Veronica (song)
{{EngvarB|date=January 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2014}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Veronica
| cover = Veronica Elvis Costello.jpg
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Elvis Costello
| album = Spike
| B-side = "You're No Good" / "The Room Nobody Lives In" (12" single only)
| released = 20 February 1989
| recorded = 1987–1988
| studio =
| venue =
| genre =
- Pop rock{{cite web|first= Bryan|last= Rolli|title= Top 35 Songs of 1989|website= Ultimate Classic Rock|date= January 11, 2024|url= https://ultimateclassicrock.com/1989-songs/|accessdate= January 12, 2024}}
- baroque pop
| length = {{Duration|m=3|s=09}}
| label = Warner Bros.
| writer = Elvis Costello, Paul McCartney
| producer = Elvis Costello, Kevin Killen, T-Bone Burnett
| prev_title = A Town Called Big Nothing
| prev_year = 1987
| next_title = Baby Plays Around EP
| next_year = 1989
}}
"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".{{cite news | url=http://ew.com/article/2004/09/23/elvis-costellos-10-greatest-tunes/ | title=Veronica | work=Pump It Up: Elvis Costello's 10 Greatest Tunes | publisher=Entertainment Weekly | date=9 October 2004 | access-date=10 September 2023 | archive-date=10 August 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150810020106/http://ew.com/article/2004/09/23/elvis-costellos-10-greatest-tunes/ | url-status=bot: unknown }}
"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."{{cite book|author=Elvis Costello|title=Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink|date=13 October 2015|publisher=Viking|isbn=978-0241003466|page=484}}
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.{{Cite web|title=Elvis Costello - Veronica|url=https://www.discogs.com/master/39523-Elvis-Costello-Veronica|access-date=2021-10-30|website=Discogs|date=2 December 1989 |language=en}}
- "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.{{cite web|work=mvdbase.com|title=Elvis Costello Veronica|url=http://www.mvdbase.com/video.php?id=6608|access-date=17 February 2016|archive-date=20 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180820203443/http://www.mvdbase.com/video.php?id=6608|url-status=dead}}
Charts
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{AllMusic|class=song|id=t2734648|label=Veronica}}
{{Elvis Costello}}
{{MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video
Category:Songs written by Elvis Costello
Category:Songs written by Paul McCartney
Category:Song recordings produced by T Bone Burnett
Category:Warner Records singles
Category:Songs based on actual events