It's obviously a play off of the "other" Elvis' "Love Me Tender". That song was the sappiest, most straightforward love song imaginable, but Costello flips around one word in the title and turns love into an elaborate metaphor involving financial transactions. From there, it was basically Elvis Costello cramming as many monetary puns and rhymes as possible into the lyrics, guided by the frenetic, off-kilter rhythms of Bruce Thomas & Pete Thomas.
It's obviously a play off of the "other" Elvis' "Love Me Tender". That song was the sappiest, most straightforward love song imaginable, but Costello flips around one word in the title and turns love into an elaborate metaphor involving financial transactions. From there, it was basically Elvis Costello cramming as many monetary puns and rhymes as possible into the lyrics, guided by the frenetic, off-kilter rhythms of Bruce Thomas & Pete Thomas.