HORA DECUBITUS by ELVIS COSTELLO

WE SAW ELVIS PERFORM WITH THE MINGUS BIG BAND AT THE BEACON THEATER A FEW WEEKS AFTER 9/11/01, DURING THE SHOW HE MADE A JOKE ABOUT BEING PATRIOTIC, HE ENCOURAGED THE AUDIENCE TO GO DOWNTOWN TO HEAR LIVE MUSIC "TO MAKE OURSELVES FEEL RIGHT". FOR HIS LAST ENCORE, AND THIS WAS AN AMAZING SHOW, HE SPOKE OF WAKING IN LOS ANGELES ON 9/11 TO A PHONE CALL IN THE EARLY MORNING. THE CALL BEARING THE DREADFUL NEWS OF THE ATTACKS. HE SAID THAT AS HE SAT WATCHING THE NEWS ON TELEVISION, HE BECAME ANGRIER AND ANGRIER...THEN HE WROTE THIS SONG, PERFORMED FOR THE FIRST TIME THAT EVENING TO THE MUSIC OF CHARLES MINGUS' "HORA DECUBITUS"...WHICH TRANSLATED FROM LATIN MEANS 'BEFORE BEDTIME'. ELVIS PERFORMED THE SONG WITH UNYIELDING EMOTION, SCREAMING THE LAST LINE "LIFE IS A BEAUTIFUL THING" OVER AND OVER. AFTER THE APPLAUSE OF THOSE WHO HAD JUST SO RECENTLY EXPERIENCED DEVASTATING LOSS, WE, THE AUDIENCE FILED OUT OF THE BEACON IN NEAR SILENCE. I COULDN'T SPEAK FOR MANY MINUTES. THE LOBBY CHATTER WAS SOMBER. WE HAD ALL JUST EXPERIENCED SOMETHING UNIQUELY HEALING. ELVIS HAD REMINDED US ALL...LIFE IS A BEAUTIFUL THING.

HENRY BLUMENKRANZ