Ray Di PietroLast month, Elvis Costello released a new song recorded in Helsinki, Finland called “No Flag,” and promised that the “next installment of the story” would arrive July 10. Well, it’s here.
Costello has dropped a new track called “Hetty O’Hara Confidential,” also recorded in Helsinki. Like “No Flag,” he sang and played all the instruments on the track, including drum machine, organ, bass, piano and “all other noises.”
The upbeat, percussion-heavy song, described as “the tale of a tattler who outlives her time,” is about a female gossip columnist who wields the power to make or break people’s careers and reputations. There’s an animated lyric video to go with the track.
“Who’s got your girlfriend?/And who had her first?/Reading her column was essential/Hetty O’Hara Confidential,” sings Elvis in his best sarcastic tone. “She could kill a man with a single stroke/She is not the one you want to provoke/If you can’t take the heat/Or you can’t take a joke.”
As previously reported, Elvis said he wanted to record in Helsinki because he “wanted to go somewhere nobody knew me,” and described the new music as “The Helsinki Sound.”
The next installment is due on August 14.
By Andrea Dresdale
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