Spike contains a particularly gruesome image in one of its lyrics -
http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/inde ... lin_Malone
Stalin Malone
(extract)
'Til horse's heads up in the trees came dripping down
Yes, horse's heads hung in the trees after the bird had flown
Did you wonder of my whereabouts as the powder room was blown?
Did anybody call my name?
In Febuary 1989 Elvis spoke to Sean O'Hagan about the song -
http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/inde ... 1989-02-18
That's another EC constant: there does seem to be an edge of dementia about some of your best work.
" I'm a very demented sort of person, I guess. (He says this the way other people say 'I'm a very lovable sort of person, actually'). Though when you're more in control, you can create dementedness and use it more as a dramatic tool."
Did you do that a lot on this record?
"Sometimes. Actually 'Stalin Malone' is a bit of both. You know Henry Street in Dublin? It came to me there. That is the most cacophonous street in the world when it's crowded. If you're in a fragile state of mind you can hear 800 fragmented conversations jabbering in your face. I tried for that in 'Stalin Malone'—cuckoo clocks, saxophones, old nightmare movies. it's kinda like a daymare. . ."
And "horses heads up in the trees ?
"No, that's real. That actually happened! Powder Mill Lane, Twickenham, I went to school round there. My grandfather went to The Military School of Music there. Very evocative place, Powder Mill Lane.
"Anyway, The King Of Portugal lived in exile there and my grandfather told this story about how the powder mill blew up one day just as The King Of Portugal’s carriage was passing by. Blew the lot up. There were horses heads up in the trees. That image stayed with me and eventually found a home in the song."
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King Manoel II of Portugal lived in exile in Twickenham from 1910 until his death in 1932.
http://www.twickenham-museum.org.uk/pri ... ntentID=79
Richard Holmes, a archivist in Richmond , has responded to a query I sent regarding a exact date of the explosion -
I think the incident was probably at one of the gunpowder mills on the River Crane. These were prone to fairly
regular explosions: the six blasts in the morning of 14th July 1915 - in which one person was killed, caused considerable damage to property in the local area and could be heard seven miles away - might be a reasonable candidate, though the newspaper report we have doesn't mention the King's horses.
You can find more general information on the River Crane mills on our website -
http://www.richmond.gov.uk/bn/home/leis ... _notes.htm
http://www.richmond.gov.uk/bn/local_his ... _crane.pdf
Hmm.. it sounds like a destination for The Elvis Costello Heritage Trail