Grown up love-Fame and truer Epiphanies

[Jack of All Parades]

Jack Of All Parades

When we first met I didn't know what to do
My old love lines were all worn out on you
And the world walked round my mouth
They lit me up and they snuffed me out

Chorus:
And I was everybody's boy
But soon that thrill just fades
To be the love of one true heart
Or the Jack of all parades

You won't know who to thank
You won't know who to blame
It's just a part of the Murdering Game
'Cos down in the fleshpots
Where they pay you in pounds
They're laughing like drains
And baying like bloodhounds
For the Jack of all parades
The Jack of all parades

Once I knew a girl
That looked so much like Judy Garland
That people would stop and give her money
And everybody was Frankie, Jimmy or Bobby
Not the Jack, the Jack of all Parades,
Oh the Jack, the Jack of all Parades,
Oh the Jack, of all Parades.

Now the way that I feel is no longer news
You know my love and how to refuse it
Cause you know where the door is
And how to use it
Oh you know you do

But from my chequered past
To this shattered terrace
Where you can't keep your mind off
the Crimes of Paris
And you can't keep your peace
And try to forget it
And I can't forgive you
For things you haven't done yet

Oh I was anybody's boy
But soon that thrill just fades
To be the love of one true heart
Or the Jack of all parades

When we first met I didn't know what to do
My old love lines were all worn out on you
And the world walked 'round my mouth
I didn't mean to say it
I just blurted it out
As you pretended not to notice
Or be taken aback
And I loved you there and then
It's as simple as that

Oh I was everybody's boy
But soon that thrill just fades
To be the love of one true heart
Or the Jack of all parades
To be the love of one true heart
Or the Jack of all parades
Oh the Jack of all parades

Declan MacManus

A definite benefit of spending extended time again with select past albums is the opportunity to fall back in love with individual songs. Such is the case for me with Jack of all Parades from KOA. For my money it is one of my favorite EC love songs and I would argue it is also the first appearance in his catalog of an intelligent, adult take on love in its many manifestations: self-love, love of another and the affections of an audience for starters.

Gone are the acerbic, juvenile takes on male/female relations that populated the early records. In their place comes this marvelous self-barbed take on affections; a take that is more self-loathing than loathing; that sees all too clearly that real love leaves one vulnerable and open to pain. PD has earlier stated that he equates this record with the pain and self-examination found on Dylan's Blood on the Tracks. He could not be more correct. The emotional honesty voiced in this song mirrors that found on Dylan's record and equals another hallmark for me of such honesty- Lennon's You've Got to Hide Your Love Away. Love here means being willing to be hurt, to being made a fool of, to being laughed at and ridiculed, to being rejected by one's lover.

It all starts with honesty; one must be willing to admit that 'old love lines' might be 'all worn out'. To steal that old cliche, love hurts. What EC does in this song is frankly and realistically admit that real human love is a hurt-some thing; something that too often leaves one at a loss for words or at least the ones that in the past came so facile to the tongue. More importantly that affection might not be returned. Vulnerability like that is disconcerting and you know EC feels it. But this song doesn't stop here for me. It works on multiple layers of love as I can easily read a take on fandom and its fickle affections, a testament to the disillusionment one can have with fame[ that it is not all that it is cracked up to be- the suffocation it can cause] , the wax and wane of popularity or the way one looks at their own personage, the ego we deal with daily as we self evaluate our own personages.

That he coupled this lyric with a beautiful tune that is executed with such loving precision by his American musicians is a bonus for me. The sinuous bass line that slyly kicks the song off, counting off the tune, is intoxicating. When it appears 2/3rds of the way in as a coda with Steve Nieve's delicate piano enhancing the melody, I am in heaven. That he sings with a warmth and vulnerabilty and hesitation that is too infrequent in his catalog is a major plus for me- just listen to his voice on the bridge and the lines on the usage of doors. It is calculating, cutting and all too knowing. That he manages to take some of the studio tricks mastered in making IB to add a delectable double tracking to his voice on the chorus never fails to make me take notice. In fact, this album and the subsequent B&C, are perhaps the high point for me of his discussion of how the sexes deal with another. They are filled with songs that treat love in an honest, adult voice with a good deal of the discussion being aimed at the protagonist; self-judgement and self-loathing is abundant and respect for the object of one's affection elevated.

I only heard this song live once on a late October night in 1986. That he, to my knowledge, has not played it again since 1987 is baffling. It is yet another example for me of why the choices on the current wheel tour are too often facile-given to the obvious, too often ignoring the richness of the catalog.

It begins with this marvelous song for me. Have a listen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylaZUm4gwcw

[buzz]

Thank you for this thoughtful description of a beautiful song. I met my future wife at the time of KOA and Jack of All Parades and I'll Wear It Proudly are our "go to" EC songs when we want to reaffirm our relationship. I can't believe he hasn't played it in that long and it is certainly overdue a outing - maybe when he comes to the UK with the Wheel?

[Poor Deportee]

I'm off to a camping holiday and don't have time to offer a full reply to Chris's superb post, but I didn't want to miss the chance to say something - so, yes, this is absolutely an exceptional song. The chorus in particular is so effective. It compresses the theme of the entire song into a few lines of devastating frankness, that capture precisely the double meaning here (to be the love of one true heart or the jack of all parades: do I commit to one person or live the dissolute life of the rake?; do I commit to one person and domesticate, or do I live the dissolute life of the celebrity?). It is impossible not to read a confessional quality to these lyrics. To be slightly facile about it, this is the sound of Declan MacManus, the man, growing up.

In an odd way it brings to mind 'Hey Jude,' in that it captures with exquisite directness and precision this very specific moment in life: the moment of genuine commitment to another human being.

I find the line, 'I was everybody's boy/but soon that thrill just fades' very sad somehow. It's like an admission that the ambitions of youth came up empty. And the middle eight is especially interesting given the 'celebrity' theme...as though he somehow failed to make it, or somehow failed to fit in. There's a real sense of dislocation running through those lines that compounds the argument for abandoning that whole life-script.

The only weak moment for me is the line, 'you know where the door is/and how to use it.' It's OK, but reads a bit like the 'earlier' Elvis trying to say something witty. Don't get me wrong, this is only a minor gripe - less a claim that the line is awful, and more that it's below the high standard of the rest of this song.

A key track in what I maintain is the best quartet of consecutive songs in EC's body of work. Well observed, Chris.

[Natasha]

I'm new here, this is my first post so I'll make a sort of introduction of myself (I hope you don't mind).

I can see that the great majority of you follow the man's career for a long time (maybe since the beggining) and I must say I do envy you. I only discovered Elvis a few months ago! Of course I had heard a few songs but only recently I started paying attention to his stuff and - I don't know how, I don't know why - I completely fell in love with him.

At first I was fascinated with the angry young man and his sharp intelligence. I decided to listen to his albums in chronological order and, song by song, I got to know a really sensitive man. Actualy I think the sensitive man was already there but somehow he was afraid to show up. ("You say I've got no feelings / This is a good way to kill them") Maybe growing up (or getting old) means not being afraid to show your feelings anymore.

So, about the real subject of the topic, this song is really fantastic and sounds very biographical to me. I really like and agree with your analysis of this song. In fact, this song shows a grown-up Elvis realizing he has to learn another way to deal with love (and also realizing there are different kinds of love).

I suspect that the reason why I'm so obsessed with him right now has to do with a decisive point in my life: I'm 25 years old and I finaly feel like I'm growing up (finishing college, beggining a career, moving out my parents house). The songs I used to hear up to now are not enough to explain the complexity of my feelings anymore. And Elvis does it for me.

What EC does in this song is frankly and realistically admit that real human love is a hurt-some thing; something that too often leaves one at a loss for words or at least the ones that in the past came so facile to the tongue. More importantly that affection might not be returned.

It's exactly this kind of reflection I find in his music that makes me feel like he's singing for me even if he is singing about himself all the time.

I live in Brazil and he was going to play here last april. Sadly the tour (wich included Argentina too) was cancelled for obscure reasons ("schedule problems" sounds a little bit vague to me). I hope he comes back soon so I can have the privilege to see this man live and perhaps I'll be able to tell him how his music changed my life.

ps. Sorry for my english is not so good.

[FAVEHOUR]

Welcome, Natasha!!

Dave

[Jack of All Parades]

Always nice to have a new board member. Welcome aboard, too. As the father of three grown daughters with one already out of the house and on her own, living and working in Taipei, another having just landed her big job out of college with the opportunity to go back and live in Tokyo and a third just itching to follow her sisters' examples- I can empathize with how you must be feeling as you begin your 'adult' life. Best of luck on that journey and, as well, as you journey with EC. His is a catalog that should give you much to contemplate and enjoy. Sadly, my daughter's do not share their father's enjoyment of his music. I have had 34 plus years of following him and I am not bored yet.

PD rightly points out that this is a strong song about coming to grips with adulthood. I am glad it has had the same impact for you as he and I think it did for the artist. Good art connects us all; this is just such a piece of art. I love such synchronicity.

PS- I would not apologize for your English- it is miles ahead of my non existent Portuguese. Hope EC does make it down your way- he seems to assiduously avoid your continent with some consistency.

PPS- Buzz it is difficult to think of two songs as strong as these to aurally represent the commitment between yourself and your wife. Nice choices.

[SoulForHire]

It is a CRIME that he has not played this since 1987 (January 1987 at that).

Excellent version of this is found on the This is Tomorrow bootleg, which I think is from a London show.

[MOJO]

I'd like to hear Big Light live. He nevers plays it. Great tune!

[Natasha]

Thanks for the welcome!

Christopher, I think youngsters always have this need to be different from their parents. Sometimes we chose not to listen to the same kind of music our parents listen to just to rebel in a certain way. I learnt a lot from my parents about music, specially brazilian folk music but I had to look for rock 'n roll elsewhere.

Yeah, he really seems to avoid South America (although his wife comes here almost every year). He played here twice. The last time was in 2005 at Tim Festival. I didn't go to the show (I was listening to some weird stuff at that time, like heavy metal. XD) but there are bootlegs and some really good videos like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6pkW23vpKM

I had some hope he was coming to Rock in Rio this year but it won't happen.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Welcome, Natasha. It's a corny question, but someone has to ask it: do you look like Elsie?

I suspect not as 'Elsie' is meant to conjur up an image of someone plain and English. You probably look more like 'Natasha'.

I recall that 2005 Rio show. I have a bootleg somewhere, and recall it was a very good show.

I do believe you're the first Brazilian we've seen here. We've had a couple of Argentinians and a Chilean. Your English is good. Bem-vinda.

[Natasha]

lol I definetly don't look like Elsie and also people don't call me Natasha because that is not my real name. (I know, I disappointed you) I chose this nickname because Chelsea is my favorite song. I just thought it would be fun to be called Natasha. :p

You mentioned that I'm probably the only brazilian here. I don't know many brazilian Costello fans neither (just two friends of mine). Me and my friends were talking about that 2005 show the other day. They told me that at some point of the show he asked the audience which was his most famous song in Brazil and people answered "She". So he picked up a huge piece of paper with the lyrics. lol This is a great song and is indeed very famous here in Brazil but it's also a shame that most of the people here don't know the rest of his albuns. Also this song is playing in a soap opera soundtrack right now (and people here love soap operas - I like them too ).

I'm a bass player and I'm seriously thinking of forming a band to perform his songs. Maybe this way people here get to know other Costello songs than "She".

Bem-vinda.

Obrigada!

[Poor Deportee]

Hello to Natasha

I just wanted to note how typical it is of EC to have a key song invoking the figure of a 'Jack' on an album called King of America; and to have this followed by a song called 'Suit of Lights.' I certainly don't think there's any hidden 'code' here (AJ Weberman I ain't) but I wouldn't fall on the floor with amazement if I were to learn that the playing-card motif was on Elvis's mind in some way or other when he was working on that material. Who knows, those peculiar connections may be the remainders of some early writing-exercise or concept that ended up being left behind as the material blossomed.

A trivial point, but it does tilt us toward the idea that 'Jack of All Parades' was conceived as a really key track on that album...thus compounding the bewilderment that he has so neglected it on stage.