LIST: 50 Best Singles Released Since 1971 #9

9. “Pump It Up,” Elvis Costello, 1978

I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, an Elvis Costello “fan”. He has a handful of decent songs, many, many, many virtually unlistenable songs, and there are huge tracts of his recording career that are middle-of-the-road dogshit for aging hipsters.

However.

I will go to the mat for “Pump It Up” any day. It’s just an all-time great damn single. Catchy, cheeky, full of adolescent humor, with an urgent, propulsive drive that doesn’t let up for a second, “Pump It Up” is the Elvis Costello song for people who can’t stand Elvis Costello.

Favorite Lyric: “You wanna torture her/You wanna talk to her/All the things you bought for her/Puttin’ up your temperature.”

Favorite Musical Moment: Keyboards are the hero in this one, my friends.

Would It Make Good Karaoke? My instincts say no, but there is a good shout-along chorus, I guess.