Who said this?

"Writing/Talking about music is like dancing about architecture."

I first read this in the liner notes to something from Laurie Anderson (United States — I think). I recalled her attributing it to Steve Martin.

Since then I've also seen it variously attributed to Frank Zappa, David Bowie, David Byrne, Robin Hitchcock and Elvis Costello.

Googling provides little guidance — "dancing about architecture" gets some 12,100 hits. Eventually you find your way to this page, where Alan P. Scott does his best to find a definitive citation.

The oldest he finds is from Elvis Costello in October of 1983. Anderson's multl-record set didn't come out until 1984, but United States debuted the previous year, in February. It seems unlikely she would have read the Costello interview and added the quote to her eight-hour performance art piece. (Although she might have, the piece includes several "songs" reflecting a similar idea, such as "Language Is a Virus" and "Let X=X.")

Anyway, Scott adds to the list of suspects, including (among others) John Cage, Thelonius Monk, William S. Burroughs and Martin Mull.

While it's kind of apt and delightful that a quote about the limits of language should be so difficult to trace, the copy editor in my head insists on finding a citation.

Any ideas?