"New Lace Sleeves" is a song written by new wave musician

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. He has won multiple awards in his career, including a Grammy Award in ...

and performed by Costello and

the Attractions The Attractions were an English backing band for the English new wave musician Elvis Costello between 1977 and 1986, and again from 1994 to 1996. They consisted of Steve Nieve (keyboards and ukulele), Bruce Thomas (bass guitar), and Pete Tho ...

for his 1981 album ''

Trust Trust often refers to: * Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality It may also refer to: Business and law * Trust law, a body of law under which one person holds property for the benefit of another * Trust (bus ...

''. The first version of the song was written by Costello in 1974 and featured post-war themed lyrics that were largely scrapped in the final recording. In the final version of the song, Costello included lyrics about seduction and power. Musically, the song was performed at a slower tempo and features a band performance praised by Costello. Pete Thomas notably performed a drum beat inspired by songs from

Devo Devo (, originally ) is an American rock band from Akron, Ohio, formed in 1973. Their classic line-up consisted of two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs (Mark and Bob) and the Casales (Gerald and Bob), along with Alan Myers. The band had a ...

and

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

. "New Lace Sleeves" was released on ''Trust'' as an album track and did not get released as a single. Since its release, the song has appeared on numerous compilations and has been praised by critics as a highlight from ''Trust''. The track has also made multiple appearances in Costello's live performances.

Background

The first version of "New Lace Sleeves" was written by Costello in 1974. This early draft was entitled "From Kansas to Berlin" and was "a big, grand song about postwar life" according to Costello. Costello saved the song's lyrics in notebooks for years before returning to them on his 1981 album ''

''. The only surviving lyric from the original draft was "When are they going to stop all of these victory processions?" According to Costello, "the carnal comedy in New Lace Sleeves' all the embarrassment of the morning after" was not present in the original draft of the song. As he explained in his autobiography ''

Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink ''Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink'' is a memoir and spoken word album by Elvis Costello. The album earned Costello a Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recor ...

'', "If the tone of the first draft had been a little pious and even moralistic, I wasn't feeling nearly so high-minded by 1980". Costello also cited what he characterised as the British press's love of scandal and said, "It also was about class and control. People used to say

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...

held her

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

with some sort of sexual magnetism. Power is seductive".

Music

"New Lace Sleeves" was described by Costello as "almost like dub reggae". Costello also emphasized the importance of the song's slower speed, saying, "Some of the best things the Attractions did, like this one, were at slower tempos. It's a myth that it's all about speed and power. ... We had to be exhausted to play like that. We had to drain ourselves of the impulse to play fast". Additionally, Costello highlighted how "the fact that the music was slinky suited the words". Costello described "New Lace Sleeves" as "what I think of as he Attractions'most original ensemble performance" and "one of the greatest Attractions performances". The song notably features a drum pattern by Pete Thomas that was inspired by

's cover of "

(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" is a song recorded by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. A product of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards' songwriting partnership, it features a guitar riff by Richards that opens and drives the song. The riff ...

" and

's "

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". Thomas recalled, " roducer

Nick Lowe Nicholas Drain Lowe (born 24 March 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer. A noted figure in power pop and new wave,

Release and reception

"New Lace Sleeves" was released on Costello's fifth album, ''

'', in 1981. The song was not released as a single. Since its initial release, "New Lace Sleeves" has appeared on multiple compilation albums, including '' Girls Girls Girls'', '' The Very Best of Elvis Costello'', and '' The Best of Elvis Costello: The First 10 Years''. "New Lace Sleeves" has received critical acclaim and has been named by some critics as one of the highlights of ''Trust''.

Rob Sheffield Robert James Sheffield (born February 2, 1966) is an American music journalist and author. He is a long time contributing editor at ''Rolling Stone'', writing about music, TV, and pop culture. Previously, he was a contributing editor at ''Blen ...

of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' noted the song as well as " Watch Your Step" as "the album's undisputed twin highlights", while ''

the Rolling Stone Album Guide ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1 ...

'' described "New Lace Sleeves" as a "great song" where Costello "finally comes clean about his woman problems".

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

called the track a "highlight" of ''Trust'' and ''

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'' praised Costello's "peerless acid tongue" on the song. Jim Beviglia of ''American Songwriter'' ranked "New Lace Sleeves" as the eighth best Elvis Costello song ever, calling the song the "towering peak" of ''Trust'' and "a magnificent song on which he was clearly more inspired than impaired".

Live performances

"New Lace Sleeves" often appears in Costello's live setlist as one of his deeper cuts. Costello performed the song on '' Tomorrow'' with

Tom Snyder Thomas James Snyder (May 12, 1936 – July 29, 2007) was an American television personality, news anchor, and radio personality best known for his late night talk shows '' Tomorrow'', on the NBC television network in the 1970s and 1980s, and '' ...

in 1981, along with "Watch Your Step". A live performance from a 1981 show at the Tower Theater in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

has been uploaded by ''

Paste Magazine ''Paste'' is a monthly music and entertainment digital magazine, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with studios in Atlanta and Manhattan, and owned by Paste Media Group. The magazine began as a website in 1998. It ran as a print publication fro ...

''.

References

Citations Sources * * {{authority control Elvis Costello songs 1981 songs Songs written by Elvis Costello Song recordings produced by Nick Lowe