Today’s slow drag is with “My Most Beautiful Mistake” from “The Boy Named If,” released in 2022. The songwriting is credited to Elvis Costello.

Show Notes:

Appreciation written, produced, and narrated by Remedy Robinson, MA/MFA

Twitter: https://twitter.com/slowdragremedy

Email: slowdragwithremedy@gmail.com

Podcast music by https://www.fesliyanstudios.com

Rate this Podcast: https://ratethispodcast.com/slowdrag

References:

Elvis Costello Wiki Resource, “My Most Beautiful Mistake”: http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/index.php/My_Most_Beautiful_Mistake

“My Most Beautiful Mistake”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn0IWgpzanY

Purchase “The Most Terrible Time in My Life…Ends Thursday” https://www.amazon.com/Most-Terrible-Time-Life-Thursday-ebook/dp/B07XLXS5PL/ref=sr_1_1?crid=Y4SGCT62WPEK&dchild=1&keywords=the+most+terrible+time+in+my+life+ends+thursday&qid=1608873405&sprefix=The+Most+Terrible+Time+in+%2Caps%2C195&sr=8-1

"My Most Beautiful Mistake" Lyrics:

She was a part-time waitress with a dream of greatness

That nobody knew of or even suspected

Though it was sometimes reflected in the slant of a mirror

It was buried so deep and so dear

 

She caught the eye of a guy passing by who said,

"My, if I prove to be faithless, you'll surely know why

Oh, why?

You'll probably know why"

Then again you may say

"Mister, you've got a nerve

Most of us never get just what we deserve"

I'll smile sweetly,

"I'm here at your service"

 

And the camera walks us through into a sunlit room

Where a one-hit wonder lives 

And he says, "Action" and "That's a take"

You are my most beautiful mistake

 

"It's not your reputation I'm trying to besmirch"

"I'm here undercover, I'm writing this screenplay"

"You might be my inspiration, it's beyond my control"

"So it's my soulful and wounded expression, that you'd like to console?"

 

There's a hand that lingers a little too long

There are lies you will hear, that they're singing right now, right here, right here in this song

 

And the lens pulls the focus on his magnum opus

He's a one-hit wonder kid 

And he says, "Action" and "That's a take"

You are my most beautiful mistake

 

He made a portrait of her face out of burnt out matches

She said "The trouble is, Sunshine, I know what the catch is…

You'll offer me nothing, you'll offer me riches 

I've seen your kind before in courtroom sketches"

 

From the booth in the corner

From a different perspective

Where a man plays the fool or a private detective

He wrote her name out in sugar on a Formica counter

"You could be the game that captures the hunter"

Then he went out for cigarettes

As the soundtrack played The Marvelettes

 

Let me check the script 

Check the continuity 

You'll be up on that screen for eternity

The billboard will spit:

"That look!

That's it!"

Take a little pill and you will get over it

The light will hit you 

If you drop that hint 

Now "Cut" and "Print"

 

And the camera walks us through into a low-lit room

Where a one-hit wonder lives