Songfacts®:

• This song was co-written with Secret, Profane & Sugarcane's producer T-Bone Burnett and features harmony by country singer Emmylou Harris.
  
  Elvis Costello and T Bone Burnett are no strangers to working together. Their collaborative history dates back to their 1985 detour as the Coward Brothers, when they released the single "The People's Limousine." A year later, they reunited in a more official capacity, with Burnett co-producing Costello's King of America.
• "The Crooked Line" is a song about love - not the chest-thumping, blockbuster-romance kind, nor the sort that inspires people to carve initials into tree trunks, but rather love as a meandering, sometimes bewildering, a journey through light and darkness, sparked by a meaningful connection. The song's title metaphorically represents the unpredictable and winding path of life, where Costello hopes to find his companion waiting at the end.
  
  "'The Crooked Line' is a song longing for constancy," said Costello. "It's the only song I've ever written about fidelity that is without any irony."
• Costello first performed the song on July 22, 2005, at a gig in Wallingford, Connecticut.
• The Walk the Line filmmakers considered "The Crooked Line" for the end titles of the Johnny Cash biopic but ultimately rejected it. The decision wasn't entirely artistic, Costello later told Uncut magazine, but rather part of an elaborate awards-season chess game in which a brand-new song might have boosted the film's chances of snagging an Oscar nomination.
  
  "It's like they're planning a military campaign," Costello mused, "and they need that nomination to promote the film."