Song Details
- Album Release Date: 2009
- Album Name: Secret, Profane and Sugarcane
Song Meaning (Interpretation) of “My All Time Doll” by Elvis Costello
My All Time Doll, written and performed by Elvis Costello in 2009, is a finely crafted love song that speaks to the impossibility of ever really possessing someone’s heart. In this song, Costello paints a vivid picture of a man enamoured by his beloved — even though they are seemingly out of his reach. With poignant lyrics, Costello generates a powerful image of a love that will last forever even if it can never be fully realized. The song speaks to the bittersweet beauty of finding someone that moves you, even though their affections cannot be completely ours. Costello sings of his “all time doll” as a woman that transcends his daily life yet is the source of his “strangest dreams.” The catch of the song is that she will remain just a distant dream, no matter how much he desires her: “Soft and molten, like surrender; I have come for something I can’t find/ Oh, my all time doll, you will never be mine.” In the end, Costello’s song isn’t about unrealized expectations; instead it’s a love song of hope and appreciation of fate.