Elvis Costello and the Attractions went to work at making a hit record with the sleek and stylistic production of this pugnacious power pop pleasure. Costello reveals in the reissue liner notes: "'Punch The Clock' was our chance to get reacquainted with the wonderful world of pop music and still maintain a sense of humour. After Nashville and the labyrinth of 'Imperial Bedroom' I was ready to find a different production approach. Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley certainly knew where the charts were but they also made great records. They had produced hits for The Teardrop Explodes, Dexy's Midnight Runners and Madness. In fact I first met Clive as a fellow producer for Two-Tone Records. By the time I had finished The Specials' debut album Clive and Alan had moved with Madness to Stiff Records where the cut some of the best pop singles since the finest days of the Kinks. Despite making the most "English" music on the planet "Clanger and Winstanley" even managed to get Madness to No. 1 in America with "Our House". By 1983 they were pretty irresistible and unstoppable. (Clive was also an excellent songwriter. "Clive Langer and the Boxes" opened for us on the "Get Happy" tour of seaside towns and out of the way places. I produced a version of Amen Corner's "If Paradise Is Half As Nice" for his "Splash" album on F-Beat. Alan, the quiet and patient one of the team, also had some pretty mean credits to his name including engineering The Buzzcocks' best records.) They favoured the "building-block" method of recording: retaining very little from the original "live" take (often only the drums) and tailoring each instrumental overdub to best serve the arrangement. This system naturally precluded the spontaneity of our past "happy accidents" but could yield startling results when the last piece was in place. Now to be honest I haven't always been kind about this album. I find it hard to ignore the benefit of hindsight. However I shall try to explain how we fared among the passionless fads of that charmless time: "The Early 80's". Being in a fairly feckless frame of mind I had dashed off a couple bright pop tunes that didn't have much else to them. The chorus of "Element Within Her" consisted entirely of the immortal words: "la-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la" (although I liked the silly Liverpudlian-slang joke in the last verse: "He said "Are you cold?" She said "No but you are La...la-la-la...etc.) "Everyday I Write The Book" was written in a spare ten minutes on tour as a spoof of a Mersey-beat tune. In rehearsal Clive guided us towards an arrangement that was unlike anything we had ever recorded. Although we borrowed a few touches from the r'n'b styles of the day I have witnessed, firsthand, the record's ability to clear a nightclub dance floor in seconds. Despite this it remains one of our very few entirely cheerful recordings and was even a minor hit on both sides of the Atlantic - reaching No. 28 in the U.K. and No.32 in the U.S. charts - then our best placing for a single. The vocal responses on "Punch The Clock" were improvised by Claudia Fontain and Caron Wheeler, known at the time as "Afrodiziak". They had not appeared on that many pop recordings and their spontaneous approach was a welcome contrast to the jaded cliches demanded of other groups of "session singers". (Both went on to grace many hit records. Caron is probably best known as the lead voice on the Soul II Soul smash "Back To Life".) The other addition to our ensemble was the horn section led by trombonist Big Jim Paterson. He brought with him saxophonists Paul Speare and Jeff Blythe who had also recently left Dexy's Midnight Runners. So that we did not duplicate that group's sound we added trumpet player Dave Plews to the line up."
'Punch the Clock' hit number twenty-seven in the Netherlands, twenty-four in the US, twenty-two in Australia, eighteen in Norway, nine in Sweden, six in New Zealand, and number three in the UK.
http://www.elviscostello.com/
"Everyday I Write the Book" became the first of his only two top forty hits in the US. It made it to number forty in Australia and Canada, thirty-six on the US hot 100, twenty-eight in the UK, twenty-three in Ireland, and twenty in New Zealand.
Don't tell me you don't know what love is
When you're old enough to know better
When you find strange hands in your sweater
When your dreamboat turns out to be a footnote
I'm a man with a mission in two or three editions
And I'm giving you a longing look
Everyday, everyday, everyday I write the book
Chapter One we didn't really get along
Chapter Two I think I fell in love with you
You said you'd stand by me in the middle of
Chapter Three
But you were up to your old tricks in
Chapters Four, Five and Six
The way you walk
The way you talk, and try to kiss me, and laugh
In four or five paragraphs
All your compliments and your cutting remarks
Are captured here in my quotation marks
Don't tell me you don't know the difference
Between a lover and a fighter
With my pen and my electric typewriter
Even in a perfect world where everyone was equal
I'd still own the film rights and be working on the sequel
"Shipbuilding" was inspired by the Falkland Islands War. Chet Baker played trumpet on the song.
Is it worth it
A new winter coat and shoes for the wife
And a bicycle on the boy's birthday
It's just a rumour that was spread around town
By the women and children
Soon we'll be shipbuilding
Well I ask you
The boy said 'DAD THEY'RE GOING TO TAKE ME TO TASK
BUT I'LL BE BACK BY CHRISTMAS'
It's just a rumour that was spread around town
Somebody said that someone got filled in
For saying that people get killed in
The result of this shipbuilding
With all the will in the world
Diving for dear life
When we could be diving for pearls
It's just a rumour that was spread around town
A telegram or a picture postcard
Within weeks they'll be re-opening the shipyards
And notifying the next of kin
Once again
It's all we're skilled in
We will be shipbuilding
WITH ALL THE WILL IN THE WORLD
DIVING FOR DEAR LIFE
WHEN WE COULD BE DIVING FOR PEARLS
"Let Them All Talk"
"T.K.O. (Boxing Day)"
"Charm School"
"The Invisible Man"
"Mouth Almighty"
"Pills and Soap"
'Punch the Clock'
full album:
All songs written by Elvis Costello unless otherwise indicated.
Side one
"Let Them All Talk" – 3:06
"Everyday I Write the Book" – 3:54
"The Greatest Thing" – 3:04
"The Element Within Her" – 2:52
"Love Went Mad" – 3:13
"Shipbuilding" (Clive Langer, Costello) – 4:53
Side two
"T.K.O. (Boxing Day)" – 3:28
"Charm School" – 3:55
"The Invisible Man" – 3:04
"Mouth Almighty" – 3:04
"King of Thieves" – 3:45
"Pills and Soap" – 3:43
"The World and His Wife" – 3:32
Not a fan of 'horn section Elvis' but great songs nonetheless. Thanks for this writeup.
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