Elvis Costello has written that National Ransom is a record ‘for the bankrupt times, whenever they may be.’ This most obviously refers to the ongoing financial downturn, and on the title track Costello attacks Wall Street. Costello though is too intelligent to attempt a straightforward state of the union release: National Ransom does not stand alongside The Suburbs or Postcards From A Young Man by The Arcade Fire or Manic Street Preachers respectively. Instead Costello examines bankruptcy in all possible incarnations: moral, social, personal and financial. This is perhaps most obvious in the record’s second track Jimmie Standing In The Rain. The song is almost a shopping list of misfortunes: the eponymous Jimmie has made the questionable decision to try introducing country music to 1930s Lancashire, and bankrupted himself doing so. In addition he has contracted tuberculosis and, seeking solace, sleeps with prostitutes that forget his name the next morning. The song’s chorus meanwhile situates Jimmie at the end of this: standing the rain and waiting for his train to escape.
Jimmie Standing In The Rain doesn’t really serve a purpose except to illustrate Costello’s thematic conceit. Like much of National Ransom it’s a character portrait revolving around the word bankruptcy. The best approach to the song is to keep the word bankruptcy in mind throughout, and marvel at the number of ways Costello incorporates it. ‘Jimmie can’t afford to buy fresh bread? Jimmie has a third class ticket for the train? That’s not just poor – that’s bankrupt!’ The song though is an absolute pleasure to listen to in spite of its subject matter. This is because Costello keeps his distance from Jimmie. Instead of embroiling himself in the character’s emotional turmoil he remains the story teller, and appeals to the listener. Hence the melodramatic grumble with which he sings the song’s title. Hence the intoxicated whisper with which he describes the prostitutes breath on Jimmie’s neck. Costello is performing: his allegiances are with the listener and not the situation. In this regard National Ransom bears some resemblance to Johnny Cash’s Live From Fulsom Prison: both records defuse troublesome topics by being entertaining.
