Elvis Costello has told people who accused him of being “woke” for removing the N-word from ‘Oliver’s Army’ to “go fuck yourself”.
In 2022, the legendary artist called on radio stations to stop playing the 1979 single, due to its controversial inclusion of the lyric, “Only takes one itchy trigger / One more widow, one less white n*****”.
The anti-imperialist song is a satirical take on how governments and militaries use working class young people as soldiers in their battles, and Costello has long argued that the use of the N-word was a reference to how Catholics were historically referred to in Northern Ireland.
However, he said in 2022 that he had decided to stop playing it live and called on radio stations to stop giving it airtime. “[Bleeping the word out] is a mistake,” he said at the time. “They’re making it worse by bleeping it for sure. Because they’re highlighting it then. Just don’t play the record!”
Costello did decide to start playing the song again in 2025, switching the line to “one more widow, another pallbearer”, and in a new interview with The Times, he has once again explained why he has chosen not to use the original lyrics.
“I no longer use words that go off like alarm clocks, because indignation about that word stops people hearing what the song is about,” he said. “That is my position. People went, ‘that’s woke’. Well, go fuck yourself.”
He added further context to his decision to include the N-word in the first place, explaining: “That’s what my grandfather was called in the British army – it’s historically a fact – but people hear that word go off like a bell and accuse me of something that I didn’t intend.”
Costello is currently out on tour with The Imposters and Charlie Sexton, with dates in Birmingham, London, Portsmouth and Newcastle to come at the end of this month and the start of July. See all of the dates here and find any remaining tickets here.
They are also set to support Neil Young And The Chrome Hearts during a run of UK and European dates, and you can find tickets for those here.
Those dates kick off on June 19 in Manchester, and continue later in the month with stops in France and Scotland, before heading over to Ireland and Wales the following month.
Costello was in the band for Paul McCartney’s performance of ‘Hello, Goodbye’ on the last ever episode of The Late Show last month, and features in the new Leonard Cohen documentary If It Be Your Will.
