Elvis Costello understands great songwriting, and he sees a similar trait between the works of two other acclaimed artists: Bob Dylan and Taylor Swift.
During an appearance on the Rockonteurs podcast, Costello discussed his 1986 LP King of America. The album was a notable departure for the English rocker, as he delved into folk, country, roots and Americana. Many of the songs were steeped in personal experiences, but as Costello recalled, he had to find a way to make them accessible to listeners.
“All I was doing was reciting things that were happening to me,” the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer explained. “And I know that can be interesting to hear. But it doesn’t necessarily engage the listener because they don’t know what you’re talking about.”
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Costello went on to explain how he learned “from the best people who do this,” studying the “element of craft that comes after the desire to express these rawer emotions.”
One such example was Dylan, who Costello said used a sense of “revelation and invention” to make his songs feel more universal. “[It] is something that marks out a lot of the Blood on the Tracks songs by Bob Dylan, where one minute they seem to be very raw emotion,” Costello explained. “The next minute they’re clearly invention. And that keeps you guessing.”
“I’m not just trying to say this to be down with the kids, but it’s also what makes Taylor Swift speak to people,” Costello continued. “She understands the necessity of taking personal experience, but expressing it in a way that’s [relatable]. There’s lots of other examples of that, she’s just the most successful one that you could cite. But that’s why she’s able to sustain communication with her audience in quite that way.”
This isn’t the first time Costello has spoken highly of Swift. “I think we’ll all be working for her eventually,” the bespectacled rocker told Best Fit in 2022. “She’s smart and she knows what she’s doing. She can write and sing, and people love it.”