Veronica (song)
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"Veronica" is a song by Elvis Costello, released in 1989 as the lead single from his album Spike. The song was co-written by Costello with Paul McCartney, was co-produced with T-Bone Burnett and Kevin Killen, and features McCartney on his iconic Höfner bass. In 2004, Entertainment Weekly voted it one of Costello's "10 Greatest Tunes".[1]
"Veronica" was also Costello's highest-charting top 40 hit in the United States, peaking at No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, No. 1 on its Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart, and No. 10 on its Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.
Background
The song focuses on an older woman who has experienced severe memory loss. Costello's inspiration for this song was his grandmother, who suffered from Alzheimer's. When talking about the song on a VH1 interview, Costello reminisced about his grandmother having "terrifying moments of lucidity" and how this was the inspiration for "Veronica". In his 2015 autobiography, Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink, Costello wrote of his collaboration with McCartney, "I'd brought an early version of 'Veronica' that you would have recognized. . . . All the words I'd already written were about my paternal grandmother, Molly, or more formally, Mabel Josephine Jackson. In fact, her Catholic confirmation name, Veronica, provided the very title of the song."[2]
Non-album B-sides
The single featured multiple covers as B-sides, both of which were later released on the 2001 bonus disc to Spike.[3]
- "You're No Good" - 7"
- "The Room Nobody Lives In" - 12"
Music video
"Veronica" and its accompanying video depicts an aged woman, probably nearing the end of her life in a retirement home, engaging in detached reminiscences from her life from young girl to young womanhood (played by Zoe Carides). The video for "Veronica" featured Costello delivering a spoken-word monologue to the camera, and occasionally singing the song softly over the original vocal track from the recording. The video, co-directed by John Hillcoat and Evan English, earned an MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video.[4]
Charts
Template:Singlechart| Chart (1989) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart[5] | 27 |
| Canadian Singles Chart | 64 |
| Dutch Singles Chart[6] | 54 |
| Irish Singles Chart[7] | 22 |
| UK Singles Chart[8] | 31 |
| US Billboard Hot 100[9] | 19 |
| US Billboard Album Rock Tracks[10] | 10 |
See also
References
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- ↑ [[[:Template:BillboardURLbyName]] "Veronica" – Elvis Costello – Chart History] Billboard.com; Retrieved 27 September 2010
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External links
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- Pages with script errors
- Articles with hAudio microformats
- Music infoboxes with malformed table placement
- 1989 songs
- 1989 singles
- Elvis Costello songs
- MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video
- Songs written by Elvis Costello
- Songs written by Paul McCartney
- Song recordings produced by T Bone Burnett
- Warner Records singles
- Songs based on actual events
- Songs about old age
- Song recordings produced by Elvis Costello
- Baroque pop songs