High Fidelity (song)

"High Fidelity"
Single by Elvis Costello and the Attractions
from the album Get Happy!!
B-side "Getting Mighty Crowded"
Released April 1980
Format 7" single
Recorded 1979
Label F-Beat (UK)
Songwriter(s) Elvis Costello
Producer(s) Nick Lowe
Elvis Costello and the Attractions singles chronology
"I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down"
(1980)		 "High Fidelity"
(1980)		 "New Amsterdam"
(1981)

"I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down"
(1980)		 "High Fidelity"
(1980)		 "New Amsterdam"
(1981)

"High Fidelity" is a song written by Elvis Costello and performed by Costello and the Attractions on their 1980 album, Get Happy!!. Written in 1979, the song was released as the second single from the album and reached number 30 in the UK charts. The b-side was a cover of the Van McCoy song "Getting Mighty Crowded".

Details

In his autobiography, Costello described "High Fidelity as, "an incredibly sad, delusion of a song, in which a couple find themselves in different rooms with different lovers, one of them still irrationally believing their pledge will endure both the initial faithlessness and the solace of revenge."[1] It was first played as a "lumbering" version on the 1979 American Armed Funk tour.[2]

Costello later said, "This is a pretty exciting record. It's very raw singing and a great rhythm track. We cut it in Holland, where we had nothing else to do but go mad in the studio."[3]

The opening line of the song, "Some things you never get used to", is a reference to the song of the same name by Diana Ross & the Supremes on the Motown label.[4]

Reception

Reviewed at the time of release, Rolling Stone said, "Even as Costello whispers menacingly, the tune's tense, martial beat propels him toward the inevitable realization that he doesn't have any choice. He accepts his fate, yet he isn't resigned to it. Not by a long shot."[5] AllMusic declared it a "full-fledged masterpiece".[6]

The Trouser Press said, ""High Fidelity" is a dynamic song (with a bit of Four Tops sound) delivered with convincing grit and wit, and stands as one of Get Happy!!'s high spots.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Elvis Costello (2016). Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink. Blue Rider Press. p. 242. ISBN 978-0399185762.
  2. ↑ Tony Clayton-Lea (1999). Elvis Costello: A Biography. Fromm Intl. p. 67. ISBN 978-0880642354.
  3. ↑ David Fricke. "Elvis Costello: My Life in 10 Songs". Rolling Stone.
  4. ↑ Simon Price. "Simon Price on pop: Elvis Costello's army bares its soul once more". The Independent.
  5. ↑ Tom Carson (17 April 1980). "Elvis Costello happy? Of course not". Rolling Stone. No. 315.
  6. ↑ Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "Get Happy!!". AllMusic.
  7. ↑ Ira Robbins (May 1980). "Get Less Anxious". Trouser Press. No. 50.
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