Big Boys and the Guy Coughing

[docinwestchester]

I read about this when Armed Forces was initially released, and it's mentioned in a review of the reissue from last year:

The album's hit single in England, "Oliver's Army," references conflicts around the world and hits an anti-war theme Costello would visit later during Margaret Thatcher's Falkland War, while "Big Boys" deals with the snags of love and if you don't know about the guy coughing during the line "She'll be the one-but it's too late for you to" you're not really intimately connected to this album, but you’ll hear it more clearly on this 1/2 speed mastered reissue than on the original.

http://www.musicangle.com/album.php?id=901

Is there anything remotely interesting behind this? Or is it just completely random? I've been wondering for oh the past 30+ years...

[Lester Burnham]

I doubt it, it just sounds like Elvis coughed during the backing vocals and nobody heard it. Maybe just one of those things that slip in; Nick Cave is coughing like a maniac throughout 'Babe I'm On Fire', and the only deeper meaning was that his throat was shot.

[Ypsilanti]

I read about this when Armed Forces was initially released, and it's mentioned in a review of the reissue from last year:

The album's hit single in England, "Oliver's Army," references conflicts around the world and hits an anti-war theme Costello would visit later during Margaret Thatcher's Falkland War, while "Big Boys" deals with the snags of love and if you don't know about the guy coughing during the line "She'll be the one-but it's too late for you to" you're not really intimately connected to this album, but you’ll hear it more clearly on this 1/2 speed mastered reissue than on the original.

http://www.musicangle.com/album.php?id=901

Is there anything remotely interesting behind this? Or is it just completely random? I've been wondering for oh the past 30+ years...

In a similar vein, can anyone shed any light on the talking in the middle of "Ghost Train" and "Any King's Shilling"?