Side 1
I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down
Side 2
Girls Talk
According to Record Collector (No 91): " Costello had been signed to Radar in 1978, via a licensing deal from Riviera Global Productions. Radar collapsed towards the end of 1979, and so Elvis's manager Jake Riviera alighted upon the Specials' 2-Tone label as an ideal venue for a holding operation - a one-off single - until Elvis sorted out a deal for the Get Happy!! album. WEA, who had distributed Radar, were less than delighted: they felt they had a stake in Costello's career by virtue of the success of the records they had distributed for him, and so they obtained a court injunction to stop the 2-Tone single being sold.
By March '80, the situation was clarified: F-Beat was set up by Riviera as an independent company, but WEA continued to distribute their records. In the meantime, there were several thousand 2-Tone singles to dispose of. These were handed out free to the audience at a London's Rainbow Theatre gig. Several months later, Riviera pressed up a few thousand more of the 2-Tone singles, and these were given away at London and US gigs".
Jerry Dammers offers a slightly different take on the story behind this single: "Jake Riviera cheekily printed up a few thousand Elvis Costello singles on the 2 tone label, obviously thinking that I would be delighted to have such a major star on the label, but I was having none of it, 2 Tone being a strictly ska at that time. So Elvis was forced to give these singles away free at his gigs (now collector's items, of course). (Record Collector magazine No 363)
Of the 2 versions pressed one simply has CHSTT7 on the run out groove and the other has both the F-Beat number XX 1 and 2 separate 2 Tone numbers, CHSTT7 and CHSTT8. The latter (CHSTT8) is crossed out. Both versions are highly sought after often commanding a high price. And in keeping with 2 Tone tradition the A side of the single was a cover version. This time it was the old Sam and Dave soul number that got the 2 Tone treatment.