Ten Nights, 250 Songs, Only One Elvis Costello

In the end, Costello played 250 songs. Many were reinterpretations and most were a revelation; the scope of the project took me back through so many periods of my life. I asked him whether he regarded the stint as a sort of reappraisal, a consideration of his legacy.

EC: I’m probably the least nostalgic person in the room. I don’t know what an adventure like this suggests about the future, but I don’t ponder that place any more than I do the past. The road ahead can’t possibly be as long as that behind us. Pete Thomas is three weeks older than me and I told him when we were approaching our UK retirement age, “OK pal, you’re on ‘Route 66’ now, and you’d better enjoy it, because there are less theme songs up ahead. Just ‘76 Trombones’ and ‘77 Sunset Strip’ and then it is a clear and silent road until we get to ‘99½ Won’t Do’.”

But any reminiscences should not be taken for a longing to return. Legacy is the last thing on my mind. I know it sounds idiotic, but I wasn’t much more than 30 when people started kindly asking me how I might be regarded by posterity. Posterity, my arse. Posterior more like it. I won’t be here, why the hell should I care? We live now, whenever the songs were written. Onward.