Elvis Costello has discussed accepting a British homage from Queen Elizabeth, saying it does not mean that he has changed his views on the concept of empire.
He was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2019 and explained shortly afterwards that he planned to turn him down…until his mother stepped in.
request in guardian A fan Q&A if taking the title meant he was no longer the person who wrote ‘Any King’s Shilling’ – a song about his grandfather’s fighting experience in the British Army – Costello replied: ‘It’s just another doll in my treasury, along with a prize MTV Video Music, which no one knows I got, too.”
He continued, “Look, my grandfather Pat McManus was in the Royal Irish Regiment and died of disease from the wounds he had fought for the King and the Fatherland. My father entered through the merchant’s entrance to sing at the Buckingham Palace staff ball in 1962. So, apart from the fact that my mother She asked me to go and laughed, I thought, “I’m going in by the front door.” It doesn’t change my view of the idea of empire as absurd and hideous.”
To underscore his point, he added, “One of the gentlemen working there was a fan, and he wrote this wonderful list on Buckingham Palace’s note paper. And this is the most beautiful souvenir of mine.”
Costello also revealed that he spent some time in the studio with Burt Bacharach last summer, “cutting two new songs for a group looking at our nearly 30-year collaboration.” Costello noted, “He’s 93, and his intensity isn’t lackluster. He’ll say, ‘Elvis, on the sixth bar, you’re not singing the right tune.'” “
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