View source for I Hope You're Happy Now (Elvis Costello song)

{{Short description|1986 song by Elvis Costello}}
{{Infobox song
| name     = I Hope You're Happy Now
| cover    =
| alt      =
| border   = yes
| type     =
| artist   = [[Elvis Costello]] and [[the Attractions]]
| album    = [[Blood & Chocolate]]
| released = 15 September 1986
| format   =
| recorded = March–May 1986
| studio   =
| venue    =
| genre    = {{flatlist|
* [[Garage rock]]<ref name="1001a" />
* [[New wave music|new wave]]
|}}
| length   = 3:07
| label    = [[Demon Records|Demon]]
| writer   = [[Elvis Costello]]
| producer = {{plainlist}}
* [[Nick Lowe]]
* Colin Fairley
{{endplainlist}}
}}
{{Infobox song
| name       = I Hope You're Happy Now
| cover      = I_Hope_You're_Happy_Now_-_Elvis_Costello.png
| alt        =
| type       = single
| artist     = [[Elvis Costello]] and [[the Attractions]]
| album      =
| A-side     = "[[I Want You (Elvis Costello song)|I Want You]]"
| released   = {{Start date|November 1986}}
| recorded   =
| studio     =
| venue      =
| genre      =
| length     = 3:03
| label      = [[Imp Records]]
| writer     = Elvis Costello
| producer   = {{plainlist}}
* [[Nick Lowe]]
* Colin Fairley
{{endplainlist}}
| prev_title = Tokyo Storm Warning
| prev_year  = 1986
| title      = [[I Want You (Elvis Costello song)|I Want You]]
| title2     = I Hope You're Happy Now
| next_title = [[Blue Chair]]
| next_year  = 1987
}}
"'''I Hope You're Happy Now'''" is a song written by [[new wave music|new wave]] musician [[Elvis Costello]], recorded by Costello and [[the Attractions]]. The track was released on his 1986 album ''[[Blood & Chocolate]]'' after several failed attempts to record the song for earlier releases.
Featuring sardonic lyrics about a former relationship, "I Hope You're Happy Now" as the B-side to "[[I Want You (Elvis Costello song)|I Want You]]" in November 1986. It has since been positively received by critics and appeared on compilation albums and in Costello's live setlists.
==Background==
According to Elvis Costello, the final version of "I Hope You're Happy Now" was recorded after "three different attempts" to get the song right.<ref name="girls girls girls">{{cite book |last1=Costello |first1=Elvis |title=Girls Girls Girls [CD booklet] |publisher=Brentford: Demon Records}}</ref> Costello and the Attractions attempted to record the song after ''[[Goodbye Cruel World (Elvis Costello album)|Goodbye Cruel World]]'' with [[Nick Lowe]], who had not produced a Costello album since ''[[Trust (Elvis Costello album)|Trust]]'', but these recordings were shelved.{{sfn|Thomson|2006}} An early version of the song was performed by Costello and the Attractions on the ''[[Tonight Show]]'' in 1984.<ref name="connor ratcliff tonight show ihyhn">{{cite web |last1=Ratcliff |first1=Connor |title=For some unknown reason, Costello & The Attractions played this song on The Tonight Show two years earlier, when it wasn't on the album they were promoting |url=https://twitter.com/connorratliff/status/1039145443341557761 |website=Twitter |access-date=19 November 2019}}</ref> The song was later attempted again during the ''[[King of America]]'' sessions; early versions of the song have since been released on expanded versions of both ''Goodbye Cruel World'' and ''King of America''.<ref name="ratcliff ihyhn confederates">{{cite web |last1=Ratcliff |first1=Connor |title=Then there's this Confederates version from the King Of America sessions (supposedly "accidentally" released on a UK Singles box set in 2003) which is pretty damn good! It's a much gentler take on the song before it snaps back to being loud & fast for its perfect version on B&C |url=https://twitter.com/connorratliff/status/1039152206484787202 |website=Twitter |access-date=19 November 2019}}</ref> He recalled,
{{quote|My final trip to Hollywood [during the ''King of America'' sessions] was made with the intention of adding "I Hope You're Happy Now" to the album. Having previously failed in an attempt to cut it as a single with The Attractions and stumbled through it on my drunken demo session, I was determined to capture it with the [[Jim Keltner|Keltner]]/[[Jerry Scheff|Scheff]]/[[Mitchell Froom|Froom]] line-up that had provided the heart of the record.
Almost before we had the instrumental balances my voice started to vanish. We struggled through a few tentative takes, but it was useless.<ref name="liner notes koa">{{Cite AV media notes| title = King of America| title-link = King of America| others = Elvis Costello| year = 1986| type = Liner notes}}</ref>}}
The version released on ''Blood and Chocolate'' was, according to Costello, ultimately "recorded live in the big, old studio at Olympic (before it was vandalized)".<ref name="girls girls girls" /> Costello noted that, during the sessions, "We also finally got a take on 'I Hope You're Happy Now' that had a little more humour to it than its originally murderous intent. It almost sounded like pop music".<ref name="liner notes b&c">{{Cite AV media notes| title = Blood & Chocolate| title-link = Blood & Chocolate| others = Elvis Costello| year = 1995| type = Liner notes}}</ref> Stylistically, "I Hope You're Happy Now" has been dubbed a "[[garage rock]]" effort.<ref name="1001a">{{cite book|author1=Robert Dimery|author2=Michael Lydon|title=1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition|date=7 February 2006|publisher=Universe|isbn=0-7893-1371-5}}</ref>
Ed Masley of ''[[The Arizona Republic]]'' described the song as one where Costello "ridicules [the girl who broke his heart] with 'He's got all the things you need and some that you will never/But you make him sound like frozen food/His love will last forever'."<ref name="azrep 20 best">{{cite web |last1=Masley |first1=Ed |title=Essential Elvis Costello: 20 best albums |url=https://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2016/08/30/elvis-costello-20-best-albums-my-aim-roots/89541286/ |publisher=The Arizona Republic |access-date=19 November 2019}}</ref> Costello said of the song's lyrics, "In the long run I'm happier to live with it being humorous, rather than murderous".<ref name="girls girls girls" />
==Release and reception==
"I Hope You're Happy Now" was first released as the second track on ''[[Blood & Chocolate]]''. An acoustic version of the song was released as the B-side to "[[I Want You (Elvis Costello song)|I Want You]]" in November 1986, but no version of the track was ever released on a single of its own. Writer Graeme Thomson said of this choice, "With pop songs of the calibre of '[[Blue Chair]]' and 'I Hope You're Happy Now' at his disposal, to release the doggedly uncommercial 'I Want You' and 'Tokyo Storm Warning'—both over six minutes long— as the first two UK singles was a willfully perverse move".{{sfn|Thomson|2006}} The song has also been released on the compilation albums ''[[Girls Girls Girls (Elvis Costello album)|Girls Girls Girls]]'' and ''[[The Very Best of Elvis Costello]]''.
"I Hope You're Happy Now" has seen critical acclaim since its release. Ryan J. Prado of ''[[Paste Magazine]]'' ranked it Costello's 17th best song, called it "a song so instantly gratifying and anthemic I'm surprised it's impossible to put it at #1 on this list".<ref name="paste top 20">{{cite web |last1=Prado |first1=Ryan J. |title=The 20 Best Songs By Elvis Costello |date=23 May 2014 |url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2014/05/the-20-best-songs-by-elvis-costello.html |publisher=Paste Magazine |access-date=19 November 2019 |archive-date=28 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190228130315/https://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2014/05/the-20-best-songs-by-elvis-costello.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> He continued, "Costello's ability to talk shit about people with eloquence is second to none, and put into striking, reverential spotlight here". Stewart Mason of [[AllMusic]] said of the song, "Unlike the more studied attempts at recreating the old Attractions sound on 1994's ''[[Brutal Youth]]'', this works perfectly, both as a nostalgia trip and as a song".<ref name="am i hope you're happy now">{{cite web |last1=Mason |first1=Stewart |title=I Hope You're Happy Now |url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/i-hope-youre-happy-now-mt0010661899 |website=AllMusic |access-date=19 November 2019}}</ref> Bryan Wawzenek of ''[[Diffuser.fm]]'' praised the song's "[[Beatlesque|Beatle-esque]] beat", while Chris Mautner of ''[[The Patriot-News]]'' described it as his "favorite song".<ref name="diffuser blood and chocolate">{{cite web |last1=Wawzenek |first1=Bryan |title=30 Years Ago: Elvis Costello Devours 'Blood & Chocolate' |url=https://diffuser.fm/elvis-costello-blood-chocolate/ |website=Diffuser.fm |date=15 September 2016 |access-date=19 November 2019}}</ref><ref name="costello hershey theatre">{{cite web |last1=Mautner |first1=Chris |title=Elvis Costello at Hershey Theatre: 10 takeaways from Thursday's high-energy concert |url=https://www.pennlive.com/life/2019/10/elvis-costello-at-hershey-theatre-10-takeaways-from-thursdays-high-energy-concert.html |website=pennlive.com |date=25 October 2019 |publisher=The Patriot-News |access-date=31 October 2019}}</ref>
==Live history==
Since its release, "I Hope You're Happy Now" has appeared frequently in Costello's live setlists. A version of the song appears on the Costello live album ''The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook''. Costello continues to perform the song in his later career, playing it during his "Just Trust" tour in 2019.<ref name="costello hershey theatre" />
==References==
'''Citations'''
{{reflist}}
'''Sources'''
*{{cite book
| last=Thomson
| first=Graeme
| title=Complicated Shadows: The Life and Music of Elvis Costello
| year=2006
| publisher=Canongate U.S.
| isbn=978-1841957968
}}
{{Elvis Costello}}
{{authority control}}
[[Category:1986 songs]]
[[Category:Elvis Costello songs]]
[[Category:British garage rock songs]]
[[Category:Songs written by Elvis Costello]]
[[Category:Song recordings produced by Nick Lowe]]