10 Things We Learned From Elvis Costello’s Brilliant New Memoir

It’s probably no surprise that Elvis Costello‘s memoir, Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink, out today, is thoroughly engrossing. Costello’s gift for storytelling in song is without question, but like Bob Dylan’s Chronicles, his book is truly remarkable in the way it presents a riveting, honest portrait of the author and the many A-listers he’s tread the boards with, while ricocheting through the years at an almost breathless pace. In an era of ghostwritten — or, worse, self-serving — memoirs by rock stars at every strata of the pecking order, the nearly 700-page Unfaithful Music is a standout.

While the book is certainly worth of a leisurely, cover-to-cover dive, an even more surprising treat is the companion audiobook, in which the author himself acts out many of his most legendary incidents, delivering spot-on impressions of Dylan and many others, and often sending up himself in the process.

Either way, even the most ardent Costello fan will come away having learned more about the man than any of us ever dared hope to discover. Here are 10 key revelations.

1. Costello’s iconic glasses are a nod to the family business.
Costello’s father, Ross McManus, a well-known singer in England when Costello was a youngster, is a constant and charismatic figure throughout Unfaithful Music. In fact, it turns out Costello’s glasses are no show-biz gimmick, but are rather a tribute to his father. Costello also deftly weaves his family history — including stories of his grandfather, Pat McManus, who performed on the White Star cruise line during the Prohibition Era — in and out of the book, showing the rich artistic thread that reached its peak with Costello’s worldwide fame.

2. Costello’s 1977 ban from Saturday Night Live is Jimi Hendrix’s fault.
As Costello describes in this superb clip from the audiobook of Unfaithful Music, when the Attractions were deputized to perform in place of the Sex Pistols on SNL, he employed a trick Jimi Hendrix had used on Lulu’s show in 1969, stopping mid-song to perform a track of his choosing, rather than one approved by Lorne Michaels or his record label.

3. Elvis talked Paul McCartney into using his Hofner bass again and got him to embrace his Beatle-ness.
Costello recounts that when he first began collaborating with Paul McCartney, the former Beatle favored a “super-hi-tech custom” bass that his wife, Linda, had given him for Christmas. It had, much to Costello’s horror, five strings. Costello inquired about the Hofner, trying not to sound too much like the Beatle geek that all of us would be in that moment. McCartney then pulled it out of storage, and has been using it as his main instrument ever since.

4. There might one day be a McCartney-Costello album.
The pair recorded a series of collaborative demos in the late Eighties. In an outtake from the book called “Sketches From Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink” — included on the excellent companion album Unfaithful Music & Soundtrack Album  — Costello recounts a meeting he was called to about 13 years ago by McCartney in which the former Beatle wrote out identical to-do lists for each of them, which listed some tantalizing items: 1. “Listen to demos.” 2. “Edit and add to demos.” 3. “Write more songs.” 4. “Record more songs.” 5. “Release those songs.” McCartney then tucked his list in a book on the shelf of his office without another word. Costello did the same when he got home … and claims to have forgotten which book he put the list in.