It was Declan MacManus aka Elvis Costello’s 60th birthday the other day. I remember when he was an enfant terrible who resembled Buddy Holly. Now he’s an elder statesman who looks like a rabbi. Anyway, here’s a belated get happy birthday to EC.

Back to soul week. I Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down was written by Homer Banks and Allen Jones. It was first recorded in 1967 as a mid-tempo soul torch song by Sam and Dave. Elvis Costello and the Attractions really rocked it up when it popped up on-you guessed it-Get Happy in 1980. It’s always been one of my favorite early EC tunes. As lagniappe, I’ve posted EC and the Boss singing I Can’t Stand Up…on the former’s former Sundance chat show, Spectacle.

First, the Soul Men:

The Attractions rearranged this Stax classic into a frenetic new wave rocker, driven by Steve Nieve’s roller rink but not rinky dink keyboards:

Finally, Declan and Bruce join forces on the teevee: