Elvis Costello was, for a long time, a sophisticated musician living in incognito. He was supposed to be a punk rocker, after all. And while there’s plenty of anger captured in most of his early songs, Costello’s ability as a songwriter and arranger far exceeded that of his peers.

Elvis Costello, backed by the sensational band The Attractions, has amassed one of the most interesting recording careers of anyone. He is one of the greatest rock artists of all-time, after all.

I am focusing here on the very best. These are the 10 best songs recorded by Elvis Costello (with, very often, The Attractions).

The Greatest 10 Songs by Elvis Costello and the Attractions

10. “(I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea”

The equally as talented and younger of the two great Elvis of rock n’ roll, Costello started out as a punk-rocker. Or, at least, he was marketed as one.

Costello was actually working as a computer programmer at the time and possessed, already considerable musical skill.

The incredible album “This Year’s Model” somehow blended punk with sophistication. There was plenty of anger and wry wit captured in “(I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea,” while Costello strutted as a punk-rock version of Buddy Holly.

9. “Two Little Hitlers”

David Lee Roth cleverly and meanly said that music critics’ passion for Elvis Costello stemmed from the fact that most of them physically resembled the bespecled songwriter.

If that’s true, most critics must’ve also entertained fantasies of being a great dictator to those around them. “Two Little Hitlers” is a song about the cruelty of love featuring Costello’s smartest lyrics and The Attractions’ best playing.

8. “Radio, Radio”

“Radio, Radio” is a great pop-rock tune from a time when such things came easily to Costello. It’s about the promise of early rock n’ roll. It’s about the freedom that should’ve been just around the corner. And it’s about the ugly reality of the world. Finally, when Costello performed this live with the Beastie Boys in 1999… little had changed.

7. “Veronica”

Elvis Costello was always an ambitious songwriter. By the time of the late 1980s, he was free to showcase the full range of his talents. So strong were these aptitudes, in fact, that Beatle Paul McCartney had recruited him for songwriting sessions.

“Veronica” is a tender, heartbreaking song about an old woman suffering from memory lapses. It’s beautifully Beatlesque. And it provided Costello, surprisingly, in 1989, with his biggest chart hit.

6. “Shipbuilding”

Louder anti-war protest songs may have been written. But, arguably, none went as deep or were as moving as “Shipbuilding.” A truly beautiful jazzy musical composition is used as the foundation on which to place lyrics about being called up to the army, death and the terror of the Falklands War. It is a stunning composition.

5. “Pump It Up”

Elvis Costello knew how to get what he wanted. He was shameless. He could take ideas from anywhere and blend them with his own. “Pump it Up” is constructed as a great stomper meant for rock radio stations. It worked!

If anything, “Pump it Up” captures the anxiety and excitement of youth, of being all dressed up with little place to go.

4. “Alison”

“Alison” is the first time Costello dared to show himself as anything other than a Clash-loving punk-rocker. It was a tender ballad. And it showed traces of incredible lyrical maturity and singing expertise that could’ve made many crooners jealous.

3. “I Want You”

Psychiatry treaties might have already been written around the subject of “I Want You.” But it could well be the other way around.

“I Want You” is one of the greatest songs ever written. It is also one of the most cruel. Penned from the perspective of a cheated-on lover, “I Want You” splashes blood on the walls and doesn’t bother to clean it back up. I love it!

2. “Oliver’s Army”

Inspired by ABBA and by the fate of the British Empire, “Oliver’s Army,” in essence, is one of the most punk-rock Costello & The Attractions songs. But it may just be the melodies and the piano riffs that made it a hit the first time around.

In “Oliver’s Army,” Costello talks about troops placed all over the world and, yet, never quite finding their place. It’s been a difficult half-century for Britain and this song might be the closest this era has to an anthem.

1. “Watching the Detectives”

Like most of the punks, Elvis Costello liked reggae as well. He also liked mysterious stories that, at the heart of them, had people behaving very wrong.

“Watching the Detectives” is built around a reggae-rock groove and inhabits the world of noir films. The song was inspired by The Clash, but it’s Costello’s paranoid visions that really make it one of the greatest songs ever written.