Elvis Costello

I think what's important is...

to be clear-sighted about what you feel about whatever they are now.

You could even have a little bit of a sense of humor about them that maybe they seemed to lack at that time.

A good example is Radio Radio, which started out as a song in praise of radio, and then it became a song that was more of a critique.

It really wouldn't be an issue now because radio is seen as a precious, rare commodity these days because there's so much other way that people can receive things.

So the whole argument of the song has a sort of whistle on this about it now, you know.

I guess I was trying to make some sort of impression.

I mean, I...

Yes, very much.

I had thought myself to be a songwriter and I had actually gone around trying to...

get my songs listened to by publishers as much as record companies, because I looked in the mirror and thought, I don't look much like Roger Daltrey in his, you know, Greek God sort of period, you know, with the ringlets.

I didn't look like that.

And of course, once my first managers and the head of the record company had the

had the crazy idea of giving me this name, or at least the first name.

The second name was my great-grandmother's name, so Elizabeth Koslow.

So, I mean, and the glasses.

They said, put these on.

I already wore glasses, but they said, you should wear ones that are even less fashionable looking, which they were then.

You know, horn rims now are kind of a hipster thing.

in in 77 there was hardly anybody walking around with those kind of glasses on that wasn't reading the news on the bbc you know so it was a very square look and i actually truthfully felt a little bit more comfortable not having to pretend to be something i wasn't i was kind of ill at ease with myself just as a person i was kind of shy really and uh doesn't seem like a very likely career for somebody who's shy but uh