No. 79: Elvis Costello Puts His Trust In Fall Out Boy

noah | December 8, 2008 11:00 am

The past decade has been rife with inexplicable on-record collaborations that have seemed mercenary at best (surely you all remember the rush-release of “Ayo Technology”?), completely insulting at worst. Which is why there was something really sweet about Elvis Costello’s reasoning for appearing on “What A Catch, Donnie” from Fall Out Boy’s Folie A Deux, which he related in a a New York Times piece on his new TV show:

Despite that shared interest in history, after more than three decades in the music business Mr. Costello was tiring of pop stardom himself; last year he was telling friends that he was done making records. “And I really believed it,” he said. “It wasn’t so much the making the record, it was all the other nonsense.” Instead he made guest appearances on albums by Lucinda Williams, Jenny Lewis — she’s also on the show — and Fall Out Boy. That last request came as a surprise: “I didn’t even know they existed,” he said. (He agreed, he said, because they seemed sincere.)

What I especially like about this quote is that it sort of sets EC up to be a sort of grandfatherly, bespectacled Lil Wayne—but only for bands that mean it, of course. I guess if the TV show doesn’t work out, it’s good to have a back-up plan.

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