Hey it's Brian. I imagine that some of you are listening to this on election day

because that's the day this episode is released And if you are waiting on the line, as we New Yorkers say or in line as everyone else seems to say in this country,

I just want to thank you for that. I want to thank you for being

part of trying to restore this idea, this promise of unity of democracy of the sense that everybody can

belong in America and I'm I'm hopeful that wherever you're listening to this, if you're part of this community,

that you feel connected to everybody who's been going through this pandemic, this election

season and just trying hard to keep it together.

We all put our best faces forward, our best voices forward

when we communicate broadly.

But I know how hard this is for so many people.

I know that the uncertainty of the world we're living in sometimes feels overwhelming and

know that I have the best wishes for everybody here.

I feel, you know, I don't normally talk before the interview starts,

but as I think about all of us and as I absorb what's about to happen this week or this month, I find myself having swings of emotional turbulence.

And so I guess I just wanted to say, I see you and I hear you and I care about you. I also care about

Elvis Costello. Our guest today. His music has been a constant in my life. His first album

came out, I think I was 11 years old. And so the idea of Elvis Costello,

and then the actual role of Elvis Costello's music

as I was growing up, and particularly in college with the album King of America has

been enormous. A friend of mine said you know there are a lot of great but Elvis really feels like he's touched by

something else like this ability he has to write songs is almost otherworldly.

So I did my best to, I did my best to just be really there and engaged in the conversation and not sort of aware

...