How did his career end?
A little later, he’s back on the air. It’s the attraction of a hotel in Las Vegas where he performs flashy concerts. In the 70s, his health deteriorates. He’s very deranged and has delusional attacks.
He dies on the night of August 16-17, 1977, and becomes a national obsession, with millions of fans and hundreds of imitators. Considered a national hero, his funeral draws over 80,000 people.
Elvis Presley – Suspicious Minds (1969)
Song composed in 1956 by Mark James, also known as Francis Zambon. It is another great song with which Elvis achieved the last number one of his career.
“On the night of August 16-17, 1977, Elvis fails to fall asleep. He’s at Graceland, on the eve of a tour. He takes a book on the Holy Shroud of Turin and retires to the bathroom. The next morning, he is found on the floor, stiff and in the fetal position. To avoid scandal – he is a national hero – the coroner’s verdict is “natural death, a heart attack”. The autopsy is practically a public act watched by many employees of the Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis. (Diego Manrique).
What did his figure meant?
It’s a myth full of incongruities. At first, Elvis is the white, sexy and pleasant image of rock and roll, breaking the patterns of those who repudiate it. He is no longer the music of the marginal classes (black and poor).
Later, he becomes corrupted and becomes an artist for the whole family. His image is used to neutralize the social rebellion that this same rock and roll represents. It is, at the same time, rebellion and conformism.
Elvis Presley – Love Me Tender (1956)
Adapted by Elvis and Ken Darby themselves from the American Civil War folk song, Aura Lee. It’s an anthem at the American military academy at West Point, New York.
Elvis Presley played Love Me Tend on Ed Sullivan’s TV show, a few days before its release as a single and almost a month before the presentation of the film The Reno brothers, in which Elvis starred and for which the song was recorded. The day after the show aired, the RCA label received one million booking requests for the single, making it a gold record before it went on sale. This prompted 20th Century Fox to rename the film Love Me Tend.
What can we make of himself?
As a charismatic figure, he is integrated into the American scene with such depth that he is only discovered when he dies. As a rock and roll artist he is valued as what could have been and was not.
He was transformed from a creative artist into a degenerate product, because of a short-sighted artistic direction that the artist did not resist. But he made black music recognized by the public at large.
Elvis Presley – Burning Love (1972)
Song written by Dennis Linde and performed by the King in his last stage as an artist in a Las Vegas hotel. Here he shows a style closer to classic pop.
Although Elvis did not like the song Burning Love very much and did not feel comfortable performing it, it was included in the musical documentaries: Elvis on tour (1972) and Aloha from Hawaii. (1973). Since then, the song has been associated countless times with the islands. In 2009, a remastered version was made for the Circo del Sol show Viva Elvis. It has also been used as an alarm clock tune on the Space Shuttle missions.
