Accidents Will Happen
A late addition to Armed Forces, first sung at Hollywood High with Nieve's piano alone.
Elvis Costello, from Armed Forces (1979)
- Written by
- Elvis Costello
- Released
- 4 May 1979
- Length
- 3:00
- Album
- Armed Forces
Released as a single on 4 May 1979 with Talking in the Dark and Wednesday Week on the B-sides, it was recorded in August and September 1978 with Lowe producing. It was a late addition to the album, and Clean Money was cut to make room. Costello describes the song as being about a straying lover struggling to tell the truth and face the consequences. He has said he was young and newly famous and had no sense of responsibility. He has also said that a taxi-driver story in the lyric was constructed.
It reached number 28 in the UK. The first performance was at Hollywood High on 4 June 1978, with only his voice and Nieve's piano, and it opens the live album of that show. Setlist.fm logs it 228 times.
On stage
- 1978-06-04, Hollywood High School, Los Angeles The first performance, voice and piano only, and the opening track of the album.
More songs by Elvis Costello
Alison, Watching the Detectives, (I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea, Pump It Up, Oliver's Army, Shipbuilding
Sources
- Accidents Will Happen (song), Wikipedia
- Live at Hollywood High, Wikipedia
- Elvis Costello song statistics, setlist.fm