I was learning to play the bass guitar when I first heard Get Happy!! The bass playing on it is incredible. That would be Bruce Thomas. For whatever reason, he and Elvis Costello do not get along. I suspect that it is a personal thing. But it could be musical as well. Costello has talked about his tendency to rewrite in the studio. This causes problems for a bass player of Thomas’ brilliance. It is hard to get a bass part that really works, and it has got to be annoying to get something that works and have the song suddenly changed.

Regardless, I’ve always been particularly taken with the bass part on the song “Black & White World.” Even after all these years, I don’t really know what the song is about. It has various references to photography and cinema — and the difference between the fantasy and reality. But more than that, I can’t much say. Still, it is a fine song.