WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.810 Imagine standing at a this heavily guarded border 00:00:03.810 --> 00:00:07.030 between two entirely different worlds. On one 00:00:07.030 --> 00:00:10.390 side you have the late 1970s English New Wave 00:00:10.390 --> 00:00:13.970 scene. It's loud, it's urgent, and it's fueled 00:00:13.970 --> 00:00:17.649 by this cynical, punk -adjacent rebellion. Yeah, 00:00:17.649 --> 00:00:19.329 they were actively trying to tear down the old 00:00:19.329 --> 00:00:22.010 guard of music. Exactly. But then on the other 00:00:22.010 --> 00:00:24.890 side of that border, you have the deeply traditional, 00:00:25.190 --> 00:00:28.010 highly polished, sorrow -filled landscape of 00:00:28.010 --> 00:00:29.969 American country music. A completely different 00:00:29.969 --> 00:00:32.020 universe. Right. A world built on rever - for 00:00:32.020 --> 00:00:36.039 the past, pedal steel guitars, and just these 00:00:36.039 --> 00:00:38.740 deeply established conventions. And historically 00:00:38.740 --> 00:00:41.159 speaking, crossing that line, I mean, it was 00:00:41.159 --> 00:00:43.259 viewed as kind of professional sabotage. Oh, 00:00:43.359 --> 00:00:46.179 for sure. The cultures, the audiences, the aesthetic 00:00:46.179 --> 00:00:49.039 expectations, they were miles apart. Like if 00:00:49.039 --> 00:00:51.420 you were an artist in 1978, you pick a side and 00:00:51.420 --> 00:00:52.939 you stayed there. You stayed in your lane. It's 00:00:52.939 --> 00:00:54.640 like trying to power, I don't know, a modern 00:00:54.640 --> 00:00:57.299 digital smartphone with a 19th century steam 00:00:57.299 --> 00:00:59.340 engine. That's a great way to put it. The mechanics 00:00:59.340 --> 00:01:01.719 are just so fundamentally different that combining 00:01:01.719 --> 00:01:04.640 them seems almost absurd. But today, we're doing 00:01:04.640 --> 00:01:07.040 a deep dive into the historical records, the 00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:09.060 liner notes, and the studio sessions of a single 00:01:09.060 --> 00:01:11.819 track that really just shouldn't exist. It's 00:01:11.819 --> 00:01:13.879 a fascinating anomaly. It really is. It didn't 00:01:13.879 --> 00:01:16.159 just cross that musical border. It built a permanent 00:01:16.159 --> 00:01:18.640 bridge right over it. The song is called Stranger 00:01:18.640 --> 00:01:21.810 in the House. And the mission of our deep dive 00:01:21.810 --> 00:01:25.510 today is to examine how this one track bridged 00:01:25.510 --> 00:01:29.409 those two drastically different musical universes 00:01:29.409 --> 00:01:34.290 and how it served as a pivotal stepping stone 00:01:34.290 --> 00:01:37.689 in a major artist's career. Okay, let's unpack 00:01:37.689 --> 00:01:40.769 this. We really have a remarkable trail of evidence 00:01:40.769 --> 00:01:43.530 to explore today. We are going to look at a detailed 00:01:43.530 --> 00:01:46.469 breakdown of the song's incredibly unusual release 00:01:46.469 --> 00:01:48.829 history. Which is wild, by the way. It is wild. 00:01:48.969 --> 00:01:51.310 It'll look at its core lyrical architecture and 00:01:51.310 --> 00:01:53.430 the critical reception it faced. Because, you 00:01:53.430 --> 00:01:55.689 know, this isn't just a simple collaboration 00:01:55.689 --> 00:01:57.569 where two musicians happen to bump into each 00:01:57.569 --> 00:01:59.450 other in a studio hallway. Right. It wasn't an 00:01:59.450 --> 00:02:02.230 accident. No, this is a profound intentional 00:02:02.230 --> 00:02:05.530 genre crossover. Let's set the scene for everyone 00:02:05.530 --> 00:02:08.770 listening. We are talking about a late 70s track 00:02:08.770 --> 00:02:11.770 written by the English musician and massive new 00:02:11.770 --> 00:02:14.889 wave star Elvis Costello. But it ultimately ends 00:02:14.889 --> 00:02:17.270 up being recorded as a duet in the summer of 00:02:17.270 --> 00:02:20.949 1978 with the absolute legendary American country 00:02:20.949 --> 00:02:23.550 music star George Jones. George Jones, yeah. 00:02:23.729 --> 00:02:26.229 I mean, an English new wave icon crossing into 00:02:26.229 --> 00:02:29.090 American country music feels entirely out of 00:02:29.090 --> 00:02:30.750 left field. So we really need to look at the 00:02:30.750 --> 00:02:33.050 intention behind this. Well, if we look at the 00:02:33.050 --> 00:02:35.610 2000 five liner notes written by Holly Jones 00:02:35.610 --> 00:02:38.050 Warren. This is for the reissue of George Jones' 00:02:38.229 --> 00:02:40.629 album, my very special guest. She knows that 00:02:40.629 --> 00:02:43.509 Costello wrote, Stranger in the House, specifically 00:02:43.509 --> 00:02:46.199 with Jones in mind. Wait, specifically for him? 00:02:46.280 --> 00:02:48.319 Yes. He didn't just write a pop song and then 00:02:48.319 --> 00:02:50.439 later decide, you know, let's retrofit it into 00:02:50.439 --> 00:02:52.159 a country style. He sat down and wrote it for 00:02:52.159 --> 00:02:54.840 him. He did. Costello was actually quoted as 00:02:54.840 --> 00:02:57.400 saying, George Jones was my guiding light whenever 00:02:57.400 --> 00:03:00.620 I wrote in the country idiom. Wow. And as biographer 00:03:00.620 --> 00:03:03.439 David Goldstone points out in his research, stranger 00:03:03.439 --> 00:03:07.060 in the house marked Costello's very first exploration 00:03:07.060 --> 00:03:09.520 into country music. I have to pause on that quote. 00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:13.129 Guiding light. Yeah, it's strong. It's such a 00:03:13.129 --> 00:03:16.469 reverent, almost spiritual term. The contrast 00:03:16.469 --> 00:03:19.509 is staggering to me. Like, it is just strange 00:03:19.509 --> 00:03:22.810 for a cutting -edge new wave star, someone who 00:03:22.810 --> 00:03:26.050 is literally defining modernity and British angst 00:03:26.050 --> 00:03:29.530 for a generation of kids, to look toward a traditional 00:03:29.530 --> 00:03:32.849 American country star as his ultimate creative 00:03:32.849 --> 00:03:36.889 beacon. It's like a modern tech entrepreneur 00:03:36.889 --> 00:03:39.169 citing a 19th century blacksmith as their main 00:03:39.169 --> 00:03:41.830 inspiration. That's exactly it. And what's fascinating 00:03:41.830 --> 00:03:43.789 here is that it reveals something fundamental 00:03:43.789 --> 00:03:45.509 about the creative process. What do you mean? 00:03:45.789 --> 00:03:48.500 Well, true artistry. The kind that actually moves 00:03:48.500 --> 00:03:51.039 the needle ignores the artificial boundaries 00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:53.520 we construct. We put things in boxes to make 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:56.020 them easier to sell. You know, new wave, country, 00:03:56.139 --> 00:03:58.580 pop. Per marketing categories. Exactly. Yeah. 00:03:58.800 --> 00:04:01.219 But an artist just sees tools. There is a lesson 00:04:01.219 --> 00:04:03.080 here for anyone listening who's trying to solve 00:04:03.080 --> 00:04:06.020 a complex problem. Sometimes the tool you need 00:04:06.020 --> 00:04:08.419 isn't in your industry's toolbox. Oh, I like 00:04:08.419 --> 00:04:10.819 that. You have to look at completely different 00:04:10.819 --> 00:04:13.699 disciplines to find your breakthrough. When you 00:04:13.699 --> 00:04:16.579 step entirely outside your immediate field and 00:04:16.579 --> 00:04:19.379 find a guiding light in a discipline with completely 00:04:19.379 --> 00:04:22.199 different rules, you bring a completely fresh 00:04:22.199 --> 00:04:25.540 perspective back to your own work. He was definitely 00:04:25.540 --> 00:04:28.480 looking for a new tool. But, you know, if this 00:04:28.480 --> 00:04:30.899 was his very first foray into country music, 00:04:31.279 --> 00:04:33.180 he certainly didn't just jump straight into the 00:04:33.180 --> 00:04:35.459 deep end with George Jones on day one. No, he 00:04:35.459 --> 00:04:39.259 did not. He tested the waters. And that led to... 00:04:39.069 --> 00:04:41.769 A release history for this song that is surprisingly 00:04:41.769 --> 00:04:44.790 complicated, like it is a piece of music in a 00:04:44.790 --> 00:04:47.910 desperate search for its final form. The chronological 00:04:47.910 --> 00:04:50.389 journey of this song before it finally became 00:04:50.389 --> 00:04:53.800 that. famous duet, is just a master class in 00:04:53.800 --> 00:04:56.160 an artist relentlessly working a piece of material, 00:04:56.420 --> 00:04:58.459 testing its structural integrity in different 00:04:58.459 --> 00:05:00.939 environments. We actually have three distinct 00:05:00.939 --> 00:05:02.959 iterations to examine. So let's look at this 00:05:02.959 --> 00:05:05.120 timeline because the mechanics of how he released 00:05:05.120 --> 00:05:07.879 this are fascinating. Version one surfaces in 00:05:07.879 --> 00:05:10.459 March of 1978. Yep, the solo version. Right, 00:05:10.639 --> 00:05:13.639 a solo version by Costello, but he doesn't just 00:05:13.639 --> 00:05:15.639 put it on the track list of his new album. That 00:05:15.639 --> 00:05:18.639 would be too easy. Exactly. It's released as 00:05:18.639 --> 00:05:22.220 a free seven -inch single, and it is only included 00:05:22.220 --> 00:05:25.079 with the first 1 ,000 copies of his second UK 00:05:25.079 --> 00:05:27.920 album, this year's model, just the first thousand. 00:05:28.180 --> 00:05:30.420 That is an incredibly restricted release strategy, 00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:33.360 especially for an artist whose profile was rising 00:05:33.360 --> 00:05:35.970 as rapidly as Costello's at the time. Which makes 00:05:35.970 --> 00:05:38.269 me question the logic of that mechanism. I mean, 00:05:38.370 --> 00:05:41.389 why go through the physical expense of pressing 00:05:41.389 --> 00:05:44.050 a separate seven inch record just to give it 00:05:44.050 --> 00:05:46.329 away to a tiny fraction of your audience? It 00:05:46.329 --> 00:05:48.329 does seem counterintuitive. If you think about 00:05:48.329 --> 00:05:50.649 how a limited release physically works, you buy 00:05:50.649 --> 00:05:52.730 the main LP, you slide it out of the sleeve, 00:05:52.829 --> 00:05:55.810 and this extra unannounced piece of vinyl just 00:05:55.810 --> 00:05:58.939 drops out. Like a secret prize. Yeah. Was he 00:05:58.939 --> 00:06:01.779 deliberately trying to hide his country experiment 00:06:01.779 --> 00:06:03.839 from the mainstream New Wave audience? Like, 00:06:03.980 --> 00:06:06.360 was he worried a traditional country song would 00:06:06.360 --> 00:06:08.600 dilute the brand he was building with the aggressive 00:06:08.600 --> 00:06:11.420 sound of this year's model? Well, that limited 00:06:11.420 --> 00:06:14.680 run is a brilliant psychological tool. It reflects 00:06:14.680 --> 00:06:17.959 an artist tentatively testing a new idiom, to 00:06:17.959 --> 00:06:20.550 use Costello's own word. Okay, how so? By limiting 00:06:20.550 --> 00:06:23.269 it to a thousand physical copies, you are essentially 00:06:23.269 --> 00:06:25.870 executing a soft launch. You are handing this 00:06:25.870 --> 00:06:28.589 jarring genre shift directly to the die -hard 00:06:28.589 --> 00:06:31.170 fans, the ones lining up to buy the very first 00:06:31.170 --> 00:06:34.209 pressing on release day. Ah, the super fans. 00:06:34.430 --> 00:06:37.689 Exactly. It creates an underground hype, a secret 00:06:37.689 --> 00:06:40.009 shared between the artist and the core fan base. 00:06:40.110 --> 00:06:43.329 Oh, I see. It provides a safe space to experiment 00:06:43.329 --> 00:06:46.269 with this new country tool without alienating 00:06:46.269 --> 00:06:49.160 the broader, more casual fan base. people who 00:06:49.160 --> 00:06:51.779 might be genuinely confused if a country ballad 00:06:51.779 --> 00:06:53.980 suddenly interrupted their punk -influenced record. 00:06:54.199 --> 00:06:55.839 That makes total sense as a protective measure. 00:06:55.939 --> 00:06:57.480 You don't want to freak out the casual listener. 00:06:57.579 --> 00:07:01.160 So that's the solo test run in March 1978. Then 00:07:01.160 --> 00:07:03.600 we get to version three. And yes, we are skipping 00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:05.459 version two for a second because the sequence 00:07:05.459 --> 00:07:07.420 is what makes this wild. The sequence is crazy, 00:07:07.420 --> 00:07:09.899 yeah. The final duet with George Jones, which 00:07:09.899 --> 00:07:12.259 clocks in at three minutes and 37 seconds long, 00:07:12.379 --> 00:07:15.639 by the way, was recorded on July 18th, 1978. 00:07:16.779 --> 00:07:19.019 It was produced by Billy Sherrill for the epic 00:07:19.019 --> 00:07:22.600 label on Jones' album, My Very Special Guests, 00:07:23.079 --> 00:07:25.680 though it wouldn't hit the shelves until 1979. 00:07:26.279 --> 00:07:28.959 So look at what he does. He executes the secret 00:07:28.959 --> 00:07:32.259 solo release in March, then flies to Nashville 00:07:32.259 --> 00:07:35.120 and records the massive duet with his guiding 00:07:35.120 --> 00:07:38.680 light. in July. Huge moment. In a standard narrative, 00:07:39.100 --> 00:07:41.740 the journey of the song ends right there. The 00:07:41.740 --> 00:07:43.519 moment you record it with the legend you wrote 00:07:43.519 --> 00:07:45.680 it for. You've sung it with the master. The pinnacle 00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:48.199 has been reached. But then we get version two. 00:07:48.199 --> 00:07:51.899 Yeah. On October 23rd, 1978, three full months 00:07:51.899 --> 00:07:54.240 after he recorded the ultimate duet with George 00:07:54.240 --> 00:07:56.660 Jones Costello goes and records a third version 00:07:56.660 --> 00:07:58.899 of the song with his band The Attractions for 00:07:58.899 --> 00:08:01.399 a John Peel session. Yep. Why is he still messing 00:08:01.399 --> 00:08:03.120 with it? I mean, he already has the definitive 00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:05.250 version in the can. It's obsessive, right? But 00:08:05.250 --> 00:08:07.889 to understand why he couldn't let it go, you 00:08:07.889 --> 00:08:09.990 have to look at the mechanism behind a John Peel 00:08:09.990 --> 00:08:12.610 session. Okay, lay it out for us. For those unfamiliar, 00:08:12.990 --> 00:08:14.990 a John Peel session wasn't just another casual 00:08:14.990 --> 00:08:17.490 studio booking. It was a live -in -the -studio 00:08:17.490 --> 00:08:21.209 broadcast on BBC Radio 1. It was an institution 00:08:21.209 --> 00:08:24.889 in the UK. Super influential. Massively. And 00:08:24.889 --> 00:08:27.689 it was known for capturing the raw, unpolished 00:08:27.689 --> 00:08:31.819 live energy of indie and punk bands. It was the 00:08:31.819 --> 00:08:34.960 complete opposite of a slick, heavily produced 00:08:34.960 --> 00:08:38.059 Billy Sherrill session in Nashville. Ah, so it's 00:08:38.059 --> 00:08:41.059 stripping away all the polish. Exactly. He had 00:08:41.059 --> 00:08:44.740 to stress test the song. Think about it. He proved 00:08:44.740 --> 00:08:47.779 it worked as a secret solo acoustic track. Right. 00:08:48.080 --> 00:08:50.740 He proved it worked in a massive, traditional 00:08:50.740 --> 00:08:53.120 country setting with the master of the genre. 00:08:53.929 --> 00:08:56.269 Now, he needed to know if the architecture of 00:08:56.269 --> 00:08:58.750 the song was strong enough to survive the raw, 00:08:58.970 --> 00:09:01.309 aggressive energy of his own band, The Attractions, 00:09:01.850 --> 00:09:03.990 and broadcast live to the critical British indie 00:09:03.990 --> 00:09:06.570 audience, no less. That is bold. He was obsessively 00:09:06.570 --> 00:09:08.690 making sure the song held up under every possible 00:09:08.690 --> 00:09:11.149 condition. But to truly understand why this song 00:09:11.149 --> 00:09:13.110 could survive being dragged through all these 00:09:13.110 --> 00:09:15.190 different environments, we have to look at what 00:09:15.190 --> 00:09:17.830 was actually inside the lyrics. We do. We need 00:09:17.830 --> 00:09:20.870 to examine what demanded such a specific obsessive 00:09:20.870 --> 00:09:22.710 treatment. Here's where it gets really interesting. 00:09:22.889 --> 00:09:25.029 If you look closely at the lyrics, the song is 00:09:25.029 --> 00:09:27.809 a master class in country architecture. In fact, 00:09:28.350 --> 00:09:30.289 music scholars like James E. Perrone have put 00:09:30.289 --> 00:09:33.169 it out that Costello fundamentally, quote, understood 00:09:33.169 --> 00:09:36.250 the country genre musically and lyrically. He 00:09:36.250 --> 00:09:39.149 really did his homework. He did. Perrone points 00:09:39.149 --> 00:09:42.049 to one specific lyrical metaphor at the core 00:09:42.049 --> 00:09:45.929 of the song that anchors the entire piece. The 00:09:45.929 --> 00:09:48.809 character in the song equates his own home with 00:09:48.809 --> 00:09:52.559 a transient hotel. A transient hotel, wow. It 00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:55.179 carries so much weight. It does. It's entirely 00:09:55.179 --> 00:09:58.740 about this theme of deep disconnection and alienation 00:09:58.740 --> 00:10:00.720 from his own family. You walk into the house, 00:10:00.799 --> 00:10:03.000 you own the house where your family lives, and 00:10:03.000 --> 00:10:05.120 you feel like you are just renting a room by 00:10:05.120 --> 00:10:07.899 the hour. You are a ghost in your own life. Exactly. 00:10:08.259 --> 00:10:10.820 And Perrone notes that this concept, quote, rings 00:10:10.820 --> 00:10:13.580 true as a metaphor that could easily be expected 00:10:13.580 --> 00:10:16.120 in an American country song. It fits perfectly. 00:10:16.200 --> 00:10:18.419 Because it is the absolute quintessential theme 00:10:18.419 --> 00:10:21.000 of the genre. the heartbreak of the domestic 00:10:21.000 --> 00:10:23.519 space falling apart. And this realization changes 00:10:23.519 --> 00:10:25.460 the whole perspective on the genre crossover 00:10:25.460 --> 00:10:28.779 for me. How so? Well, when you think about English 00:10:28.779 --> 00:10:31.519 new wave music in the late 70s, it is heavily 00:10:31.519 --> 00:10:34.820 fueled by angst. Right, teenage angst, societal 00:10:34.820 --> 00:10:37.740 rebellion. Yes, it's about alienation and disconnection 00:10:37.740 --> 00:10:40.980 from society at large. Then you look at American 00:10:40.980 --> 00:10:44.059 country music, and it is fueled by sorrow. It's 00:10:44.059 --> 00:10:46.700 about alienation and disconnection from the family 00:10:46.700 --> 00:10:49.100 unit. Oh, that's a brilliant connection. These 00:10:49.100 --> 00:10:52.139 two seemingly opposite genres are actually just 00:10:52.139 --> 00:10:55.860 two sides of the exact same emotional coin. Alienation 00:10:55.860 --> 00:10:58.159 is the ultimate emotional bridge connecting the 00:10:58.159 --> 00:11:01.000 punk club in London to the honky tonk in Nashville. 00:11:01.539 --> 00:11:04.320 They are expressing the exact same human condition, 00:11:05.320 --> 00:11:07.019 fundamentally built for people who feel left 00:11:07.019 --> 00:11:09.620 behind or out of place. Yeah. And if we break 00:11:09.620 --> 00:11:11.539 down the mechanics of that phrase, transient 00:11:11.539 --> 00:11:14.440 hotel, we can see why it works so universally. 00:11:14.759 --> 00:11:16.740 Let's break it down. Making the familiar like 00:11:16.740 --> 00:11:19.000 your own living room feel starkly unfamiliar, 00:11:19.240 --> 00:11:22.179 like a transient hotel, is a remarkably powerful 00:11:22.179 --> 00:11:25.080 tool for communication. It really hits you. It 00:11:25.080 --> 00:11:27.159 forces your audience to reevaluate something 00:11:27.159 --> 00:11:29.840 they take for granted. Using a metaphor that 00:11:29.840 --> 00:11:32.340 suddenly renders the safe and familiar as cold 00:11:32.340 --> 00:11:35.059 and transactional, it breaks the audience out 00:11:35.059 --> 00:11:38.529 of their comfort zone. It mirrors the exact discomfort 00:11:38.529 --> 00:11:40.590 the character in the song is feeling. It shakes 00:11:40.590 --> 00:11:43.009 you awake. You can't just passively listen to 00:11:43.009 --> 00:11:45.070 a line like that. It demands your attention. 00:11:45.590 --> 00:11:48.159 Absolutely. Despite the fact that the lyrics 00:11:48.159 --> 00:11:50.980 were a perfect, universally translatable fit 00:11:50.980 --> 00:11:54.159 for the country genre, the actual recording of 00:11:54.159 --> 00:11:58.000 that ultimate duet in July 1978 left the song's 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:00.580 creator with some incredibly heavy self -doubt. 00:12:00.840 --> 00:12:03.059 It's kind of tragic really. It is. The aftermath 00:12:03.059 --> 00:12:05.240 of this collaboration brings us to its critical 00:12:05.240 --> 00:12:08.279 reception, its legacy, and Costello's rather 00:12:08.279 --> 00:12:11.100 harsh self -critique. The fallout from the duet 00:12:11.100 --> 00:12:13.720 recording is a study in contrasting perspectives, 00:12:14.460 --> 00:12:16.399 because despite the lyrical brilliance we just 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:18.779 analyzed, the resulting track was viewed by the 00:12:18.779 --> 00:12:20.919 contemporary press as quite an anomaly. They 00:12:20.919 --> 00:12:23.019 didn't know what to do with it. Exactly. The 00:12:23.019 --> 00:12:25.679 renowned Rolling Stone critic Dave Marsh reviewed 00:12:25.679 --> 00:12:29.139 it and famously described the song as a lovely 00:12:29.139 --> 00:12:32.299 but bizarre country oddity. Lovely but bizarre 00:12:32.299 --> 00:12:35.299 country oddity. That has to be one of the most 00:12:35.299 --> 00:12:37.299 backhanded compliments a critic could possibly 00:12:37.299 --> 00:12:39.679 invent. It really is. I mean, it acknowledges 00:12:39.679 --> 00:12:42.879 the craft while simultaneously alienating the 00:12:42.879 --> 00:12:45.519 final product. It highlights how genuinely jarring 00:12:45.519 --> 00:12:48.720 it was for critics to hear these two worlds collide 00:12:48.720 --> 00:12:51.279 on a single piece of vinyl. They just didn't 00:12:51.279 --> 00:12:54.159 have a box to put it in. No box at all. But from 00:12:54.159 --> 00:12:57.519 a historical perspective, that oddity was necessary. 00:12:58.139 --> 00:13:00.700 Professor Perrone notes that this bizarre experiment 00:13:00.700 --> 00:13:04.519 actually paved the way for Costello's later highly 00:13:04.519 --> 00:13:07.960 successful deep dives into country music. Most 00:13:07.960 --> 00:13:11.080 notably, his album Almost Blue in 1981. Which 00:13:11.080 --> 00:13:13.159 is a classic. Right, it wasn't a dead end. It 00:13:13.159 --> 00:13:15.139 was the doorway he had to walk through to evolve. 00:13:15.460 --> 00:13:18.019 Yet, Costello himself didn't view it as a triumphant 00:13:18.019 --> 00:13:20.240 doorway at the time. Not at all. When asked about 00:13:20.240 --> 00:13:22.620 the duet later, Costello's reflection is frankly 00:13:22.620 --> 00:13:25.860 shocking. especially given how much he revered 00:13:25.860 --> 00:13:28.379 George Jones and how hard he worked to get this 00:13:28.379 --> 00:13:30.759 song made. What did he say? He said, and I quote, 00:13:30.899 --> 00:13:32.799 it was just a happy coincidence that they happened 00:13:32.799 --> 00:13:35.100 to be doing a duet record and I got invited to 00:13:35.100 --> 00:13:38.080 sing with him. Wow. He is completely minimizing 00:13:38.080 --> 00:13:40.159 his own agency in the creation of the record. 00:13:40.860 --> 00:13:43.580 He wrote the song. He wrote it specifically for 00:13:43.580 --> 00:13:46.580 Jones. Yeah. And he doesn't stop at minimizing 00:13:46.580 --> 00:13:49.899 his involvement. He follows it up with this ultimate 00:13:49.899 --> 00:13:52.620 crushing regret. He says, truthfully, I wish 00:13:52.620 --> 00:13:54.919 I had a George Jones solo recording of that song 00:13:54.919 --> 00:13:57.240 because my contribution to the record is probably 00:13:57.240 --> 00:14:01.669 the low point of it. Oh, man. That is a staggering 00:14:01.669 --> 00:14:04.809 level of self -deprecation from an artist who 00:14:04.809 --> 00:14:07.750 was at that very moment conquering the global 00:14:07.750 --> 00:14:10.149 charts. It's the ultimate fanboy dilemma. It 00:14:10.149 --> 00:14:13.029 really is. Imagine you spend your life admiring 00:14:13.029 --> 00:14:15.409 a master of their craft. You study their mechanics, 00:14:15.610 --> 00:14:17.669 you learn their idiom, and you create a masterpiece 00:14:17.669 --> 00:14:19.889 specifically designed for your absolute idol. 00:14:19.909 --> 00:14:22.440 To dream come true. Right. By some miracle, the 00:14:22.440 --> 00:14:24.879 stars align, and you are invited to actually 00:14:24.879 --> 00:14:27.580 perform it with them in the studio, but then 00:14:27.580 --> 00:14:29.500 you look back at the finished product and you 00:14:29.500 --> 00:14:31.720 feel like you just photobombed their great work. 00:14:32.220 --> 00:14:34.039 Photobombed. That's a perfect way to describe 00:14:34.039 --> 00:14:36.879 it. You feel like your presence actively distracts 00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:39.179 from the art, and you just want yourself erased 00:14:39.179 --> 00:14:41.120 from the picture so you can look at your idol 00:14:41.120 --> 00:14:44.080 in peace. If we connect this to the bigger picture, 00:14:44.600 --> 00:14:48.220 what we are really examining here is massive. 00:14:48.539 --> 00:14:52.159 almost paralyzing imposter syndrome. Oh, 100%. 00:14:52.159 --> 00:14:55.139 Elvis Costello was not an amateur trying his 00:14:55.139 --> 00:14:57.980 luck. He was a highly successful, critically 00:14:57.980 --> 00:15:01.139 acclaimed star with a massive following. Yet 00:15:01.139 --> 00:15:03.019 the moment he was placed next to his guiding 00:15:03.019 --> 00:15:05.879 light, all of that external validation vanished. 00:15:06.460 --> 00:15:08.779 He felt entirely inadequate in the new environment. 00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:11.419 It's so relatable though. It is. He convinced 00:15:11.419 --> 00:15:14.470 himself he ruined his own creation. But the crucial 00:15:14.470 --> 00:15:17.409 takeaway is that despite Castello's intense internal 00:15:17.409 --> 00:15:19.870 self -doubt and despite the critics calling it 00:15:19.870 --> 00:15:22.230 an oddity, the structural experiment worked. 00:15:22.389 --> 00:15:25.070 Because it permanently altered his creative trajectory 00:15:25.070 --> 00:15:28.289 and led directly to Almost Blue. Yes. He couldn't 00:15:28.289 --> 00:15:30.629 have achieved the mastery of his 1981 country 00:15:30.629 --> 00:15:32.909 album without first enduring the discomfort of 00:15:32.909 --> 00:15:36.090 being the bizarre country oddity in 1978. He 00:15:36.090 --> 00:15:38.710 had to go through it. The act of stepping into 00:15:38.710 --> 00:15:41.690 that Nashville studio and crossing that heavily 00:15:41.690 --> 00:15:44.980 guarded genre border. broke something open for 00:15:44.980 --> 00:15:47.539 him creatively, even if he couldn't see it at 00:15:47.539 --> 00:15:49.740 the time. We started this deep dive looking at 00:15:49.740 --> 00:15:52.519 an impassable border between two musical nations. 00:15:53.220 --> 00:15:55.600 We watched an artist test the waters by sneaking 00:15:55.600 --> 00:15:58.379 a secret seven inch record into the hands of 00:15:58.379 --> 00:16:01.139 a thousand diehard fans. The soft launch. Yep. 00:16:01.659 --> 00:16:04.720 We saw him relentlessly stress test a metaphor 00:16:04.720 --> 00:16:07.639 about a transient hotel across completely different 00:16:07.639 --> 00:16:09.659 broadcast formats until it perfectly bridged 00:16:09.659 --> 00:16:12.539 the angst of British punk and the sorrow of American 00:16:12.539 --> 00:16:14.850 country. A brilliant bridge. And finally, we 00:16:14.850 --> 00:16:17.029 saw him stand shoulder to shoulder with his idol, 00:16:17.429 --> 00:16:19.870 only to be crushed by his own imposter syndrome. 00:16:20.610 --> 00:16:23.009 So what does this all mean? The takeaway for 00:16:23.009 --> 00:16:25.350 you listening right now is to never be afraid 00:16:25.350 --> 00:16:27.850 of producing your own bizarre oddities. Exactly. 00:16:28.029 --> 00:16:29.970 Because even if an experiment makes you feel 00:16:29.970 --> 00:16:32.149 entirely out of your depth, even if the critics 00:16:32.149 --> 00:16:34.450 don't understand it, stepping entirely out of 00:16:34.450 --> 00:16:37.110 your comfort zone into a new discipline can permanently 00:16:37.110 --> 00:16:39.769 alter the trajectory of your work. It did for 00:16:39.769 --> 00:16:42.299 Costello. As we wrap up this exploration, I want 00:16:42.299 --> 00:16:44.539 to leave you with one final thought to mull over. 00:16:45.299 --> 00:16:47.500 And this builds directly on that intense self 00:16:47.500 --> 00:16:50.139 -critique Costello had. Okay, let's hear it. 00:16:50.480 --> 00:16:52.419 Think about Costello sitting in the playback 00:16:52.419 --> 00:16:55.399 room, listening to the final mix of Stranger 00:16:55.399 --> 00:16:59.200 in the House, genuinely wishing his own voice 00:16:59.200 --> 00:17:02.080 was magically erased from the record so that 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:04.500 only George Jones was left singing the words 00:17:04.500 --> 00:17:06.849 he wrote. It breaks your heart a little. It raises 00:17:06.849 --> 00:17:09.269 a fascinating question for you to ponder long 00:17:09.269 --> 00:17:12.890 after this deep dive ends. In your own life or 00:17:12.890 --> 00:17:15.410 in your own work, have you ever built a vehicle 00:17:15.410 --> 00:17:18.029 or an idea so perfectly suited for someone else 00:17:18.029 --> 00:17:20.529 that the absolute greatest contribution you could 00:17:20.529 --> 00:17:22.710 make was actually a step aside and let them drive 00:17:22.710 --> 00:17:25.049 it? Wow. What an incredible thought to end on. 00:17:25.210 --> 00:17:27.269 Thank you so much for joining us on this deep 00:17:27.269 --> 00:17:29.869 dive across musical borders, and we will catch 00:17:29.869 --> 00:17:30.450 you next time.