The song for which most Americans remember Armed Forces, Elvis Costello's third album, is "Oliver's Army," a cynical but eminently hummable slice of military life which actually made it onto MTV in the early days of music video. But the original plan was for Armed Forces to be titled Emotional Fascism -- which tells you something about the thematic centrality of another song, "Two Little Hitlers," which nicely encapsulates the album's twin themes of love and politics. "Two Little Hitlers" also offers one of the most graceful stanzas of Costello's lyrical career: "Got me a valentine/She's a smooth operator/It's all so calculated/She's got a calculator/She's my soft-touch typewriter/And I'm the Great Dictator." Like so many of Costello's cleverest lines, it's more about sound than meaning, but unlike many of them it has a genuine structural felicity about it. And the song as a whole is simply perfect: Costello-style new wave, what with the herky-jerky rhythm, Steve Nieve's cheesy and slightly overbearing organ sound, and Costello's gulping, hiccuping delivery. "Two Little Hitlers" is a period piece and a masterpiece at the same time.
Elvis Costello & the Attractions
Two Little Hitlers
Share on
Song Review by Rick Anderson
Appears On
| Year | Artist/Album | Label | Time | AllMusic Rating | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
1979 | Hip-O / Universal | 3:11 | ||||
 |
1993 | Rykodisc | 3:10 |