Songoftheday 4/2/13 - Chapter One we didn't really get along, Chapter Two I think I fell in love with you...

Elvis Costello & The Attractions - "Everyday I Write The Book"
from the album Punch The Clock (1983)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #36 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 2

Today's Song of the Day is by British singer/songwriter Elvis Costello. Born Declan McManus, Elvis took the King's first name and his bandleader dad's stage surname and released his debut album My Aim Is True in 1977. One of the tracks from that album, "Watching The Detectives", became his first British top-40 hit. Two years later, his classic album Armed Forces came out, and fro it "Oliver's Army" shot to #2 on the UK pop chart.

In America, however, his first taste of success didn't come until 1981, when "From A Whisper To A Scream" reached the bottom of the rock radio chart. But after a couple albums switching genres, Elvis released the pop-oriented "Punch The Clock", and the first single, "Everyday I Write The Book", became his first US top-40 hit (and actually the first to reach the Hot 100)...

"Everyday..." reached the top-40 on both the pop and rock charts in America in the fall of 1983, and racked up another top-40 hit in Britain.

(Click below to see the rest of the post)


..and here's Elvis live with the song in 1983...

And finally, from his Spinning Songbook show in 2012...

Up tomorrow: Runaway with the common folk.