Rolling Stone made a list of the top 25 misconceptions rock songs ever. And EC is there. (Though I've never thought or heard about that conception of the song.)
"7. “Alisonâ€
General misconception of Alison?
-
VonOfterdingen
- Posts: 462
- Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2004 3:28 pm
- Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
General misconception of Alison?
I'm not buying my share of souvenirs
-
invisible Pole
- Posts: 2228
- Joined: Tue Jun 29, 2004 2:20 pm
- Location: Poland
This is taken from The Stamping Ground site :
http://www.elvis-costello.net/comments.php
A Discussion of "Alison" from My Aim is True
By Andrew White
There has been much discussion about the meaning of Elvis Costello's slow-tempo ballad, "Alison" -- the lyrics of which the album "My Aim is True" takes its title. While EC himself purportedly mentioned in an interview that this song was about a woman he used to see in the grocery store, and that "my aim is true" meant that his focus on fame would result in bringing evil into the world, a careful analysis of the lyrics gives us a different meaning.
The first stanza:
"Oh it's so funny to be seeing you after so long, girl. And with the way you look I understand that you are not impressed."
What is the way she looks? Later on, we will learn that EC means that the way she looks is pregnant. Why is she not impressed?
"But I heard you let that little friend of mine take off your party dress."
Here we have our first hint that the song has a sexual aspect to it -- hinting at her pregnancy. Who is EC's "little friend"? Perhaps the little friend is EC's evil alter ego to which he oft refers, with the double entendre meaning, of course, is that his "little friend" is his unmentionables.
"I'm not going to get too sentimental like those other sticky valentines, cause I don't know if you've been loving somebody. I only know it isn't mine."
The end of the first stanza confirms that she's pregnant: "I only know it isn't mine". We have another hint above, too, when he uses the adjective "sticky". We can also guess that EC thinks that the child may in fact be his, but that he is in denial about it.
The lyrics continue:
"Alison, I know this world is killing you. Oh, Alison, my aim is true."
Here EC is perhaps trying to alleviate his guilt. The world is killing Alison, so EC will be not really be at fault if she dies -- for example, by murder. We suspect murder at the end of the second stanza:
"Sometimes I wish that I could stop you from talking when I hear the silly things that you say. I think somebody better put out the big light, cause I can't stand to see you this way."
Alison is perhaps telling EC he is the father, and he can't stand to hear it -- so somebody has better put out "the big light" of Alison's life, because EC can't stand to see her pregnant and accusatory.
Then the repeated lyric "my aim is true, my aim is true", which ends the song, hints that EC may be talking about killing her himself -- as in aiming a gun. What a dark song! If one did not listen to the lyrics, "Alison" sounds like a love ballad in its tempo and crooning sound.
The motif of dark and brooding lyrics focused on death, guilt, and the irony of presentation in a ballad or uptempo poppy tune is a hallmark of EC!
Keep'em coming, Elvis. We love you!
-Andrew White Philadelphia, PA
http://www.elvis-costello.net/comments.php
A Discussion of "Alison" from My Aim is True
By Andrew White
There has been much discussion about the meaning of Elvis Costello's slow-tempo ballad, "Alison" -- the lyrics of which the album "My Aim is True" takes its title. While EC himself purportedly mentioned in an interview that this song was about a woman he used to see in the grocery store, and that "my aim is true" meant that his focus on fame would result in bringing evil into the world, a careful analysis of the lyrics gives us a different meaning.
The first stanza:
"Oh it's so funny to be seeing you after so long, girl. And with the way you look I understand that you are not impressed."
What is the way she looks? Later on, we will learn that EC means that the way she looks is pregnant. Why is she not impressed?
"But I heard you let that little friend of mine take off your party dress."
Here we have our first hint that the song has a sexual aspect to it -- hinting at her pregnancy. Who is EC's "little friend"? Perhaps the little friend is EC's evil alter ego to which he oft refers, with the double entendre meaning, of course, is that his "little friend" is his unmentionables.
"I'm not going to get too sentimental like those other sticky valentines, cause I don't know if you've been loving somebody. I only know it isn't mine."
The end of the first stanza confirms that she's pregnant: "I only know it isn't mine". We have another hint above, too, when he uses the adjective "sticky". We can also guess that EC thinks that the child may in fact be his, but that he is in denial about it.
The lyrics continue:
"Alison, I know this world is killing you. Oh, Alison, my aim is true."
Here EC is perhaps trying to alleviate his guilt. The world is killing Alison, so EC will be not really be at fault if she dies -- for example, by murder. We suspect murder at the end of the second stanza:
"Sometimes I wish that I could stop you from talking when I hear the silly things that you say. I think somebody better put out the big light, cause I can't stand to see you this way."
Alison is perhaps telling EC he is the father, and he can't stand to hear it -- so somebody has better put out "the big light" of Alison's life, because EC can't stand to see her pregnant and accusatory.
Then the repeated lyric "my aim is true, my aim is true", which ends the song, hints that EC may be talking about killing her himself -- as in aiming a gun. What a dark song! If one did not listen to the lyrics, "Alison" sounds like a love ballad in its tempo and crooning sound.
The motif of dark and brooding lyrics focused on death, guilt, and the irony of presentation in a ballad or uptempo poppy tune is a hallmark of EC!
Keep'em coming, Elvis. We love you!
-Andrew White Philadelphia, PA
If you don't know what is wrong with me
Then you don't know what you've missed
Then you don't know what you've missed
-
Poor Deportee
- Posts: 671
- Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2006 7:30 pm
- Location: Chocolate Town
It's possible to read too much in, though. 'With the way you look,' might just refer to a contemptuous look, you know; 'it isn't mine' could refer to her lovin', which is after all the main topic of the sentence...'I can't stand to see you this way,' etc., could just refer to the (supposedly) pathetically compromised life she lives, being married to the (supposed) jerk-off, presumably the 'little friend,' who bested our narrator in the contest for Alison.
For me, the real topic of the song is the perspective of the jaundiced narrator, who - as in so much of Elvis's work - is transposing his self-loathing onto the object of his affection and/or lust. You don't need to read in a (somewhat melodramatic) pregnancy narrative for the song to make sense.
The finale, 'my aim is true,' though, is a wonderful and inescapable ambiguity. It could be a last desperate statement of machisimo - a way of saying 'I'm all that, baby' - or the implied threat, which indeed turns the song into a pre-murder ballad.
For me, the real topic of the song is the perspective of the jaundiced narrator, who - as in so much of Elvis's work - is transposing his self-loathing onto the object of his affection and/or lust. You don't need to read in a (somewhat melodramatic) pregnancy narrative for the song to make sense.
The finale, 'my aim is true,' though, is a wonderful and inescapable ambiguity. It could be a last desperate statement of machisimo - a way of saying 'I'm all that, baby' - or the implied threat, which indeed turns the song into a pre-murder ballad.
When man has destroyed what he thinks he owns
I hope no living thing cries over his bones
I hope no living thing cries over his bones
-
thepopeofpop
- Posts: 414
- Joined: Mon Jul 26, 2004 7:19 am
- Location: Newcastle, Australia (& Citizen of the World)
It's also an attempted play on words:Poor Deportee wrote:It's possible to read too much in, though. 'With the way you look,' might just refer to a contemptuous look, you know; 'it isn't mine' could refer to her lovin', which is after all the main topic of the sentence...'
"I don't know if you were lovin' some body
I only know it isn't mine"
ie, it isn't my body you were lovin'
Definitely the 'little friend' has to be the man Alison married. Apparently she got knocked up and so they married. There is a real ambiguity in the meaning of the line "My Aim Is True" and I think part of the answer lies back in the first verse. He baldly states:
"I'm not gonna get too sentimental
Like those other sticky valentines"
Which means, amongst other things, that this isn't going to be an overly sensitive love ballad. So, what sort of song is this going to be? Elvis sympathizes with the plight of Alison, but if he's not going to help her pain by soothing her, then is her going to help her by shooting her? Well, we don't know, and that's part of the genius of the song. Maybe Elvis himself doesn't quite know yet, but the possibility must have crossed his mind...
-
Jackson Monk
- Posts: 1919
- Joined: Fri Sep 19, 2003 4:33 pm
- Location: At the other end of the telescope
-
thepopeofpop
- Posts: 414
- Joined: Mon Jul 26, 2004 7:19 am
- Location: Newcastle, Australia (& Citizen of the World)
Yes, it mostly is. But I'm not sure about Thomson's interpretation either. Costello's comments over the years certainly don't back it up. And it would be an odd song to write about your newly-wed wife. I mean, I know EC can be a little "out there" with his subject matter ... but really.Jackson Monk wrote:In 'Complicated Shadows', Graeme Thomson is fairly adamant that the song is purely and simply based on the early part of his relationship with his first wife, Mary Costello. I tend to agree.
I think the analysis by Andrew White (above) is a load of bollocks myself.
-
Jackson Monk
- Posts: 1919
- Joined: Fri Sep 19, 2003 4:33 pm
- Location: At the other end of the telescope
-
Emotional Toothpaste
- Posts: 420
- Joined: Fri Feb 18, 2005 1:15 pm
-
thepopeofpop
- Posts: 414
- Joined: Mon Jul 26, 2004 7:19 am
- Location: Newcastle, Australia (& Citizen of the World)
Precisely. So the autobiographical subject matter is very clearly on the table.thepopeofpop wrote:Well that fact alone would explain about 1/2 the songs on "My Aim Is True"lostdog wrote:But then having your bride's ex-lover as your best man is pretty 'out there' too..
"You're upstairs with the boyfriend while I'm left here to listen" and so on