It's the words that we don't say that scare me so

Many people consider Armed Forces to be Elvis Costello's best album so perhaps I've ignored it for too long. I've always enjoyed certain songs from it (like "Oliver's Army" and "Green Shirt") but I rarely listen to the whole thing. I choose to blame my car.

You see, before I had a cushy office job, I would listen to most of my music while driving along narrow mountain roads in God's Country. I sometimes drove 100 miles a day so I had plenty of time for listening. But there was something about Armed Forces that wasn't good for driving. "Goon Squad" would come on and the incessant keyboards would startle me from my groove. I just couldn't take it.

Tonight, though, I listened to Armed Forces with headphones. Elvis' voice popped from one ear to the other and whispered little lines I'd never heard in my car. I fell in love with him all over again (Damn you, Diana Krall!). It was magic.