This week's clip is apropos -- Elvis Costello performing his classic "Watching the Detectives" from a 1977 episode of Saturday Night Live. Costello's homage to film noir is entrancing, from the halting rhythms to the razor-sharp lyrics. This song is one of the inspirations for the "Lenora X" character.
I'm not totally thrilled with this version . . . the audio is not great, and Costello has the tempo jerked up a bit, throwing the song off a bit in My mind. The bass player overdoes the flourishes to the extent that it's distracting, and the keyboards came out sounding like a bad accordion.
But the alternatives on youtube were a much later version, where an older, bloated Costello hardly seems interested in one of his best songs ever, and a much better, older version from Top of the Pops, but that one's abbreviated, the dancing British teens around the stage are annoying and the video quality is poor.
But ultimately, any version of "Watching the Detectives" is a good one.
1 comment:
Now I feel old - I remember watching this on SNL when I was in college.
The Edge of Vanilla
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