My Gen X Playlist: Everyday I Write the Book – Elvis Costello and the Attractions

What book are you reading right now?

When we were kids, my mom took us to the library every few weeks to check out books. She was a big advocate of reading. Fiction, non-fiction. She didn’t care. As long as we read.

I grew up reading Stephen King, Robert Ludlum and J.R.R Tolkien. Later, John Grisham, David Baldacci and Dan Brown were added to the mix. My first read from some of these authors came off a bookshelf of old paperbacks already read by my mom. The other day she asked if I read any of the Harry Potter books. She was surprised when I said no and recommended them as a must read.

When my mom taught third grade, she read Harry Potter to her students almost every day. She created a character chart for them to refer to so they kept the characters straight. They all followed along in their books as she read out loud. The kids loved it. She was sad they were only able to get through one of the books during the year because that meant she couldn’t share the next book with them. She was happy to learn that most of her students continued reading Harry Potter books after moving on from her class. She had planted a seed. I guess that’s the same thing she did with us kids – planted a seed. Once a teacher, always a teacher.

I recently went through my bookshelf and decided to reread a book from about ten years ago. 365 Degrees Longitude is about a family who decided to pack it up and travel around the world for a year. I used to read a lot of travel literature once upon a time. A prompt from a few days ago rekindled that interest.

I’ve always liked quirky Elvis Costello. He once wrote a song in ten minutes. Every Day I Write the Book was released in 1983 and became his first American hit.

. . . he challenged himself to write a song in ten minutes; to his apparent surprise, the track later became a modest hit . . .

– somethingelsereviews

In this song, Elvis Costello is a novelist who tells his girlfriend that everything that happens in their relationship is source material for his book. On one hand, it’s very sweet that he’s taking the time to chronicle their relationship, but something about it is also kind of creepy, as he’s documented her transgressions and is now willing to use her own words against her in their arguments.

– Songfacts

This sounds like it has the makings of a new Stephen King novel. You never know.

–

For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

Don't tell me you don't know what love is
When you're old enough to know better
When you find strange hands in your sweater
When your dreamboat turns out to be a footnote
I'm a man with a mission in two or three editions
And I'm giving you a longing look
Everyday, everyday, everyday I write the book

Chapter One we didn't really get along
Chapter Two I think I fell in love with you
You said you'd stand by me in the middle of Chapter Three
But you were up to your old tricks in Chapters Four, Five and Six

The way you walk
The way you talk, and try to kiss me, and laugh
In four or five paragraphs
All your compliments and your cutting remarks
Are captured here in my quotation marks

Don't tell me you don't know the difference
Between a lover and a fighter
With my pen and my electric typewriter
Even in a perfect world where everyone was equal
I'd still own the film rights and be working on the sequel