Editing Elvis Costello (section)

=== 1969–1976: Pre-professional career ===
Costello began writing songs and teaching himself to play guitar by age 14.<ref name="Doggett-1995" />{{sfn|Costello|2015|p=104}} To test his songs in front of an audience, he performed them in folk clubs that permitted amateur musicians to perform unpaid.<ref name="Marcus1982" /> He played these clubs regularly in London and continued in similar clubs when he moved to Liverpool at age 16, although folk music venues that welcomed original songs were scarcer in Liverpool than in London.<ref name="Colin1989">{{Cite magazine|last=Irwin|first=Colin|date=July 1989|title=Floor singer's revenge|magazine=Folk Roots|volume=73}}</ref> By 17, he was occasionally being paid a little money.{{sfn|Costello|2015|p=125}} On the eve of the release of his debut album in 1977, Costello told a journalist that by that time he had written hundreds of songs.<ref name="Jones-1977">{{Cite magazine |last=Jones |first=Allan |date=25 June 1977 |title=The Elvis (Costello, that is) interview |magazine=Melody Maker}}</ref>

==== Rusty ====
At the beginning of 1972, Costello was invited to join a [[Folk rock|folk-rock]] band called Rusty by the band's founder, an 18-year-old veteran of the Liverpool music scene named Allan Mayes.{{sfn|Thomson|2004|p=25}} As other members left, Rusty soon became a duo, with Mayes and Costello singing and playing acoustic guitars.{{sfn|Thomson|2004|p=27}} For a little over a year, Rusty played regularly in small venues like pubs, clubs, schools, and community centres, mostly in and around Liverpool, unpaid or for small amounts of money.{{sfn|Thomson|2004|pp=27–28}} In Mayes's estimation, Costello was already a talented songwriter, able to quickly write songs in a variety of styles, and could sing like [[Neil Young]] or [[Robbie Robertson]].{{sfn|Thomson|2004|p=27}} Mayes has said he introduced Costello to [[Brinsley Schwarz]], a band that would be an important influence on him.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Mayes|first=Allan|date=October 1995|title=Brinsley Schwarz, Silver Pistol|magazine=Q|volume=109}}</ref> While in Rusty, Costello wrote an early version of a song he would record in 1980 as "Ghost Train", although by then little remained of the Rusty version except the central narrative idea of a married [[double act]] making their way through the low end of show business.{{sfn|Costello|2015|p=125}} In 2022, Costello reunited with Mayes to record and release an EP called ''[[The Resurrection of Rust]]''. The EP contained songs that were typical of Rusty's shows in 1972, including the early version of "Ghost Train", then called "Maureen and Sam".<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Greene |first=Andy |date=30 May 2022 |title=Elvis Costello Reunites With Teenage Bandmate for Nostalgic LP 'Rusty: The Resurrection of Rust' |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/elvis-costello-reunites-bandmate-rusty-the-resurrection-of-rust-1359937/ |magazine=Rolling Stone}}</ref>{{efn|Rusty's version of the song was co-written by Mayes and Costello, but by the time Costello recorded it as "Ghost Train", nothing remained of Mayes's contribution, so "Ghost Train" is credited to Costello alone.{{sfn|Costello|2015|p=125}}}}

==== Declan Costello ====
By early 1973, Costello had determined that the music scene in Liverpool was too small to support his ambition to have a career in music, so he arranged to transfer from his job as a computer operator in the [[Midland Bank]] data centre in [[Bootle]] to a position as a clerk at the bank's [[Putney]] branch.<ref name="Colin1989" />{{sfn|Costello|2015|p=142}} Returning to London, Costello moved into the same [[Twickenham]] flat where he had lived with his mother a few years earlier, by then occupied by his father (Ross), Ross's second wife, and their infant son.{{sfn|Costello|2015|pp=151–152}} When booking himself into London clubs, he began using the name Declan Costello, adopting a family name that Ross had once made a record under, because it was easier to spell and understand than MacManus when he spoke on the phone.{{sfn|Costello|2015|pp=154 [illustration]; in deluxe ebook photo gallery, reproduction of "Folk Forum" from ''Melody Maker'', 14 April 1973}}<ref name="Rambali1983" /> Around this time, Costello accompanied Ross to Costello's first professional recording session, for the [[R. White's Lemonade|R. White's]] "Secret Lemonade Drinker" commercial jingle. Ross sang the lead vocal while Costello played guitar and sang backing vocals.{{efn|In a little-seen version of the television commercial, in which the lemonade drinker fantasises that he is a singer in a nightclub, Costello and his father mimed instruments as members of the singer's band.{{sfn |Costello|2015|pp=155–157}}}}{{sfn |Costello|2015|pp=155–157}}

==== Flip City ====
In the second half of 1973, Costello formed a band called Flip City with several slightly older men who, like him, were fans of [[Brinsley Schwarz]] and other [[Pub rock (United Kingdom)|pub rock]] bands. The members of Flip City also shared Costello's enthusiasm for [[The Band]], the [[Grateful Dead]], and [[Clover (band)|Clover]].{{sfn|Thomson|2004|pp=38–39}} For most of 1974, Costello shared a rented house in southwest London with some of his bandmates.{{sfn|Thomson|2004|p=41}}{{sfn |Costello|2015|pp=163–164}} Flip City played the London pub rock circuit until the end of 1975, occasionally opening for more prominent bands such as [[Dr. Feelgood (band)|Dr. Feelgood]], but generally making little money and attracting little notice.{{sfn|Thomson|2004|pp=42, 55, 57–58}}{{sfn|Costello|2015|pp=174–175}} Flip City's performances consisted of a mix of Costello's original songs and covers of rock, R&B, and country songs. Their repertoire of Costello originals included early versions of songs that would appear on his first two albums as "Pay It Back", "Miracle Man", "Living in Paradise", and "Radio Radio".{{sfn|Thomson|2004|p=44}} Costello wrote all but one of Flip City's original songs, did most of the singing, and chose the cover songs they played.{{sfn|St. Michael|1986|p=12}} A friend from those days later told a journalist, "It wasn't so much that he imposed the ideas; he was the one who ''had'' the ideas".{{sfn|St. Michael|1986|p=14}} None of the other members of Flip City shared Costello's commitment to pursuing a career in music and some disapproved of his desire to make money from his music.{{sfn|St. Michael|1986|p=12}}{{sfn|Thomson|2004|p=56}}

Costello became engaged to marry a former schoolmate in late 1973.{{sfn|Costello|2015|pp=152–153}} By then he had found a job as a computer operator at the [[Elizabeth Arden, Inc.|Elizabeth Arden]] cosmetics factory in [[North Acton]], in northwest London, similar to the one he had in Bootle and with similarly low wages.{{sfn|Costello|2015|pp=142–143, 180}}{{sfn|Thomson|2004|p=41}} By early 1975, Costello was a husband and father and was struggling to support his family.{{sfn|Thomson|2004|pp=49–50}}{{sfn |Costello|2015|pp=147, 180–181}} Flip City's live engagements added little to his income, rarely paying more than the band's expenses.{{sfn|St. Michael|1986|p=11}}{{sfn|Thomson |2004|pp=55, 56–57}}

Costello recorded demos with Flip City at several sessions from mid-1974 until mid-1975, hoping to use them to get live bookings, secure a recording contract, or sell Costello's songs for other artists to record.{{sfn|Thomson|2004|pp=50–52}} All but the first of these sessions were at a small studio owned by [[Dave Robinson (music executive)|Dave Robinson]], future [[Stiff Records]] founder.{{sfn|Thomson|2004|pp=50–51, 53–55}} Robinson later said that he thought Flip City "could not play at all" but Costello was talented and ought to "find a real band".{{sfn|Thomson|2004|pp=52, 55}}

After Costello became successful, Flip City's demos were widely bootlegged, often misleadingly labelled to imply they were outtakes from the ''[[My Aim Is True]]'' sessions or otherwise affiliated with Stiff Records.{{sfn|St. Michael|1986|p=28}} The only Flip City recording to have been officially released is Costello's song "Imagination (Is a Powerful Deceiver)", recorded in early 1975, which appeared as a bonus track on the 1993 and 2001 reissues of ''My Aim Is True''.<ref name="Costello-1993">{{Cite AV media notes |title=My Aim Is True liner notes |title-link=My Aim Is True |year=1993 |first=Elvis |last=Costello |type=inset |publisher=[[Rykodisc]]}}</ref> In the liner notes to the 2001 reissue, Costello wrote that, in retrospect, the song sounded to him like "a very early attempt to write a song like '[[Alison (song)|Alison]]{{'"}}.<ref name="Costello-2001">{{Cite AV media notes |title=My Aim Is True liner notes|title-link=My Aim Is True |year=2001 |first=Elvis |last=Costello |type=booklet |publisher=[[Rhino Records]]}}</ref>

==== D.P. Costello ====
Even before disbanding Flip City in late 1975, Costello was writing songs he did not include in the band's repertoire.{{sfn|Thomson|2004|p=46}} He recorded some of these as solo demos for Dave Robinson in mid-1975.{{sfn|Costello|2015|p=224}} For the next year, he shopped these and other solo demos to music publishers and record companies, hoping to be hired either as a songwriter or a recording artist.{{sfn|Costello|2015|p=183}}<ref name="Jones-1977" /> He sent out as many as 20 songs on a single tape to publishers, not yet realising that no publisher would have the patience to listen to so many songs.<ref name="Doggett-1995" /> Sometimes he went to publishers' offices to perform his songs in person.<ref name="Costello-2001" /> None of this generated anything but rejections until he began creating "show reels" of no more than six of what he believed were his most attention-getting songs, selected to appeal to the recipient of each demo tape.<ref name="Doggett-1995" />{{sfn|Costello|2015|pp=183, in the photo gallery of deluxe ebook edition, "List of demos sent to record labels" and "Songs sent to ''Honky Tonk'', BBC Radio London"}}{{efn|Sources prior to 2015 state that Costello sent the six songs he sent to Charlie Gillett, often referred to as ''The Honky Tonk Demos'', to everyone he sent demos to during this period, including Stiff Records. However, in his 2015 memoir, ''Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink'', Costello states that his notebooks from this period indicate he was sending a different set of songs to each recipient. The deluxe ebook edition reproduces handwritten notebook pages illustrating this.{{sfn|Costello|2015|pp=183, in the photo gallery of deluxe ebook edition, "List of demos sent to record labels" and "Songs sent to ''Honky Tonk'', BBC Radio London"}}}}

By February 1976, Costello was booking himself into clubs as a solo act under the name D.P. Costello, D.P. being his initials and a nickname he was sometimes called by his family.{{sfn|Gimarc|1994|p=24}}<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Norris|first=Chris|date=December 2008|title=[Elvis Costello] The Spin Interview|magazine=Spin}}</ref> While working as D.P. Costello, he learned to sing and play guitar very loudly and developed a forceful stage presence, although he was still playing to small audiences for very little money.<ref name="Colin1989" />{{sfn|Thomson|2004|pp=61–62}} Few of the songs he had played with Flip City were included in these performances.{{sfn|St. Michael|1986|p=17}} Instead, he was debuting some of the songs that would start to get the attention of the music industry, such as "Mystery Dance" and "Wave a White Flag".{{sfn|Costello|2015|p=183}}{{sfn|St. Michael|1986|p=17}}{{sfn|Costello|2015|pp=182–183, 598}} Costello included both songs on a six-track demo tape he sent to London radio presenter [[Charlie Gillett]], who thought "Wave a White Flag" was the best of the six.{{sfn|Thomson|2004|pp=64, 66–67}} Gillett played several songs from the tape on his radio show later that year, the first time any Costello song received airplay.{{sfn|Costello|2015|pp=183–184}}{{efn|After Costello became successful, the six songs he sent to Gillett were widely bootlegged.{{sfn|St. Michael|1986|pp=18–19}} They received an official release as bonus tracks on the 1993 and 2001 reissues of ''My Aim Is True''.<ref name="Costello-1993" /><ref name="Costello-2001" />}}

Sometime in 1976, lack of money forced Costello, his wife and their toddler son to move in with relatives near [[Heathrow Airport]], on the far west side of London.{{sfn|Costello|2015|p=184}} This meant Costello's commute to work in North Acton took him past the [[Hoover Building]] in [[Perivale]].{{sfn|Costello|2015|p=184}} Around the same time, he was starting to become aware of the nascent [[Punk rock|punk]] movement, although he would not hear any of the British punk bands until they began releasing records.{{sfn|Costello|2015|p=185}}<ref name="Marcus1982" /> He was, however, inspired by the [[The Modern Lovers|Modern Lovers]]' song "[[Roadrunner (Jonathan Richman song)|Roadrunner]]", with its reference to such quotidian landmarks as the [[Stop & Shop]], to write a song about the historical [[Art Deco]] building he rode past every day.{{sfn|Costello|2015|p=185}} Although he did not record it until 1980, Costello regarded this song, "Hoover Factory", as an artistic breakthrough.{{sfn|Costello|2015|p=185}} In the period just prior, he had been trying to imitate songwriters [[Randy Newman]] and [[John Prine]].{{sfn|Costello|2015|p=181}} "Hoover Factory", he later recalled, got him "through the door to a different, less ingratiating way of speaking" in his songwriting.{{sfn|Costello|2015|p=185}} The next song he wrote was "Radio Sweetheart",{{sfn|Costello|2015|pp=185–186}} which would become the B-side of his first single.{{Sfn|Thomson|2004|p=|pp=78}}