Accidents Will Happen

The origins of "Accidents Will Happen" dates back to 1978, when Elvis Costello wrote the song in Phoenix, Arizona during a tour.[2] Costello had written the song about an incident he had experienced in nearby Tucson, Arizona.[3] He had fallen in love with a taxi driver, but the romance fizzled after Costello began to argue with her over the radio—Costello had argued for Freddy Fender, while the driver argued for Pink Floyd.[4][5] The driver then drove Costello back to his hotel, where he wrote the song with Attractions keyboardist Steve Nieve at 3:00 AM. The earliest rendition was debuted at Hollywood High School on June 4, 1978, where Costello was accompanied only by Nieve on piano.[2]

In his memoir, Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink, Costello wrote that the song is "about a straying lover struggling to tell the truth and face the consequences."[6] He had been inspired by the Burt Bacharach—Hal David song "Anyone Who Had a Heart" because, according to Costello, "everything I did seemed to mark the absence of one".[7] Costello also "changed every 'I'" to "we" and "he" to remove the personal nature of the song; he stated, "This was pop music, not confession".[7] Costello prefaced the song in a 2019 concert by stating, "It was the end of the romance".[5]

"Accidents Will Happen" was a late addition to the Armed Forces album, having been written after most of the album's other tracks. To make room for the song on the album, the track "Clean Money" was cut; Costello dismissed the song as an "overly powdered-up rocker" and noted that the song "would have set an entirely different scene than a song that opened with the line 'I just don't know where to begin'".[7] "Clean Money" would ultimately be released as one of the B-sides of his 1980 single "Clubland" as well as on the rarities albums Ten Bloody Marys & Ten How's Your Fathers and Taking Liberties.

"Accidents Will Happen" was released as the second single from the Armed Forces album, after "Oliver's Army". It reached number 28 on the UK Singles Chart in June 1979. The song also reached number 101 in the United States and attracted notable FM radio play.[8][9] In reference to the song title, the cover of the single was printed inside-out, and the run-out groove on side A reads "Porky Prime Cuts Will Happen" (referring to the trademark signature of cutting engineer George Peckham). The record had two B-sides; "Talking in the Dark" and "Wednesday Week".

A live version of the song would be released on an EP included with early American pressings of Armed Forces, featuring the stripped-down arrangement from Hollywood High with Costello on vocals and Nieve on piano.[10] AllMusic's Mark Deming described this version as "a telling example of the malleability of Costello's music, and a preview of the stylistic diversity that was to dominate his work in later years". This version would also appear on the live album Live at Hollywood High.

"Accidents Will Happen" was accompanied by an animated music video created by Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton. Featuring cartoon footage of the band interspersed with common accidents, such as toast being burnt, a bathtub overflowing, and a nuclear missile being launched.[11] According to Jankel, Costello had been unavailable for a live-action video, so 35mm stills of the band were used. Speaking of the video, Jankel said,

"Accidents Will Happen" inspired a visually focused conversation that threw up a bank of ideas to do with Accidents—from the mundane Domestic to the catastrophic no-going-back. Accidents of course can be "Accidents" which is what we are wrangling with now, 40 years later—in the current political climate.[11]

The ending sequence features a computer-generated image of Costello that was created using a computer at a London university. Jankel cites Piet Mondrian as inspiration for the visual.[11] Because of this feature, PC Magazine described this portion as "the very first computer-generated moving image in a music video."[12] The video was one of the 35 videos selected for the Museum of Modern Art's "Golden Oldies of Music Video" exhibition in 2003.[13]

"Accidents Will Happen" has received critical acclaim as one of the highlights of Armed Forces and as one of Costello's greatest songs. Geoffrey Himes of The Washington Post lavishly praised the song in a 1979 article, saying, "'Accidents Will Happen' ... is one of those rare moments in rock 'n' roll that works on all levels at once".[14] He went on to call the track "the kind of high point that marks a great era of music", comparable with Elvis Presley's "Mystery Train" and Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" in stature.[14]

In 2003, Matt LeMay of Pitchfork Media described the song in this way: "'Accidents Will Happen', one of the finest songs in his, or any, repertoire, matches a signature smirking double-entendre with an almost Baroque pop sensibility. Melodically and lyrically, the song is above reproach, as Costello sings of infidelity with what could either be construed as regret or smug satisfaction. It's also one of several songs on Armed Forces to benefit from the album's dense production."[15]

"Accidents Will Happen" has been ranked by multiple critics as one of Costello's best. In 2004, Entertainment Weekly voted it as one of Costello's top 10 greatest tunes,[16] while The Daily Telegraph's Martin Chilton named the song Costello's 5th best, calling it "one of Elvis Costello's simple and effective songs".[17] Ryan Prado of Paste named it Costello's 14th best, praising the opening line for "providing a clever actual beginning to not only the song, but the entire album".[18] In a list for Louder, David Ford named the song one of Costello's top ten best, similarly praising the opening lyric for "kick[ing] off the Armed Forces album perfectly".[19]

In E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Elliott's brother, Michael, sings this song in the family kitchen after coming home from school.[17][21]

The song is played in The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror XXVI segment, "Wanted: Dead, Then Alive", in which Sideshow Bob keeps killing Bart Simpson and bringing him back to life over and over again in a montage.[22]

Citations

Sources

• Costello, Elvis (2016). Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink. New York: Blue Rider Press. ISBN 978-0399185762.