The Ledge - Elvis Costello credits Peter Green

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Elvis Costello credits Peter Green

Picked up a copy of the 12/15 Mojo magazine today. The main article is on Elvis Costello and the issue includes a CD of tracks he selected (titled "A Collection of Unfaithful Music"). One of the tracks is Otis Rush's "It Takes Time" - here are Elvis' comments on it:

Quote:

I got to Otis Rush's playing from listening to Peter Green. In 1969, lads were passing around diagrams of chords as if they were girlie pictures: make this shape with your fingers and song comes out. The song itself was no three-chord trick. It was pretty complex, old before its time, even world-weary. It was Peter Green's "Man Of The World."

As I started reading the Mojo article on Elvis Costello last night (helping to promote a new memoir he's written), I saw that he talked more about "Man Of The World" and its impact on him. The interviewer asked about a small Spanish guitar that Elvis had been given as a kid and that sat around in his room for four years before he played it:

Quote:

Not until I was 13, when "Man Of The World" came out. That song was the one. I had to learn how to play it. I don't know why - up until then I'd been content to just listen. And it was a really complicated song, not a beginner's song. It's in a difficult key (F) and lots of minor chords. But I was so smitten with it that I just worked and worked and worked at it. I learned that some of the other songs I liked were easy by comparison to that one and I was flying.

The interviewer told him "That song used to make me cry", and Elvis responded:

Quote:

Yeah. Still does with me. And unashamedly it also appeals to a boy of that age, a lovelorn boy.

It's a lot easier to play in D , infact, from memory, I think the sheeet music has it in D ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by THD (Post 1176687)

It's a lot easier to play in D , infact, from memory, I think the sheeet music has it in D ?

mr. mcmanus' record player must've played too fast - 3 half-tones up, to be exact: the recording (and the sheet music) has always been in D!
:rolleyes:
or his memory just doesn't serve him that well anymore . . .
:o

Years ago, Rolling Stone asked several artists to list their favorite records. Elvis Costello named among his favorites Fleetwood Mac's Greatest Hits (the 1971 release), and added something like "the Peter Green band, not the mob with Stevie Nicks..."

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazy poker (Post 1176695)

There's a F# minor in there, that's probably what's he's remembering,

Quote:

Originally Posted by dino (Post 1176736)

There's a F# minor in there, that's probably what's he's remembering,

Yes, I agree Dino .(Another Peter Green composition which is absolutely diatonic and yet paradoxically,is bluesy! Somehow Mr Green works that magic ! )

Quote:

Originally Posted by dino (Post 1176736)

There's a F# minor in there, that's probably what's he's remembering,

sorry, dino, but i'd really like to set that record straight:
i agree that the song has "lots of minor chords" (and thus some quite difficult ones), but if elvis c. really said "It's in a difficult key (F)", he's not only wrong about the key itself - D (instead of F) is definitely NOT a DIFFICULT key to play in, D also is one of the easiest chords to master (one of the first 4 chords to learn) . . . and every guitar beginner will agree on that. :sorry:

BUT . . . if costello really tried to play the song in F, then he's DEAD right, 'cause he made it more complicated than necessary! (who knows - maybe a higher pitch was more suitable for his voice? but then again, he could've used a capo . . .) ;)

anyway, let's all agree on this: he gave the song credit, and that's what really counts, doesn't it?!!!
peace - martin