Elvis Costello & The Attractions ‎– Everyday I Write The Book (1983)

“Everyday I Write the Book” is a song written by Elvis Costello, from Punch the Clock, an album released in 1983 by Elvis Costello and the Attractions. It peaked at 28 on the UK Singles Chart and was their first hit single in the US (33 on the Billboard Top 40).

In an interview from November 1998, Costello said “Everyday I Write the Book” was “a song I wrote in ten minutes almost as a challenge to myself. I thought, maybe I could write just a simple, almost formula song and make it mean something. I was quite happy with it and I tried to do it in a kind of lovers-rock type arrangement and I wasn’t happy with it and then ended up putting this other kind of rhythm to the song, which was written originally as a kind of Merseybeat knock off…I invested less emotionally in it than any other songs from that time yet it’s the one that everyone warmed to.”

For the US 12″ single release, “Everyday I Write The Book” was remixed by John “Jellybean” Benitez with John “Tokes” Potoker as Engineer.

Everyday I Write The Book (Club Version)                    5:04

Everyday I Write The Book (Instrumental)                    3:40

Heathen Town                                                           3:08

Night Time                                                                2:52

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Elvis Costello And The Attractions ‎– Let Them All Talk (1983)

Elvis Costello (born Declan Patrick MacManus, 25 August 1954) is an English singer-songwriter.He began his career as part of London’s pub rock scene in the early-1970s and later became associated with the first wave of the British Punk/New Wave movement of the mid to late-1970s.Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello’s lyrics is broader than that of most popular songs. His music has drawn on many diverse genres; one critic described him as a “pop encyclopaedia”, able to “reinvent the past in his own image”.

Costello has won multiple awards in his career, including a Grammy Award, and has twice been nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Male.In 2003, Elvis Costello & the Attractions were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

In 1983, he released Punch the Clock, featuring female backing vocal duo (Afrodiziak) and a four-piece horn section (The TKO Horns), alongside The Attractions. Clive Langer (who co-produced with Alan Winstanley), provided Costello with a melody which eventually became “Shipbuilding”, which featured a trumpet solo by Chet Baker. Prior to the release of Costello’s own version, a version of the song was a minor UK hit for former Soft Machine drummer Robert Wyatt. The album also featured Costello’s first U.S. Top 40 hit, “Everyday I Write the Book.”

The opening track from the Punch the Clock album, “Let Them All Talk” was also released as a single in the UK, France and Spain with an Extended Remix by Langer & Winstanley.

Let Them All Talk (Extended 12″ Remix)             5:59

The Flirting Kind                                               3:00

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