Q&A With Elvis Costello

By Rebecca Winters

Elder rocker Elvis Costello's new album of ballads, North, arrives in stores Sept. 23.

This album is very quiet. You're croonin'. What's got into you?

That's the way the songs came out. It would have lost a lot in the feeling of the songs if I raised my voice. It's about starting out in a more desolate place and going to a more optimistic place. That's what I was feeling, and so that's what I wrote.

Why did you call the album North?

You know the expression "That's gone south"? What's the opposite of that?

So life is good. It was fun to watch you and [fiance Canadian jazz singer] Diana Krall perform at Willie Nelson's birthday concert. Will you collaborate in the future?

We're just gonna do 70th-birthday parties. You just have to work out which one's coming up next and get your tickets now.

What do you make of record companies suing people who download songs online?

People pirating other people's work is theft. And record companies suing those people is one pirate suing another. But there's an awful lot of bands that can't take the loss, you know. That's actually how they make their living.

Just what is so funny about peace, love and understanding?

I have no idea. You tell me. Why don't you ring up the President and ask him?

What's your favorite thing about Canada?

I can't possibly tell you. This is a family magazine.

So it's not Labatt's.

I don't drink. Nor is it hockey.