“The saddest song” Elvis Presley ever heard
As the progenitor of rock ‘n’ roll, Elvis Presley became one of the first-ever global superstars in the 20th century. As the Beatles’ John Lennon once famously remarked: “Before Elvis, there was nothing”. Despite a famous humble nature, The King was the first man rock star to benefit from unrestrained globalisation and technological enlightenment.
Presley’s musical career blossomed through the 1950s, with the young and old alike snapping up his 7″ singles like hotcakes. In December 1957, at the height of his fame, Presley was drafted into the US Army. His fans immediately launched petitions on an impressive scale to request that he be spared the duties, but Presley didn’t want special treatment.
“The Army can do anything it wants with me,” he famously stated at the time. After one deferment, which allowed him to complete his movie King Creole, Presley was sworn in as an army private in Memphis on March 24th, 1958.’
After serving most of his term as an armour intelligence specialist in Germany, Presley was honourably discharged in March 1960. He returned to his career that year and set his sights on success as a Hollywood star, making moves to soundtrack and star in Norman Taurog’s 1961 movie Blue Hawaii. Most notably, the soundtrack featured one of Presley’s most adored and sentimental classics, ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’.
The powerful ballad marked a turning of the tide in Presley’s career, which saw the up-tempo rock ‘n’ roll hits that adorned his ’50s output gradually outnumbered by emotional country-inspired ballads and orchestral anthems.
By 1970, the singer had added such mournful hits as ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, ‘Kentucky Rain’ and ‘I’ll Remember You’ to his recorded catalogue, but the saddest was still yet to come.
In 1973, in the midst of the famous seven-year Las Vegas residency, which marked the tragic decline and end of Presley’s career, the star performed a special concert at Honolulu International Center. Broadcast live via satellite to audiences in Asia and Oceania, the show was aptly titled Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite.
During the performance, Presley treated his international audience to his famous cover of ‘I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry’, the 1949 country classic by Drifting Cowboys and Hank Williams. “I’d like to sing a song that’s probably the saddest song I ever heard,” Presley announced before a characteristically breathtaking vocal performance. Watch below.