2329. “Pony St.” by Elvis Costello
Listen at Lala
Elvis Costello is one of four artists on the front page of the Trouser Press website - along with The Ramones, Nirvana and Moby. Here’s what they published about Costello’s 1994 album Brutal Youth:
Like an old lover who breezes back in the door after a protracted absence with no more than an indolent shrug and a sly smile, Brutal Youth pulls the angry twentysomething bile-spewer out of mothballs to meet his thoughtful, accomplished adult self. Wielding all the creative energy of Armed Forces with a far more skilled hand, Elvis, the Attractions and Nick Lowe (who might as well have been an official member for his pivotal production role on those early records) light a fire under his mature sensibilities; few albums that sound so simple are the result of such commanding artistry. Armed with a set of top-shelf tunes designed for uncomplicated small band assessments, Costello works across his entire dynamic range…
Clearly, they dig it.
Indeed, Brutal Youth is a fine record and many of its track are represented in my iTunes library - though, as with most of my CDs, I’ve been a little more conservative about the selection of tracks. Though the album is credited to Elvis Costello, The Attractions are the rest of the band here. They’d gone through a period of estrangement (primarily, Costello, Nieve and Pete Thomas were estranged from bassist Bruce Thomas) but apparently producer Mitchell Froom (a frequent target of AllMusic.com’s ire) persuaded them to all play nice. Nick Lowe, musician, producer, and long time friend of Costello’s, was also heavily involved with this album.
The album kicks off with a stinging look at the generation gap between a mother and daughter, “Pony Street.” Costello is seventeen years past his 1977 debut, so its appropriate that he appears to take the mother’s side here:
Daughter, oh daughter, you know I will love you forever
But spare me the white ankle socks with the lace and the leather
For you and your cartoon threat do no good to resist me
For I am the genuine thing but for you it’s just historyIf you’re going out tonight
How can you be sure
Where you lay your pretty head
Mother may have been before
All the things you do, your parents already did. Ha ha, youth culture!
Anyhow, “Pony Street” both announces that The Attractions are back in full force, but also acknowledges that they’re older and wiser.