This has to be the tiniest button in show business. While everybody else was using garish colors and at least a 1 1/4 inch button to get noticed, leave it to Elvis Costello to debut on the scene with a button you could hide under a dime. They gave them away by the fistfuls at the door of the Whisky, they were everywhere, and totally distinctive; you didn't even have to come in for a close look to know that a tiny yellow and black button with a face could only be Costello.

This guy's output was mindboggling, record after record, stuffed to the gills with 10, 12, 20 tracks, all amazing, arresting tunes. How did he do it? It's hard enough to just stay awake in between shows, how does somebody come up with truckload after truckload of great tunes, right in the middle of traveling and performing? One night he was sitting way in the back, in the remotest, darkest corner of the Whisky, the Duck Blind as we called it, since that's where noted types would perch if they wanted to see without being seen, and Martha Davis and myself, both of the brand-new Motels, imposed upon his personal space for a few minutes. During the brief conversation, Martha put it to him, how do you do it? As a songwriter, she knew writing songs can be like pulling teeth, you don't just hold out your hand and have Terpsikhore deliver a readymade song to your lap. The stunning truth was delivered and mystery solved. "They were all written a long time ago". Seems he had something like 200 songs all mapped out before he ever hit the road. When another album was needed, Costello would just reach into his vast reservoir of finished tunes, pick a bunch, the band would rehearse a couple days, knock 'em out in the studio and move on. Job done, case closed.