bridge and the final verse, he starts to toy with the song’s perspective, switching from “I” when describing the victim of the girl’s cruelty to “he.” One could surmise that she is doing this to multiple guys (and she probably is,) but I think this switch is just a manner of the narrator deflecting the blow.
And why he wouldn’t he try such methods of self-preservation, when the damage being done to him is so raw and painful? In the last verse, the worst part begins: “But to see your love turn slowly from indifference into hate/Would hurt him more than any heart that you might care to break.” Costello’s voice cracks a bit as he sings these lines, a subtle tell that it’s the narrator who’s suffering the brunt of this hurt.
His promise to turn the tables on the girl when she returns seems like nothing more than false bravado given the evidence we’ve received for the rest of the song. In truth, it seems most likely that he’ll go right back to being the hapless doormat for those “Shoes Without Heels,” a mini-masterpiece of a song masquerading as a humble Costello outtake.
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