ELVIS PRESLEY – “His Latest Flame”
Maybe “His Latest Flame” is so endearing because Elvis is losing for once. Not that you’d know from the airy arrangement – or from the first verse, the song saving its unpleasant twist for a little while. It rests on a tweaked Bo Diddley beat, an undercarriage of such pedigree and power that the rest of the band can afford to give the music a little space and delicacy. Sonically it’s Presley at his lightest, but that seems to bring out the best in the man. Presley tackles the song with authority, the showboating of his recent hits left behind: he respects its simplicity and gives a more subtle performance than you might expect. Listen to him in the final, repeated bridge and verse, how he hints at despair and anger before settling on defeat. It’s not that he couldn’t fight for Marie – this is Elvis Presley singing, after all – but it’s that there’s suddenly nothing worth fighting for.
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Tom in Popular • 1,467 views • Share/Save
Another Elvis double A you’ve missed – ‘Little Sister’ was on this too, though ‘His Latest Flame’ is better known.
I am trying and failing to think of The Smiths song that is clearly influenced by this…
Rusholme Ruffians
Ah, thanks! And didn’t he get dolled up (as the British say) to look like Elvis for a cover too? Hmmm…
Or, you know, when the Smiths were around…such a short time, come to think of it…
Well, Elvis was on the cover of one of the Smiths’ singles (I think “Shoplifters Of The World Unite” but I’ll have to check on that). Morrissey did get dolled up as Terence Stamp for the cover of “What Difference Does It Make?” since the Smiths couldn’t get clearance in time to use the original photo…
Morrissey was in NME around the time of Shoplifters in mascara, as I recall, but denied he was trying to look like Elvis. This was shortly before he decided he’d rather look like Stinky Turner, the clot.
It’s a shame in a way that His Latest Flame and Little Sister were used on the same 45 as they were equally popular (reached no.4 and no.5 respectively in the US) but, if separate A-sides, would have leavened the weight of Nashville slowies and lightweight film songs that made up his next few releases.
Both sides written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman at their peak. They had given him the rollicking A Mess Of Blues, a no.2 the year before, and would also punt the glowering Suspicion and Viva Las Vegas his way. But they stopped trying so hard when the films got sillier – the themes from Double Trouble and Girl Happy will make you squirm with their rote melodies; the latter is played incredibly fast, as if people couldn’t wait to get the thing over and done with.
My third 10 (chronologically) and my favourite Elvis track – curiously it shares a couple of lyrical ideas with “Cathy’s Clown”. Don’t know what that says about me.
His best double A apart from Hound Dog/Don’t Be Cruel, has to be a 9 or 10, but I can’t remember what I gave it (drunkenly did the whole lot in around 45 mins) – can we possibly see our marks out of ten again? And/or the average so far?
If you’re logged in both are visible! The average so far on this is 6.8
Thanks boss!