Costello reflected, "I sent it to him near the end of his life, and whether the song reached him or not or whether it didn't appeal to him, I hear it in his voice.
I imagine John to be someone who could deliver the final lines of the song with authority, and it helped me write them to think of him singing them.
Costello explained, "I think at first it probably sounded a little bit too much like a Johnny Cash song, and I didn't want to record it leaning that way with the Attractions.
The London Telegraph wrote of the track, "The song mainlines into a world of John Ford cowboys with a conviction that suggests the author really is some saddlesore ex-rodeo jock rather than a bespectacled post-punk.
"[12] People praised how the song "opens quietly but literally builds to a scream",[13] while the Bergen County Record commented, "The bluesy tune was originally written for Johnny Cash, but it's difficult to imagine the Man in Black doing it the kind of justice Costello and company do.
He explained, "The matters of the text needed to be held a little more closely to the chest than the rock 'n' roll version did.
"[18] This version was then released as a single in April 2009, featuring the then-unreleased All This Useless Beauty reject "Dirty Rotten Shame" as the B-side.
The rerecording of "Complicated Shadows" generally saw mixed critical reception, with reviewers often expressing a preference for the original recording.
Club wrote in a review of Secret, Profane & Sugarcane, "The older Costello songs 'Hidden Shame' and 'Complicated Shadows' remain infectious, even in the staid acoustic versions presented here.
"[20] In another review of the album The Washington Post stated, "The best song here, "Complicated Shadows," already did come out on 1996's All This Useless Beauty, in a more compelling rock form.
"[21] More approvingly, Time Out Sydney wrote, "Certainly the rollicking country strum lifts the song compared with the leaden rock arrangement on 1996's All this Useless Beauty.