You Little Fool

"You Little Fool" is a song written by new wave musician Elvis Costello and performed by Elvis Costello and the Attractions on their 1982 album, Imperial Bedroom. With lyrics detailing a teenage girl's romantic encounter with an older man, "Man Out of Time" features a lush arrangement that was a conscious departure from the aggressive style of Costello's previous work.

"You Little Fool"
Single by Elvis Costello and the Attractions
from the album Imperial Bedroom
B-side
  • "Big Sister"
  • "The Stamping Ground"
Released18 June 1982
RecordedAIR Recording Studios, London, 1982
Genre
LabelF-Beat (UK)
Songwriter(s)Elvis Costello
Producer(s)Geoff Emerick
Elvis Costello and the Attractions singles chronology
"I'm Your Toy"
(1982)		 "You Little Fool"
(1982)		 "Man Out of Time"
(1982)

The song was released as the second single from Imperial Bedroom, reaching number 58 in the United Kingdom. The song has since seen positive reception from critics and has been performed live by Costello.

Background

Costello has described "You Little Fool" as being "about a teenage girl surrendering to an unworthy, older man".[1] The bridge of the song features lyrics that Costello explains represent the bad advice that the girl is being given by her mother; he explained in an interview:

This mum actually thinks she's being really liberal and is really giving her girl actually no help ... It's the mums that read too many Cosmopolitan magazines and start feeding the kids, you know, "Yeah, read this, read The Sensuous Woman". It's a load of bollocks.[2][3]

Costello also recalled that, on the song, he attempted to sing in a "slimy-sounding voice" to play the man taking advantage of the girl, noting, "The guy on the chorus sounds like a real horrible person".[2] During a 2016 concert, Costello stated the song was prompted by "romantic misery".[4]

"You Little Fool" features baroque stylings that distinguished the song from his earlier output, most notably through Steve Nieve's harpsichord performance, which was partially dubbed backwards onto the track's closing segment.[5][6] Costello said of the song's arrangement, "'You Little Fool' sounds wrong when you try to play it with fuzzy guitars. Like what Chuck Berry said, it lost the beauty of the melody".[7] In another interview, Costello emphasized that the song "was deliberately meant to sound archaic, with a harpsichord and 12-string guitar, this phoney kind of... I wanted it to sound like "Vanity Fair" or Left Banke or someone".[8]

Release

At the insistence of Costello's record company, "You Little Fool" was released as the first single from Imperial Bedroom in June 1982. The choice of the song as a single was against Costello's wishes; he had wished to make a "bolder statement" with a song more representative of the album, such as "Beyond Belief" or "Man Out of Time".[5][9] He explained, "'You Little Fool', which is one of the brightest-sounding tracks until you listen to lyrics, was released purely because it had a hook. I kept saying, 'Well, 'Man Out of Time' is what the album is about, that's the heart of the record'".[9] The two songs on the B-side of the single were "Big Sister" and "The Stamping Ground".

"You Little Fool" was considered a commercial disappointment, reaching number 52 in the UK. The single was accompanied by a music video, where Costello and the Attractions act in roles relating to the song's lyrics.[10]

Reception

"You Little Fool" has generally seen positive reception from critics. At the time of its release, Scott Isler of Trouser Press wrote that the song's "mixture of pathos and contempt will be more reassuring to inflexible Costello fans".[11] Dave McKenna of The Washington Post named the song as one of the tracks on Imperial Bedroom that "were blessed with hooks so memorable they took fans right back to that time they first heard them" at a 2016 concert, while Blender named it one of the songs to download off of Imperial Bedroom.[12][13] Martin Chilton of The Daily Telegraph ranked the song as Costello's 33rd best.[14]

Live history

Costello has performed "You Little Fool" regularly since its release. At a 1984 concert in San Francisco, Costello performed the track as the opening song on the band's setlist as a tribute to his mistress Bebe Buell, who was in attendance that night; Costello recalled being "thrilled" and "amazed" that no one had noticed Buell was present that night.[15] The song was one of the tracks that Costello performed in a solo acoustic form during his 1986 tour with the Attractions.[16] During performances in 2019, the echoed vocals that Costello overdubbed on the studio version were performed by backing vocalists Briana Lee and Kitten Kuroi.[17]

Charts
Chart (1982) Peak
position
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[18] 52
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References

Citations

  1. Costello 2016, p. 67.
  2. Ratcliff, Connor. "Some fascinating insight into Costello's approach to singing songs "in character," specifically the "creep" in "You Little Fool":". Twitter. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  3. Ratcliff, Connor. "Costello has tended to criticize this song as a timid choice to be the single for such an adventurous album, but I've always thought "You Little Fool" was one of the most underrated pop songs in his catalog:". Twitter. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  4. Hochanadel, Michael. "Elvis Costello pays tribute to 1982 album in Palace show | The Daily Gazette". The Daily Gazette. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  5. Imperial Bedroom (Liner notes). Elvis Costello. 1994.CS1 maint: others (link)
  6. Pinnock, Tom (27 August 2019). "Elvis Costello by Elvis Costello: "Time is going backwards!"". Uncut. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  7. Finn, Timothy. "Elvis Costello on bringing something old that's something new to Crossroads KC". The Kansas City Star. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  8. Spencer, Neil (30 October 1982). "A man out of time". New Musical Express. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  9. Mervis, Scott. "One on one: Elvis Costello and the making of his masterpiece, 'Imperial Bedroom'". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  10. Ratcliff, Connor. "In the music video for "You Little Fool," Elvis & all three Attractions play supporting roles, some quite dramatically! Who gives the best performance?". Twitter. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  11. Isler, Scott (October 1982). "Not so silly love songs". Trouser Press. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  12. McKenna, Dave (4 November 2016). "Elvis Costello returns to the Warner Theatre 38 years after a legendary performance". The Washington Post. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  13. Wolk, Douglas (March 2005). "Elvis Costello: Imperial Bedroom". Blender. Archived from the original on 4 February 2005. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
  14. Chilton, Martin. "33 - You Little Fool. Elvis Costello's 40 Best Songs". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  15. Thomson 2006.
  16. Holden, Stephen (28 October 1986). "Music: Elvis Costello". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  17. Willman, Chris (5 June 2017). "Concert Review: Elvis Costello Goes Baroque to the Future With 'Imperial Bedroom' Show". Variety. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  18. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 28 April 2020.

Sources

  • Costello, Elvis (2016). Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink. New York: Blue Rider Press. ISBN 978-0399185762.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Thomson, Graeme (2006). Complicated Shadows: The Life and Music of Elvis Costello. Canongate U.S. ISBN 978-1841957968.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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