09 :: Grace and Virtue :: A Slow Drag with "All This Useless Beauty"

Today's slow drag is with the title track from "All This Useless Beauty," released in 1996. The songwriting is credited to Elvis Costello.

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Show Notes:

Appreciation written, produced, and narrated by Remedy Robinson, MA/MFA

Twitter: @slowdragremedy

Email: [email protected]

Podcast music by https://www.fesliyanstudios.com

Rate this Podcast: https://ratethispodcast.com/slowdrag

References:

“All this Useless Beauty”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrDC4EYmgYs

Elvis Costello Wiki Reference: "All This Useless Beauty": http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/index.php/All_This_Useless_Beauty_(song) 

“All This Useless Beauty” June Tabor version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gX1cnBPXT38

Bechdel Test Movie List: https://bechdeltest.com

Bechdel Test Original comic strip:http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1gAF_bCo_4Y/TexG3UuxAMI/AAAAAAAAAsk/1RnUFtjHXOw/s1600/The+Bechdel+Test.jpg  

Bechdel Test for music: https://urge.org/the-bechdel-test-for-music/

Shall vs. Will: https://www.grammar-monster.com/easily_confused/shall_will.htm

The Mystery of Mary Magdalene: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p016qd9z

Quote about being a club member, Groucho Marx: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/groucho_marx_122546

The Hellenistic Period: https://www.ancient.eu/Hellenistic_Period/

Elvis Costello Rock and Roll Hall of Fame speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFObHCqccVk

Madonna and Whore Dichotomy: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2018-04940-001 

 

"All This Useless Beauty" Lyrics:

It's at times such as this she'd be tempted to spit
If she wasn't so ladylike
She imagines how she might have lived back when legends and history collide
So she looks to her prince finding since he's so charmingly slumped at her side
Those days are recalled on the gallery wall
And she's waiting for passion or humour to strike

(Chorus:)
What shall we do, what shall we do with all this useless beauty?
All this useless beauty

Good Friday arrived, the sky darkened on time
'Til he almost began to negotiate
She held his head like a baby and said "It's okay if you cry"
Now he wants her to dress as if you couldn't guess
He desires to impress his associates
But he's part ugly beast and Hellenic deceased
So she finds that the mixture is hard to deny

(Repeat Chorus)

She won't practice the looks from the great tragic books
That were later disgraced to face celluloid
It won't even make sense but you can bet
If she isn't a sweetheart or plaything or pet
The film turns her into an unveiled threat

Nonsense prevails, modesty fails
Grace and virtue turn into stupidity
While the calendar fades almost all barricades to a pale compromise
And our leaders have feasts on the backsides of beasts
They still think they're the gods of antiquity
If something you missed didn't even exist
It was just an ideal -- is it such a surprise?

(Repeat Chorus Twice)