New song "We Are All Cowards Now", August 14, 2020

Pretty self-explanatory
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And No Coffee Table
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New song "We Are All Cowards Now", August 14, 2020

Post by And No Coffee Table »

EC's social media accounts have posted two very short clips of a new song, presumably the one planned for release this Friday.

https://twitter.com/ElvisCostello/statu ... 5443240960
https://twitter.com/ElvisCostello/statu ... 0810101760

The Shazam app recognizes the first clip as "We Are All Cowards Now"... and says it comes from the album Hey Clockface! Is an album announcement imminent?
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Last edited by And No Coffee Table on Wed Aug 12, 2020 9:38 am, edited 2 times in total.
johnfoyle
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Re: New song August 14, 2020: "We Are All Cowards Now"?

Post by johnfoyle »

'Hey Clockface' was done in one of the webcasts with Steve in April

https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertai ... story.html

(extract)

Costello revealed that in February, they'd gone into a studio in Paris to record nine songs in two days with a group of local musicians Nieve had assembled -- tracks that he hopes to release soon if he can get back into a studio to mix them. They performed the "world premiere" of a new song, "Hey Clockface," near the end of the webcast, a number that, although they didn't specify, presumably was part of those Parisian sessions.

About a hour into this -

April 12 2020

https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v= ... _permalink
fred darden
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Re: New song August 14, 2020: "We Are All Cowards Now"?

Post by fred darden »

Assuming the Helsinki songs on their too?
Hawksmoor
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Re: New song August 14, 2020: "We Are All Cowards Now"?

Post by Hawksmoor »

fred darden wrote:Assuming the Helsinki songs on their too?
Hard to be sure. From the very brief bursts on Twitter, this one sounds like a Helsinki track. All three singles so far sound very different from 'Hey Clockface' - at least, as far as we can tell from the DIY Elvis-on-a-laptop version we have heard so far. Intriguing...
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Re: New song August 14, 2020: "We Are All Cowards Now"?

Post by Hawksmoor »

johnfoyle wrote:'Hey Clockface' was done in one of the webcasts with Steve in April

https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertai ... story.html

(extract)

Costello revealed that in February, they'd gone into a studio in Paris to record nine songs in two days with a group of local musicians Nieve had assembled -- tracks that he hopes to release soon if he can get back into a studio to mix them. They performed the "world premiere" of a new song, "Hey Clockface," near the end of the webcast, a number that, although they didn't specify, presumably was part of those Parisian sessions.

About a hour into this -


https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v= ... _permalink
And we also know that EC had booked a few days in Abbey Road at the end of the tour to bang out a few tracks with the current touring line-up 'while our blood was up'. What we don't know is whether that would have been brand-new songs, or full-band versions of the demos cut with Steve in Paris - that's even assuming the Paris sessions were demos, they could equally have been finished cuts. So the intended LP could have been a combination of the Helsinki tracks, the Paris sessions with Steve, and the (ultimately aborted) Abbey Road sessions with the Imposters? It's all rather exciting.
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Re: New song August 14, 2020: "We Are All Cowards Now"?

Post by jardine »

ohboyohboyohboyohboyohboy...so to speak, to coin a phrase, as the saying goes, as it were, and so on... 8)
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Re: New song August 14, 2020: "We Are All Cowards Now"?

Post by verbal gymnastics »

It does sound like it could have been a Helsinki session song.
Who’s this kid with his mumbo jumbo?
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Re: New song August 14, 2020: "We Are All Cowards Now"?

Post by sweetest punch »

Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
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Re: New song August 14, 2020: "We Are All Cowards Now"

Post by jardine »

Have to say that this sort of familiar thing about not quite knowing what's happening is an old joy that's always brand new. Smoke and mirrors indeed. Very happy to be in this mess.
fred darden
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Re: New song August 14, 2020: "We Are All Cowards Now"

Post by fred darden »

Wait, are we still getting a new one the 14th? Nice.
jardine
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Re: New song August 14, 2020: "We Are All Cowards Now"

Post by jardine »

and its hard to tell if those two new clips are from the same song? and if it is the same song, whether that will be this friday's...loving this, esp. since the new stuff has a crackle that i'm really liking so far...strangeness, too.
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Re: New song August 14, 2020: "We Are All Cowards Now"

Post by Hawksmoor »

jardine wrote:and its hard to tell if those two new clips are from the same song? and if it is the same song, whether that will be this friday's...loving this, esp. since the new stuff has a crackle that i'm really liking so far...strangeness, too.
Me too. And if you Shazam each clip it comes up with the same result: 'We Are All Cowards Now' by Elvis Costello. I reckon it's a near-certainty now that this is Friday's single.So we can all have an exciting day on Friday dancing around to it, then we're back to weeks of frustration and keyboard tapping, asking each other 'but when is the LP coming out, and what's it called?' :D
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Re: New song August 14, 2020: "We Are All Cowards Now"

Post by Hawksmoor »

jardine wrote:Have to say that this sort of familiar thing about not quite knowing what's happening is an old joy that's always brand new. Smoke and mirrors indeed. Very happy to be in this mess.
Yeah, I share that thing about the tantalising excitement of knowing something is about to happen but not knowing the details. Back in 1981 it was already well-known around school that EC was my passion, and this girl I knew said 'your Elvis Costello has a new single out: Clogland'. So I'm frantically flicking through the pages of the NME for any clues, saying to her 'Clogland? Are you sure?' Only for her to eventually say 'oh no, I got muddled because his last one was about Amsterdam!' :D
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Re: New song August 14, 2020: "We Are All Cowards Now"

Post by jardine »

I've got it!
Title: Clogland! 8)
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Re: New song August 14, 2020: "We Are All Cowards Now"

Post by verbal gymnastics »

Hawksmoor wrote:...asking each other...what's it called?' :D
Not any more!
Who’s this kid with his mumbo jumbo?
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Re: New song August 14, 2020: "We Are All Cowards Now"

Post by Hawksmoor »

verbal gymnastics wrote:
Hawksmoor wrote:...asking each other...what's it called?' :D
Not any more!
:D :D :D
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Re: New song "We Are All Cowards Now", August 14, 2020

Post by jardine »

And No Coffee Table wrote:“Courage & Cowardice”
https://twitter.com/ElvisCostello/statu ... 1535183874
and smoke and mirrors??? "arms are empty, the pornography of plenty"

or are both part of 'we are all cowards now. . ."? bzzzzzz

ahh the end of the 'we're all cowards now is the image from the beginning of the smoke and mirrors clip which is also in the peace love and misunderstanding one...okay, calm down. one song. friday. album later

exhale!
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Re: New song August 14, 2020: "We Are All Cowards Now"

Post by sulky lad »

Hawksmoor wrote:
jardine wrote:Have to say that this sort of familiar thing about not quite knowing what's happening is an old joy that's always brand new. Smoke and mirrors indeed. Very happy to be in this mess.
Yeah, I share that thing about the tantalising excitement of knowing something is about to happen but not knowing the details. Back in 1981 it was already well-known around school that EC was my passion, and this girl I knew said 'your Elvis Costello has a new single out: Clogland'. So I'm frantically flicking through the pages of the NME for any clues, saying to her 'Clogland? Are you sure?' Only for her to eventually say 'oh no, I got muddled because his last one was about Amsterdam!' :D
Not to be too pedantic ( too late) but Clubland was released in the U.K. in 1980 in December - Elvis called it his "stiffed" Christmas single a few times around then. Coincidentally it also featured one "home made " Elvis only track ( Hoover Factory) on the B-side!
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Re: New song August 14, 2020: "We Are All Cowards Now"

Post by Hawksmoor »

sulky lad wrote:
Hawksmoor wrote:
jardine wrote:Have to say that this sort of familiar thing about not quite knowing what's happening is an old joy that's always brand new. Smoke and mirrors indeed. Very happy to be in this mess.
Yeah, I share that thing about the tantalising excitement of knowing something is about to happen but not knowing the details. Back in 1981 it was already well-known around school that EC was my passion, and this girl I knew said 'your Elvis Costello has a new single out: Clogland'. So I'm frantically flicking through the pages of the NME for any clues, saying to her 'Clogland? Are you sure?' Only for her to eventually say 'oh no, I got muddled because his last one was about Amsterdam!' :D
Not to be too pedantic ( too late) but Clubland was released in the U.K. in 1980 in December - Elvis called it his "stiffed" Christmas single a few times around then. Coincidentally it also featured one "home made " Elvis only track ( Hoover Factory) on the B-side!
I'm sure you're right, the Clogland incident must have been December 1980 - and Trust early 1981? I remember buying it (Trust) in WH Smiths in Llandudno. The excitement of knowing there is new EC stuff in the wings but not knowing the exact details yet...that's been fun to relive this week. But the excitement of taking Trust out of the bag five times between WH Smiths and the bus-stop, to have a look at it and try and memorise the tracklisting...that's gone for ever, I fear!
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Re: New song "We Are All Cowards Now", August 14, 2020

Post by verbal gymnastics »

Who’s this kid with his mumbo jumbo?
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Re: New song "We Are All Cowards Now", August 14, 2020

Post by And No Coffee Table »

verbal gymnastics wrote:It’s here!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8r_F_4AjVE
Seems early, but I guess it's August 14 in New Zealand. I'm not complaining!
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Re: New song "We Are All Cowards Now", August 14, 2020

Post by sweetest punch »

https://www.elviscostello.com/#!/news/299307

‘WE ARE ALL COWARDS NOW’

‘We Are All Cowards Now’ by Elvis Costello, the third and final bulletin from “The Helsinki Sound”.

The motion picture of ‘We Are All Cowards Now’ by Eamon Singer & Arlo McFurlow features images of flowers & pistols, smoke & mirrors, tombstones & monuments, courage & cowardice, peace, love & misunderstanding.
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
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Re: New song "We Are All Cowards Now", August 14, 2020

Post by Neil. »

This new one is quite opaque - hoping it's a grower. A lot of words thrown at it, the scansion is deliberately ignored sometimes. Hard to get a handle on. The mood is soooooo dark and despairing. Loved the Nero and Caligula gags.
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Re: New song "We Are All Cowards Now", August 14, 2020

Post by bronxapostle »

Neil. wrote:This new one is quite opaque - hoping it's a grower. A lot of words thrown at it, the scansion is deliberately ignored sometimes. Hard to get a handle on. The mood is soooooo dark and despairing. Loved the Nero and Caligula gags.

After one listen, i am still grasping at the one older song it is reminding me about. I'll get it after another listen. I like it.
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