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"Oliver's Army" is a song written by Elvis Costello and performed by Costello and the Attractions, from the former's third studio album, Armed Forces. The song is a new wave track that was lyrically inspired by the Troubles in Northern Ireland and includes lyrics critical of the socio-economic components of war. Costello had traveled to Northern Ireland and was influenced by the sights of British soldiers patrolling Belfast. Musically, the song features a glossy production and a keyboard performance inspired by ABBA, creating a juxtaposition between the lyrics and music that both critics and Costello have pointed out.
Released as the first single from Armed Forces, "Oliver's Army" was Costello's most successful single in the United Kingdom, spending three weeks at number two on the UK Singles Chart and remaining on the chart for 12 weeks. The song also charted in New Zealand, the Netherlands, Ireland, and Australia, and it spawned the successful follow-up single "Accidents Will Happen", which reached the top 30 in the UK.
"Oliver's Army" has since been recognized by writers as one of the highlights of Armed Forces and has received critical acclaim for its melody, production, and lyrics. The song has appeared on numerous rankings of Costello's great songs and multiple compilation albums. Multiple artists, including Blur, have covered it.
Costello wrote "Oliver's Army" as a comment on the Troubles in Northern Ireland during the 1970s. He was inspired to write the song after seeing British soldiers patrolling the streets of Belfast. He stated, "I made my first trip to Belfast in 1978 and saw mere boys walking around in a battle dress with automatic weapons. They were no longer just on the evening news. These snapshot experiences exploded into visions of mercenaries and imperial armies around the world. The song was based on the premise 'they always get a working-class boy to do the killing'". Costello's family had roots in the Northern Ireland conflict; as his father, Ross McManus, recalled, "'Oliver's Army' is an important track for me… My grandfather was an Ulster Catholic, and as a child, I lived in an area where bigotry was rife". Costello's Irish grandfather, Pat McManus, had served as a British soldier during World War I and the Easter Rising.
According to Sound on Sound, the title "Oliver" refers to English statesman Oliver Cromwell, who personally led the Parliamentarian forces which conquered Ireland in 1649. In addition to the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the song references other "imperialist battles" in Hong Kong, Palestine, and South Africa. However, Costello later explained that the song was not intended to be a comprehensive political piece; he said "It wasn't supposed to read like a coherent political argument. It was pop music". He also pointed out that the opening lyrics "argued the absurdity of even trying to write about such a complex subject".
The song lyrics contain the phrase "white n**ger", a racial slur that usually remains uncensored on radio stations. The usage of the phrase came under scrutiny, particularly after Costello used racial slurs during a drunken argument with Stephen Stills and Bonnie Bramlett in 1979. The same year, Costello's father published a letter in Rolling Stone defending his son against accusations of racism, stating "Nothing could be further from the truth. My own background has meant that I am passionately opposed to any form of prejudice based on religion or race…His mother comes from the tough multiracial area of Liverpool, and I think she would still beat the tar out of him if his orthodoxy were in doubt".
In March 2013, the radio station BBC Radio 6 Music played the song with the phrase removed, despite BBC radio stations having played the song uncensored for over 30 years. This decision attracted public criticism, with critics citing the intended anti-racist and anti-war theme of the single. In January 2022, Costello said that he would no longer be performing the song and asked that radio stations no longer play it. In an interview on Australian radio around the same time, Costello clarified he did not specifically ask radio stations to stop playing the song, but he did state that the way some radio stations edited or bleeped the phrase called attention to the phrase without engaging the context in which it was written.
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