Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic In his autobiography, Elvis Costello wrote that the popular idea of him early on as an angry man was just a trick of physiology. He wrote: “It seems that the space between my two front teeth, which made Jane Birkin, Ray Davies, and Jerry Lewis so appealing, has had the effect of making half of what I say sound like a provocation or an insult.” It’s a funny self-observation, but let’s be real — as a writer as well as a singer, Costello gave the world a little help with that perception.
