Top Ten Angelic Songs: (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes (#6)

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Greetings from my bunker in an undisclosed location somewhere in an undisclosed state in an undisclosed country. I'm genuinely surprised by the positive feedback thus far for assassinating a sacred cow, but it is early in the day. So I'll post my next song in the list of favorite songs with "angel" in the title. #6: (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes - Elvis Costello I said, "I'm so happy I could die" She said, "Drop dead," then left with another guy That's when I realized I'd be an Elvis Costello fan for life. It's hard to trump the opening line of this song ("I used to be disgusted, but now I try to be amused"), but he did it. Music was in a funk in 1977, with disco this and "You Light Up My Life" that, and it needed a good swift kick in the back side. Along came punk, and with it, a group of people who weren't really "punk" but were lumped into the category because their music was so fresh and such a 180-degree turn from what was dominating the radio. (As Elvis would say on the next album, "The radio is in the hands of such a lot of fools trying to anesthesitize the say that you feel.") From that world came new-wave-but-not-really-punk acts like Blondie, Talking Heads, and Elvis Costello. I've said before, and I'll repeat it: if I were to ever win a gazillion-dollar lottery or a contest where you can have lunch with the celebrity of your choice, I'd have lunch with Costello and discuss music. His knowledge is amazing, as evidenced by the varying styles he's recorded over the years. His biggest hit ("Veronica") was co-written with Sir Paul; he's recorded country (and I do mean country) music on his own (the Almost Blue album) and with the likes of Ricky Skaggs and Charlie Louvin, and he even did an album with Burt Bacharach. There's a lot of great music in his career, and this marvelous debut celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. It's nice to know that Elvis won't get any older, now. (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes Written by Elvis Costello Recorded by Elvis Costello From My Aim Is True, 1977 That's what you get if you go chasing after vengeance: