The song, with a lyric about a lover who would rather watch TV, sung over a simple reggae beat, was described by Rolling Stone as "a clever but furious burst of cynicism", and they also described the song as "indisputably classic". Allmusic's Mark Deming described the song: "a skeletal minor-key melody that slowly but effectively wound itself into a solid knot of fierce emotional tension, pushing the bitter lyrical atmosphere further into the darkness". Costello described how he wrote the song:
I was in my flat in the suburbs of London before I was a professional musician, and I'd been up for thirty-six hours. I was actually listening to another inductee's record, the Clash's first album. When I first put it on, I thought it was just terrible. Then I played it again and I liked it better. By the end, I stayed up all night listening to it on headphones, and I thought it was great. Then I wrote "Watching the Detectives".
Costello considers "Watching the Detectives" his favourite song from the first five years of his career. He later performed the song with a big band arrangement, which he admitted was "a desecration to people who love the tenseness of the original recording", but explained that "the story that's going on, and the musical allusions in the original arrangements, relate very much to the realization of this song as an orchestral piece using the film music feeling and the swing rhythms of '50s detective shows."
Recording and release
The single, produced by Nick Lowe, was recorded in May 1977. The backing band on the song were Steve Goulding on drums and Andrew Bodnar on bass guitar, both from Graham Parker's band, The Rumour. Keyboard overdubs were added later by Steve Nason. Costello recalled, "Watching the Detectives" was the first top 40 hit in the UK Singles Chart for Costello, reaching number 15 and spending a total of eleven weeks in the chart. The UK and US singles featured different B-sides. The UK single was backed by two live tracks from an August 7th performance at the Nashville Club, and these live tracks were credited to Elvis Costello and the Attractions. The US single is backed by "Alison", the lead track from Costello's second UK single. The song was also used as the theme for the PBS program History Detectives.
"Watching the Detectives" reached No. 15 in the UK Singles Chart. It also charted in several other countries including Australia, where it reached No. 35, and Canada. In the United States it reached No. 108 on the Hot 100.
Inclusion on albums
The song was not included on the original UK releases of either My Aim Is True, which preceded it, or This Year's Model, which followed in March 1978. It was, however, added to the US release of My Aim Is True. Two live versions of "Watching the Detectives" from 1978 were released, one from 6 March on the Canadian promotional albumLive at the El Mocambo, and another from 4 June on the Live at Hollywood High EP, which came with initial copies of the Armed Forces album. A later live version was included in the Costello & Nieve box-set in 1996. A live medley of "Watching the Detectives" and "My Funny Valentine" recorded in Tokyo was included on the Cruel Smile album by Elvis Costello & the Impostors in 2002. The studio version was also included on several 'best of' compilations of Costello's work, including Ten Bloody Marys & Ten How's Your Fathers, The Best of Elvis Costello – The Man, Girls Girls Girls, The Very Best of Elvis Costello and the Attractions, and The Very Best of Elvis Costello.
