It’s amazing, but not surprising, how Elvis Costello can make any song ten times cooler. Here he is with performing with Billie Joe Armstrong at VH1′s Decades Rock Live. Dig those harmonies!
I wish I had full clips of “Accidents Will Happen” and “Kinder Murder” (with Ben Gibbard and Nick Harmer) to share instead, but YouTube let me down. There is, however, a sweet highlight reel. If you watch very closely you *might* see Fiona Apple smile.
UPDATE: Fiona Apple “I Want You” Full Performance here. (Thanks Olga.)
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i actually fell for this song when an actress sang it to a dying child on an episode of ER.
i know, i am pathetic but it really moved me.
wow, that was great
Ah, so it’s really actually Billy Joe’s voice that makes this song unlistenable. If only Elvis Costello had recorded it, I wouldn’t have had to smash my radio into tiny pieces in middle school every time it came on.
Elvis Costello completely ruins it.
yeah, um, too bad costello was off pitch and not in the right key the entire time. his attempts to harmonize turned the song into a disaster.
Actually, it sounded like Billie Joe was playing the song on guitar in a different key, so technically he was singing it in the wrong key, not Costello. Still, Billie is a fantastic songwriter and performer and has every right to be up there on the same level with a legend like Elvis Costello. Costello wouldn’t have picked him specifically to play with if he didn’t think so too.
what made the performance/show for me was:
1) HOW MANY GREEN DAY SONGS DID THEY DO? God, Elvis Costello must really love Green Day! It seemed like they did 3 or 4 to his 1! And how often do you get to see a dressed-to-the-nines Elvis Costello launch into “Basket Case” ?!@? I almost died when they started playing that. It was like two special nostolgia-related wires in my brain crossed over.
2) Is it just me, or was Billie Joe actually DITCHING the false cockney accent that’s (actually) made his voice distinctive over the years? I think he was singing “Allison” completely normally! And I really liked it!
3) In those AWFUL interview sessions, I can’t believe how much of a douche the guy “moderating” was. “So, Elvis, how did you come up with that name? Elvis? You stole it from Elvis Presley, right?” UGHHH
4) Ben Gibbard can make any song sound like a DCFC song. I don’t yet know if this is a good thing or just a survival mechanism meant to keep his species alive when under duress.
But it was a fun, albeit lengthy, show!
I remember back when Billy Joe was cool.
I cannot remember a time when EC wasn’t cool.
That was a great show — the transcendant moment was when Fiona and Elvis dueted on “Shabby Doll.” That song actually has gotten better in the (gasp) 25 YEARS since he first recorded it.