Elvis Costello Plays A Bilingual "Pump It Up" With Juanes & Gives Jimmy Kimmel A Guitar Lesson: Watch

Elvis Costello’s fired-up 1978 anthem “Pump It Up” has been in the news a bit lately, since Costello seems to be the only person who is not currently interested in getting a retroactive songwriting credit from Olivia Rodrigo. Rodrigo’s hit “brutal” definitely, absolutely uses Costello’s “Pump It Up” riff, but Costello has ackowledged his own songwriting debts and said that Rodrigo’s usage is “fine by me… It’s how rock & roll works. You take the broken pieces of another thrill and make a brand new toy. That’s what I did.” And anyway, Costello is busy making his own new toys out of his own pieces.

Last month, Costello released Spanish Model, an all-Spanish reimagining of his classic LP This Year’s Model that features a whole lot of Spanish-language musicians. Last night, Costello was on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and he and the longtime Colombian rock star Juanes bashed out an energetic version of “Pump It Up,” with Costello and Juanes going back and forth between English and Spanish.

Jimmy Kimmel also announced Costello as a “personal hero,” and Costello sat with Kimmel for an interview. Costello remains a charming raconteur, and attempted to give Kimmel a guitar lesson. Watch the performance and the interview below.

Spanish Model is out now on UMe.