My Aim Is True

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his first record,

christened by his manager

'Elvis'

which he thought was a joke,

made worse later that year

when Presley died.

He’d never liked

Presley’s music

all that much,

had Buddy Holly’s square 

spectacled looks,

and preferred the rockabilly

of Jerry Lee Lewis

and R&B of Little Richard

a-wop-bop-a-loo-bop.

That’s when he grasped

inertia:

once things were rolling

there was no real steering

like the arrow aimed

bow stretched to chin

gut touching lip

held tight with all the muscle

you could muster—

at the instant of release

nature takes over

no telling

where it will strike

how deep

and who gets hurt.

He’d have to learn

to live with it.

[From an interview with Elvis Costello on the 50th anniversary of his debut album My Aim Is True. The title is taken from the song Alison, which describes seeing an old girlfriend and the disappointment he feels about the direction her life has taken. He says that in a larger sense it's about how 'your nature may kill the love you cherish most'.]