“Veronica” by Elvis Costello

"Veronica" led the charge for Spike, Elvis Costello's 1989 album on Warner Bros., and it came with a famous co-writer: Paul McCartney, who wrote it with Costello and plays his Höfner bass on it too. Costello co-produced with T-Bone Burnett and Kevin Killen.

The backing band reads like a who's who. Burnett strums acoustic guitar, Costello plays electric and sings lead, Benmont Tench adds piano, Mitchell Froom brings chamberlin and electric piano, Jerry Marotta drums, and Michael Blair decorates the edges with glockenspiel and timpani. Killen engineered and mixed. All of that could have turned into clutter, but it comes out as a bright, bouncing pop song, jangling and busy, with Costello's voice sharp and nimble over the bustle and McCartney's bass bobbing along underneath like it's having the time of its life.

It became Costello's biggest American hit, reaching 19 on the Billboard Hot 100, number one on the Modern Rock Tracks chart and 10 on Mainstream Rock, and in 2004 Entertainment Weekly named it one of his 10 greatest tunes.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.