The Top 20 Elvis Costello Songs of All Time

2. “Shipbuiding”

In his liner notes to a greatest hits compilation, the great Randy Newman summed up his reason for writing “Sail Away” from the perspective of a recruiter for the slave trade in memorable fashion: “How else could I do it-slavery is bad?”

That line has always stuck with me when I think of the quandary that songwriters face when they attempt to tackle some of life’s weightier topics. For example, many artists have stepped up to rail against war, but the best anti-war songs find ways to do it in novel ways that you might not expect. Think of the way Pink Floyd’s “Us And Them” uses preschool-like simplicity in the verses to show just how absurd war really is. Consider the subtle heartbreak of Tom Waits’ “Day After Tomorrow,” written as a letter from a soldier who’s preparing to return home even as we listeners wince at the possibility that something awful might befall him before then.

Elvis Costello’s “Shipbuilding,” a song abundantly insightful and indelibly moving, proudly stands in the heady company these brilliant anti-war songs. It could be considered ironic that one of Costello’s finest sets of lyrics is relatively minimal in terms of the number of words he uses. The bottom line is that Elvis has the versatility to do whatever is best for a specific song, and it’s impossible to argue against his efficiency in getting the job done here.

Costello got a big assist from his Punch The Clock producer Clive Langer, who wrote the piano melody that became “Shipbuilding.” After Elvis wrote the lyrics, the song was then given to Robert Wyatt, who actually scored a top 40 hit in Britain at a time when criticizing the Falkland invasion wasn’t exactly the way prevailing winds were blowing.

While Wyatt’s version is pretty, Costello’s own version on Punch The Clock is stunning. Langer’s languid melody is a gem, played by Steve Nieve on piano with his typical flair. The finishing touch was the gorgeous trumpet solo provided by Chet Baker. Baker plays as if mimicking a bird flying above the human race and regarding it with disappointment.

The very first question that comes out of Elvis’ mouth sums up the song’s thoughtful tone: “Is it worth it?” Thus begins a meditation on the inherent contradiction between a war’s beneficial effect on a small town’s economy and its destructive effect on the lives of the town’s young men sent off into the conflict. The same ships built by the townsfolk will be used to transport their sons into the bloody fray.

Costello intimates that the reaction of these people to news of an impending war wouldn’t be simple. The economic malaise that affected Great Britain at the time had the working class on its knees, so any sort of financial boon to those struggling couldn’t be taken lightly. In this way, “Shipbuilding” works as an indictment of a society where its citizens are in such dire straits that they would consider for even a second that there might be some benefit to bloodshed.

Elvis also acknowledges that there is a price to be paid for dissent. “Somebody said that someone got filled in,” he sings. “For saying that people get killed in/The result of this shipbuilding.” In other words, protest at your own peril. Still, the price is certainly worth the alternative: “Within weeks they’ll be reopening the shipyard/And notifying the next of kin/Once again.”

The haunting final lines depict the chasm between mankind’s potential and the depth of its folly: “With all the will in the world/Diving for dear life/When we could be diving for pearls.” “Shipbuilding” might just be yet another way of saying that war is bad. Thanks to the talent and heart of Elvis Costello, it is a way that few who have heard it will ever forget.

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