Week 10: ELVIS PRESLEY (420 to 30: A Music Retrospective)
He was the king of rock and roll, but the king had no clothes when it came to actual songwriting or guitar-playing. Nonetheless, his voice and good looks were unmatched and he was the biggest thing there ever was for awhile. His body of work stands the test of time as some of the earliest in great rock music and his iconic style burns on brightly in pop culture to this day.
420 to 30: A Music Retrospective
Here's 7 of my favorites from Elvis Presley.
Week 10: ELVIS PRESLEY
#064/420 - Elvis Presley, “Viva Las Vegas”
While I wouldn’t say my generation had any problem getting behind The Beatles or Pink Floyd, I’m really not sure where we fell with Elvis. I would say he’s pretty much remembered/recognized as well as ever, but I can’t say there were ever too many kids playing Elvis when I was growing up. Or adults. Maybe I just didn’t live close enough to Tennessee. Nonetheless, Elvis wasn’t really too terribly different from Johnny Cash and his music did crop up in my life from time to time as a result, enough to form an opinion over the years.
It could be that Elvis wasn’t as original, he didn’t write most of his music, and he didn’t play instruments on most of his music either. This song is no exception, he’s really just the singer, but The Who had “just a singer” in Roger Daltrey and they’re regarded as one of the greatest in rock, so therefore Elvis. Granted, The Who were “The Who” and not “Roger” but maybe if he would have had a name like Elvis they would have gone with that instead of “who?”
The band they do have with Elvis here is quite snappy with some fine percussion work, fine guitar strumming, and fine back-up vocals too. Maybe an irresponsible gambling advertisement at heart, give it to Elvis and some jazzy guys to play the instruments for him and boom, you got one of the better U.S. city “theme songs” out there. For only being a b-side from a movie soundtrack, not even close to one of Elvis' biggest hits, which he apparently never performed live, this song has really prevailed over the years.
#065/420 - Elvis Presley, “Return to Sender”
A punchy song by Elvis made for the film, Girls, Girls, Girls, with the type of way-too-clever lyrics you’d only find in the early days of rock and roll. In the movie, he does this song on a nautical themed stage with a bunch of guys dressed as sailors and does this weird thing where he snaps his fingers a bunch but never really does like, “full” snaps. He just kind of has this “I don’t give a fuck, someone’s getting laid tonight, and also consider this my audition for West Side Story 2” thing going on and it obviously worked for him, except with the girl in this song’s lyrics I guess. Well, debatable. I mean, we really don’t know if he has the wrong address or if she’s sending those letters back herself. I mean, he says she’s the one who wrote “return to sender” upon that letter but that doesn’t seem to make sense to me if the claim is also being made that she as the person the letter is addressed to does not exist. Actually, I really need some clarification on these lyrics to say for sure. What was embellished and what was actually written on the envelope Elvis?? Did she really rub it in that bad and write “address unknown, no such person, no such zone” and all that on there? What do those sailor guys know that I don’t?
#066/420 - Elvis Presley, “Love Me Tender”
Some of the best stuff in Elvis’ catalog is the earliest as well. This was his fifth number one hit in the United States, and remains, I think, the best romance song he recorded. “Can’t Help Falling in Love” is another good one, but I like the sound of sincerity and stripped down production in this one best. You can see why he was so popular with women, and even still is 4 decades after dying on the toilet. Some of the thirsty comments I am reading on these YouTube videos. Whew. Ya’ll know he died right?
This song’s writing is officially credited to Elvis due to cuckoo music contracts in the 50s and 60s that encouraged miscrediting songwriters, but he didn’t actually write this, he was just a very talented actor in his own way to make you believe these were his words. And, you know, the record company told you they were his words on the album sleeve too.
In some ways, I think you could fairly feel cheated by Elvis. He wasn’t really what they made him out to be. While Chuck Berry and Little Richard and John Lennon and Paul McCartney and Bob Dylan and Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were all writing their own songs and redefining popular music, somehow Elvis, who wasn’t doing that, ultimately got to wear the crown as the king of rock and roll instead. Maybe he was just better looking than all of those other guys?
Either way, a classic is a classic. Elvis may not have been a musical mastermind, he may not have been a musical genius, he may not have even been that great of a person, but he had that certain something that no one else did, and made simple music compositions like this into works of art. Rock music may never have turned into what it is today without Elvis to lead the way.
#067/420 - Elvis Presley, “Mystery Train”
A popular genre in the 1950s was the “train” song. Plenty of great train songs back in the 50s yessir and this is one of them. Why the train song ever fell out of popularity I have no clue. Let's please make some new train songs, everyone.
#068/420 - Elvis Presley, “It’s Now or Never”
An old favorite of mine with some serene and paradisiacal instrumentation and back-up to some of Elvis’ best belting. Maybe it’s a little pushy, "tomorrow will be too late," okay, I mean maybe we could wait until tomorrow, Elvis. But I guess in the grand scope of time and space, it really is basically now or never so he has a point.
"I swim with socks on!" ...if you catch the reference. :)
#069/420 - Elvis Presley, “That’s All Right”
The song that started it all for Elvis and first impressed the folks at Sun Records back in 1954 was also the first Elvis song I was really impressed by in my life too. Of course, I had known “All Shook Up” and “Heartbreak Hotel” and “Teddy Bear” and “Burning Love” from an early age and considered those "classics" too, but for me they were all also burned with this very Elvis-y tinge that was inescapable. I couldn’t help but picture the impersonators, the hairspray, the cheese, it was all too much to actually sit there and jam out to it myself. But when I finally first heard this song it opened up a whole new side of Elvis’ catalog to me. Songs that were still cool and weren’t completely overplayed and ruined by Elvis impersonators! This is like indie Elvis, from when he was only 19.
It was recorded on a single track with just Elvis singing, stand-up bass, and guitar. Of course, even discounting the fact they were both put out by Sun Records around the same time, it’s hard not to be reminded of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” breakthrough a year later with the same type of simple 3-man lineup carving out early rock and roll. I salute Sun Records for releasing and taking a chance on the breakout songs of these two music giants. It led to a ton of good music to come not only from these two, but from everyone who picked up a guitar after hearing one of these tunes. (Even if both Elvis and Johnny basically lifted the tunes from other people.)
Hey, but that’s all right.
#070/420 - Elvis Presley, “Wearin’ That Loved On Look”
Elvis was said to have grown up singing gospel music. The proof is in the pudding, or in this case, not pudding but Elvis’ album from 69, From Elvis in Memphis. First track, best song. I don’t believe this was ever regarded as a hit from Elvis, “In the Ghetto” from the same album is much more well-known, but this is a great one not to be passed by. You got some of Elvis’ best vocals here, a nice choir to back him up, and the best instrumental bridge in any of his songs at 1:38, makes me just want to get up and testify. I don’t know what I would be testifying, but I’m gonna do it! And I fully expect Rev. James Brown and the Blues Brothers to show up and join me.
I don’t think they really knew what they had with this song. Seems like the mix could be stronger, maybe a Phil Spector wall-of-sound mix would have been more appropriate here but whatever, it’s Elvis. His is not a thought-out, planned-out, artist’s vision kind of catalog, it’s a bunch of random, good songs that were given a good singer. I do think maybe the subject of this song maybe doesn’t quite match the inflection, but again, whatever. It’s Elvis. And that’s 10 of 60 weeks through.
So far, I’d imagine most of you have at least heard of all of my artist choices, but next week we’re going to push the limits of that a bit with a group which I have not only never spoken to anyone who has ever even heard of them, but I’ve never read about them in any news or retrospectives or anything, which is a damn shame. How did I ever find out about this group then? Just one chance night in high school listening to the radio while driving downtown in the rain when a Saturday night disco block came on and introduced me to the true New York disco queens and kings of the 1970s, Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band.
(Please do let me know if you know this group, and if not, please do enjoy what I would describe as a very unique, multicultural menagerie of 1920s swing meets 1970s disco.)
420 to 30: A Music Retrospective
Week 2: The Jackson 5/The Jacksons
Week 3: A Tribe Called Quest
Week 4: Weezer
Week 5: Bob Dylan
Week 6: Led Zeppelin
Week 7: 2Pac/Makaveli
Week 8: Billy Joel
Week 9: Electric Light Orchestra
View the full list of "420 Songs" here: https://tinyurl.com/y8fboudu (Google spreadsheet link)
Love me some Elvis and Scotty Moore, and I appreciate the work you are putting into this series and this well written post ;9)
Thanks very much!
Elvis! Again your picks are mostly songs I've never heard, this time with the exception of 'Return to Sender'
I always enjoyed the line - 'no such zone'
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