Words have power, and if you know how to wield that power in just the right way, you can take the world by storm. That’s why comedians and musicians both can have such lasting impacts, more so than many other forms of creative expression. For a founding member of the new-wave movement like Elvis Costello, the ability to emit dark, brutal honesty through otherwise bright and cheerful wordplay is what made albums like his 1979 post-punk release Armed Forces such a sensation. It proved so powerful that even though comedian Dana Gould didn’t discover it until a few years later, its clever lyricism shaped his notion of how important it is to assemble your ideas in just the right way. After all, a way with words is what launched Dana into a career that has led to four comedy albums, roles on The Ben Stiller Show and Stan Against Evil, and a seven-year term as a writer on The Simpsons.

The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts.

For show notes, guest playlists, complimentary documentaries, and audiobooks about the music go to The500Podcast.com.

New Artist/Song influenced by Elvis Costello: 

All Day Sucker "Quality Problems" (YouTube)

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