Comments on: ELVIS PRESLEY - “Are You Lonesome Tonight?”

By: DJ Punctum

DJ Punctum — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 09:53:09 +0000

“How can they flunk, they’re so full of bunk!”

By: Mark G

Mark G — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 09:40:57 +0000

I’m still waiting for the (re)issue of “Poison Ivy League” where Elvis calls for direct action (by poisoning) against the class and privilege inherant in the US college education system…

(And I’m not even exaggerating!)

By: DJ Punctum

DJ Punctum — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 09:31:08 +0000

When are RCA going to give Having Fun With Elvis On Stage its richly deserved reissue on CD? Forty minutes of “well…wellll…weeeelllll…” and “someone gimme a towel”; it’s his late masterpiece.

By: Mark G

Mark G — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 09:24:04 +0000

My guess is he’s mis-remembered it, but it does raise an interesting side-issue….

When the first version of something nails it as an ‘act’, where he actually does deliver his lines cleverly and hits all the cues..

Ten years on, delivering this every night, the resonance long gone, but people still want to hear it, I guess all the live versions by now would be ‘iwonderifyrlonesmtonight…ynosmeoncesdthewldsastage…yaddayada….’ style.

By: DJ Punctum

DJ Punctum — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 09:19:36 +0000

#1: that must be a different “Laughing Version” to the one which went Top 30 in ‘82 wherein Presley sings “do you gaze at your bald head and wish you had hair?” before corpsing through the rest of the number, mainly I think provoked by the rather off-key backing vocal (”Sing it baby!”).

By: wichita lineman

wichita lineman — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 22:51:10 +0000

The Presidential line is a great observation in a faultless review. Bill Clinton always reminded me of Elvis when he was on form, only not as convincing. It’s a breath-catching spoken word part - can anyone think of a better one on Popular? Pat Boone? Johnny Nash? Windsor Davies?

As for acting, in 1961 Elvis blew one of his best chances to get taken seriously with Wild In The Country. He’s the bad boy bouncing between between Hope Lange, Tuesday Weld, and Millie Perkins (tough choice, I know, must’ve killed him). But his uppers habit plays havoc with his performance, rushing every line in a pretty decent film. It was also spoilt by the tacked on ending, but Elvis set himself up for a decade of Clambakes with his pill-popping.

The theme was a phantom number one, too, but a decidedly underwhelming one.

By: Joe Williams

Joe Williams — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 22:10:00 +0000

I prefer the live ‘Laughing Version’, where Elvis says ‘now the stage is bare, and I’ve lost all my hair’ then spends the rest of the song falling over laughing while the band play on. Probably off his head on barbiturates at the time, but genius all the same.