12.07.2020
TODAY’S SONG, “SHIPBUILDING” BY ELVIS COSTELLO
American Songwriter: Paul Zollo: December 5th 2020
From his 1983 album Punch The Clock, it’s a song that Elvis Costello wrote with Clive Langer during the Falklands War, reflecting the dark irony of profiting off the sales of ships on which their own sons would die.
His recording of it is distinguished forever by the haunting trumpet playing of the late Chet Baker, said to be Baker’s last recorded music.
There’s been some confusion over authorship of the song. Most sources agree that Elvis wrote the lyrics to a tune written by Langer for Robert Wyatt, of Soft Machine, to record.
In fact, Elvis confirms this himself in an interview on the UK Channel Four show “Loose Talk.”
But when interviewed for American Songwriter in 2013, Elvis said he wrote both the music and words.