Armed Forces 33⅓ Network

From November 10, 2020, Elvis curated a playlist on Spotify, pairing tracks from the expanded box set reissue of Armed Forces with tracks by other artists. This was presented as:

"Armed Forces 33⅓ Network

On Twitter he introduced it thus:

"Spin the dial to this frequency to hear songs and cues and catches from the 20th Century jukebox and radio airwaves that were enlisted into ‘Armed Forces’”

Armed Forces 33⅓ Network - November 10, 2020 - ?

number	song	album	note
01.	Clean Money	“Sketches For Emotional Fascism”	The opening track of our 1979 album was supposed to be, “Clean Money”. It was definitely indebted to The Beatles “Back In The U.S.S.R” and a favourite group of ours from Madison, Wisconsin: Cheap Trick. Indeed, Rick Neilsen generously introduced us to a slightly skeptical crowd at “Bunky’s” in Madison in the Winter of 1977. I never did learn how to juggle all those guitars.
02.	Big Eyes	In Color by Cheap Trick
03.	Accidents Will Happen	Armed Forces	Many songs and much mischief went in to what eventually became the first cut on “Armed Forces”. The most obvious is a half-quotation from the lyrics of Randy Newman’s “I Don’t Want To Hear It Anymore” as sung by my favourite singer.
04.	I Don't Want To Hear It Anymore	Dusty In Memphis by Dusty Springfield
05.	Breaking Glass	Low by David Bowie	The many miles of our first tours of the U.S. had a limited soundtrack, the few cassettes on which we could agree, among them the “Berlin” records by David Bowie and Iggy Pop, I hear a reference to a track from “Low" in the background voices and tremolo guitar of the third song on “Armed Forces”.
06.	Senior Service	Armed Forces
07.	Oliver's Army	Armed Forces	The tie-breaker in our “Tour Station Wagon Soundtrack Stand-Offs” was often this ABBA album. We loved ABBA so much that we even bought their Swedish language albums on our first venture to the country, shortly before making “Armed Forces”.
08.	Dancing Queen	Arrival by ABBA	My song about boys being sent off to do other people’s dirty work was heading for a B-side pile until Steve Nieve borrowed Benny Andersson’s grand piano style and turned the song into a Top Five U.K. hit.
09.	Big Boys	Armed Forces	I’m sure the idea of starting “Big Boys” with a single note drone came from too many hours listening to the second side of Bowie’s “Low” or Iggy Pop’s “Mass Production” but as a member of the audience at Bruce Springsteen’s “Born To Run” concert in London in 1975, I’m pretty sure that this is where I got the idea of the “She’s the one” refrain in “Big Boys.
10.	She's The One	Born To Run by Bruce Springsteen

External links

• ElvisCostello.com
• Elvis Costello Fan Forum
• Spotify