Even those of us lucky enough to have fantastic jobs have daydreamed at least once about an existence that doesn’t require clocking in, working late, or laboring at all. For musicians, this fantasy life usually entails getting to write, perform, and record music all day, with no extraneous day-job shifts getting in the way. How often has an instrument-playing 9-to-5er fantasized about telling their boss they’re quitting to become a world-famous rock star? The limit doesn’t exist.
For Elvis Costello, he got to live out that universal rock ‘n’ roll daydream on July 9, 1977. On this day, the future eccentric icon quit his job as a computer operator for Elizabeth Arden Cosmetics. The job required Costello to manually insert tapes and cards into a computing machine—essentially serving as the arms, while the computer actually processed the data. In essence, it was a busywork job that allowed Costello’s mind to wander to his passions.
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In his memoir, Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink, Costello wrote, “They probably kept me around because I was also willing to pull the 24- or even 36-hour shifts when required. The overtime pay was welcome, and I could write songs when the office was deserted at night.”
Elvis Costello Turned Into an Overnight Sensation After Quitting His Job
Elvis Costello’s time as an Elizabeth Arden computer operator was beneficial in some ways. It provided steady income while Costello honed his songwriting and instrumental crafts. The free time on his shifts gave Costello quiet time to come up with new ideas. And perhaps more abstractly, the job gave Costello unique insights into the fashion and beauty industries, as well as capitalism as a whole. Like a cheap lippie smudging down the chin, these concepts bled into Costello’s music.
But on that fateful summer day in 1977, Costello decided he was ready to pursue music full-time. He cut his teeth in clubs around London and Liverpool. He placed himself in front of potential job opportunities, sometimes to the point of trespassing. These stunts got him in trouble with the law, but they also gave him free press, which was worth the effort in his mind. Eventually, Costello received a distribution deal with Columbia Records in the United States to release his debut album, My Aim Is True. “I had just become sort of improbable overnight sensation,” Costello later wrote.
Compared to other more ubiquitous names from the late 1970s and 1980s, Costello isn’t necessarily the biggest household name of the bunch. Nevertheless, he became a rock ‘n’ roll icon in his own right, forging a decades-long career that continues today. If he had never taken that first leap of faith by quitting Elizabeth Ardent, who knows what would’ve happened to his music career, if it even existed at all. Of course, we’re not saying that quitting your day job will eventually lead to a record deal with Columbia. We’re just saying that’s what happened to Costello. Take of that what you will.
Photo by David Redfern/Redferns