Elvis Costello pledges not to perform his most famous song Oliver’s Army and has also asked radio stations, not to his most famous track.
The 1979 hit song has an infectious melody and is said to be one of the most enduring songs of Elvis Costello. This is the song that brought newer heights to Costello’s career. The song is about the conflict in Ireland.
The lyrics contain offensive words such as “only takes one itchy trigger/ one more widow, one less white n*****”
The 67-year-old musician who hails from Birkenhead has aggressively defended the slurs in his song which are said to be directed towards a “historical fact.” Costello stated that he will no longer perform this song in front of anyone as he is “accused of doing something he didn’t intend.”
Costello stated “If I wrote that song today, maybe I’d think twice about it.
“That’s what my grandfather was called in the British army – it’s historically a fact – but people who hear that word go off like a bell and accuse me of something that I didn’t intend.”
“On the last tour, I wrote a new verse about censorship, but what’s the point of that? So I’ve decided I’m not going to play it. [Bleeping the word] is a mistake. They’re making it worse by bleeping it for sure. Because they’re highlighting it then. Just don’t play the record!”
He added that radio stations would “do him a favor” by not playing the 1979 song anymore.
“Because when I fall under a bus, they’ll play She, Good Year for The Roses, and Oliver’s Army,” he said. “I’ll die, and they will celebrate my death with two songs I didn’t write. What does that tell you?”
The famous 1979 track Oliver’s Army is still being played on different radio stations, most of the time the offensive lyrics are replaced or bleeped.
