5 Underrated Covers of Elvis Costello Songs

Elvis Costello ranks as one of the finest songwriters of his generation. But he’s not the easiest guy to cover. That’s partly because he tends to put such a distinctive spin on his material with his own recordings. Over the years, several artists have been able to rise to the occasion and put their stamp on his originals. Here are five occasions where E.C.’s songs received stellar interpretations.

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“Girls Talk” by Dave Edmunds

Dave Edmunds and Elvis Costello ran in similar musical circles in the late 70s. That made it natural for Costello to hand off a song for a possible Edmunds’ interpretation. In later years, Costello claimed to have surrendered “Girls Talk” without much forethought. Edmunds took the source material, which was a rough demo, and supercharged it with the excellent studio musicians working with him. It became a huge hit in Great Britain, although, to Edmunds’ dismay, he couldn’t get it released in America.

“Shipbuilding” by Robert Wyatt

One of Costello’s most piercing songs, it emanated from a collaboration with producer Clive Langer on the album Punch The Clock. Langer had already written the music for “Shipbuilding”, and then Costello delivered the pitch-perfect anti-war lyrics. Robert Wyatt gave it the first go and made it into a Top 40 hit. His ethereal voice did the material justice. But Costello also knocked it out of the park on his own recording, where he received an assist from the legendary trumpeter Chet Baker.

“Indoor Fireworks” by Nick Lowe

In much the same manner as “Shipbuilding”, the cover of “Indoor Fireworks” hit the stores before Costello’s own take. Nick Lowe had produced several of Costello’s classic records early in his career. This song, an ambling, quasi-country number with sardonic lyrics, dovetailed perfectly with Lowe’s style. Just a few months after Lowe released it on The Rose Of England, Costello offered his own take on his outstanding 1986 LP King Of America, a solo record where he dug deep into American roots music styles.

“You Bowed Down” by Roger McGuinn

Costello occasionally wrote songs with specific artists in mind. “You Bowed Down” was just such an enterprise. Roger McGuinn had contributed a memorable guitar part to Costello’s 1989 track “This Town”. When McGuinn started making Back From Rio, a comeback album of sorts, E.C. returned the favor. You can tell that Costello was imagining The Byrds as he wrote the somewhat devastating takedown of a former friend. McGuinn deadpanned the vocal to make it sound just a tad less bitter and a bit more disappointed.

“The Comedians” by Roy Orbison

Roy Orbison attracted some heavyweight writers for Mystery Girl, the 1989 album that was just completed before he passed away in late ’88. Bono and The Edge contributed one track, while Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne helped out on the big hit “You Got It”. Costello had recorded “The Comedians” himself, but the lyrics were completely different except for the title. He reconfigured the words to tell a tale of an amusement park breakup and gave the song a “Running Scared”-style rhythm. It proved an ideal fit for Orbison’s thrilling vocal range.

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