There’s that word again. Just of passing interest, this snippet of an interview with Elvis Costello, done by Billy Bragg, apparently in 1995:

Billy Bragg: What about Bob Dylan?

EC: I met him in ‘78. I went along.., in fact, it´s a really long, convoluted story…

BB: So what did you say?

EC: He said, ‘Hey, I´ve heard a lot about you´, and my mind went blank. And then I said, ‘Well, you know what? I´ve heard a lot about you too´. (both laugh) But he was good, you know, and we sort of looked at each other a bit like a young boxer and middleweight. And then I ran into him quite a lot on that tour, like two or three times. Then a few years later we ended up with a party of us in Minneapolis, but that´s the only time we really talked.

BB: And you´ve just been playing with him now?

EC: Yeah, we went out after one of the shows in Dublin, but the conversation is always enigmatic. But he´s a great guy. I think he´s a good spirit, and won´t have a bad word said against him. I think all of his songs are just like works in progress. I saw him do a show at the Hollywood Bowl, where he did a version of ‘Gates Of Eden´ that was hair-curling. Somehow it was completely new and every night of that tour I did with him he did something that was extraordinary.

The rest of the interview is interesting enough if you like Elvis, but beware of some fatalistic old leftist commiserating further in—with Costello even calling for beheadings. Oh, and I like this: “… if Tony Benn had been prime minister everything might have been a lot different. ” I think that’s sort of equivalent to wishing Jesse Jackson had swept to victory in the U.S.A. in 1988. Things would be different, alright. Oh, Elvis …

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