Elvis Presley

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 • Born on January 8th, 1935

• Rock and Roll Icon

Biography
• Died August 16, 1977

Elvis Aron Presley was Born on January 8th, 1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi. He is known
as one of the most Iconic Rock and Roll artists/ musicians of all time. He had a great
career but unfortunately his career was cut short at the age of 42 when he died of a
heart attack, which was related to his drug addiction. He died in his Graceland home
on August 16, 1977.

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 Biography

• Grew up in a poor family

• Was an only child

• Raised to have faith in god

• Received his first guitar at 11 Years old.

Elvis grew up in a poor, humble family. His parents, Vernon and Gladys Presley, were
working class citizens that moved from place to place frequently. Elvis was also an
only child, yet it wasn't supposed to be that way. Elvis actually had an identical twin,
Jesse Presley, who was stillborn. Elvis' parents raised him in the christian faith and
taught him to be a firm believer in god. His family attended church meetings on a
regular basis throughout all of his childhood so his famly's faith became a big
influencer in his life. The gospel music he heard throughout his childhood became a
huge influencer in his music.
When Elvis turned 11 his parents gave him his first guitar. Because theywere poor, his
Parents got help to afford the gift from Elvis’ uncle and their church pastor. That first
guitar started his musical ambition. He started off with learning all of the simple
chords, then he developed into a great guitar player. He had his first taste of musical
success when he won a school talent show at Humes high school.

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 Biography

• Influenced by pop, country, and gospel music.

• Signed with his first record label, Sun Records.

• Later signed with RCA Records

• Gets his first #1 hit

• Signed his first movie contract

Throughout his teenage years, Elvis loved the current pop and country music that was
played on the radio, as well as the gospel music that he had grown up with. These
various music genres became big influencers in his music. At the beginning of Elvis’
young career, he was trying to sign a label for his music. He would go to facilities that
would record a two sided record for about $4, which was worth a lot more back in
the day. He recorded a couple songs that were published later in his career. He sought
out Sun Records to get his name out there. He had a couple of auditions for Sun and
he eventually signed with them.
At Sun, Elvis began to accumulate some fans while at Sun Records due to his
“Unusual” music style. He had a couple of semi popular songs but still didn’t have
that big hit song. In November 1955, Elvis signed with a new record label, RCA
records. Not long after signing with RCA, Elvis scored his first #1 single, “Heartbreak
Hotel” in 1956. That same year he also scored his first #1 album “Elvis Presley” and
signed his first movie contract with paramount pictures. Elvis was on fire!

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 Biography

• Served in the military

• Continued his career after service

• Made many movies and soudtracks

• Lost box office appeal

• 1968 Comback

Elvis was drafted into the army in 1957. He served there for 3 years and during that
time his mother, who was very close to him, died. After returning in 1960, Elvis was
already back on track in his career and his hitting the top charts again. He began to
act and produce soundtracks for multiple films like “Girls! Girls! Girls!”(1962), “Viva
Las Vegas”(1964), and my favorite, “Blue Hawaii”(1961). While these movies were
still popular, the films’ soundtracks were the hits. Not long after that, by the late
1960’s, Elvis had lost a lot of his popularity. It wasn’t until his “68 comeback” when he
made a major comeback on the TV special. Here, he proved that he was still the king
of rock and roll.

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 • Divorced

• Drawn to Vegas

• Developed a drug addiction

Biography
• Early Death

After his comeback, Elvis’ personal life was falling apart. His marriage wasn’t working
out and he was developing a dangerous drug addiction. Despite all of this, he was still
very popular. He signed many deals to perform in Las Vegas including a deal where he
performed 57 shows in four weeks. During this time, his drug addiction worsened. He
toured the rest of the country often to perform shows. In June 1977, he performed
his last show in Indianapolis. He returned to his Graceland Mansion after the concert,
where he died of heart failure.

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 Composition History

Heartbreak Hotel

• Lyrics by Tommy Durden

• About a suicidal man

• His first RCA release

• First #1 hit song

“Heartbreak Hotel”(1955)was written by a Guitar player named Tommy Durden.

Tommy said that the song was inspired by a news article he had seen about a man
who committed suicide by jumping out of a window of a hotel, and he only left a note
that said “I walk a lonely street.” This song was Elvis’ first release since signing with
RCA records and it was also his first #1 single.

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 Composition History

Love Me Tender

• Originally named after the Movie

• Rose to #1 before release of film

• Written by Ken Darby

• Melody from "Aura Lee"

“Love me tender”(1956) was originally written for the movie of the same name that
Elvis starred in. It originally had a smaller part of the movie, but due to its early
success before the movie was released, more emphasis was put on it for the film. The
movie’s movie director Ken Darby wrote the song off of the melody from a 95-year
old civil war song called “Aura Lee”. He kept the original melody, but changed the
words to fit in with the movie.

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 Can't Help Falling In Love

• Written by George Weiss

• Made for the movie "Blue Hawaii"

• They didn't think it would be "rock and roll

Composition enough" for Elvis.

History
• Was difficult for Elvis to get right

• Now his most popular song

“Can’t Help Falling In Love”(1961) was written for the movie “Blue Hawaii” starring
Elvis. The song was written by George David Weiss along with Luigi Creatore and
Hugo Peretti. They actually thought that the song wouldn’t go along with Elvis very
well because it was not “rock and roll enough”. They were wrong and right about this.
They were wrong because the song ended up being one of Presley’s best songs and
the most popular song in today's world. However, they were right about it being hard
for Elvis. Elvis struggled with this song in the studio, it ended taking him about 29
takes to get his breathing and his delivery right.

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 Composition History

Suspicious Minds

• Written by Mark James

• About a dysfunctional Relationship

• Was originally performed by Mark

“Suspicious Minds”(1968) was a song that Mark James wrote and performed well
before Elvis took it on. James said that the song was about a dysfunctional
relationship, or in other words, his own relationship with his wife. He had feelings for
his childhood sweetheart and his wife had many suspicions about it.
The label producer mentioned to Mark that they could possibly give the song to Elvis
and Mark thought it was a great idea. They eventually showed the song to Elvis and
he accepted the song.

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Listening Guide-Heartbreak Hotel
(2:07)
• 0:00- Starts off with vocals from Elvis followed by quick strums of guitar, piano and drums. Then this is repeated.

• 0:09- singer is now accompanied by a single guitar that plays in a minor key that slowly decends. The decending
guitar resembles what seems like the sound of falling. This part of the song has a very thin texture, it repeats
multiple times. The guitar leads into the simple rhythm of the chorus.

• 0:50- The second chorus has the guitar playing the rhythm yet again, but this chorus has a piano melody that plays
along with Elvis' vocals which adds another layer of texture to the previous chorus.

• 1:10- The 3rd chorus resembles the same rhythm and Melody as the second.

• 1:22- A rough timbre guitar solo begins to form a bridge and is accompanied by a rhythm played by the piano,
guitar, drums, and bass. This follows straight into a soft piano solo accompanied by the same instruments.

• 1:42- The beginning of the song repeats with a bit more added texture. Right before the final chorus starts, there is
a loud strumming of the electric guitar. The accoustic guitar ends the song with a slow descend.

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Listening Guide- Love Me Tender
(2:42)
• 0:00- The song begins with a very soft, calm
accoustic guitar that strums simple chords. This
provides a short, simple intro that sets the mood.
• 0:04- Elvis sings the melody in a major key.
The guitar continues to play
the calm rhythm as delivers a conjunct verse.
• 0:29- The first chorus begins. Back up
singers harmonize together along with the main
melody. The harmony seems to have a thin texture.
• 0:54- Second verse begins and uses the same
melody and rhythm as the first but has a change in
lyrics.
• 1:20- The second chorus begins and uses the same
elements as the one before, but in this one Elvis
sings with a new dynamic. He sings a bit louder on
some parts and drops back down to the more quite
vocals as before.
• 1:45- final Verse again resembles the past 2 verses,
just different words.
• 2:10- The final chorus begins and has the louder
dynamic as the one before has as well. The only
difference between this one and the last is
the key that he sings the final words "and I always
will." He sings these last words in a higher key to end
the song.
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Listening Guide- Can't Help Falling In
Love (3:02)
• 0:00- Song begins with the same rhythm that goes
throughout the whole song. This rhythm includes the
piano, steele guitar, guitar, and I believe some sort
of Percussion instrument. This rhythm has a very soft
dynamic and is very conjunct.
• 0:08- Elvis begins singing the original chorus and
is backed up by a harmony of background singers. This
chorus has a very thick texture due to all the different
instruments and components playing.
• 0:36- The first verse begins. The same rhythm that plays
during the chorus continues and the same goes for the
back of harmony singers.
• 1:04- The first bridge in a series of bridges in this song
starts. Elvis sings the three phrases "Like a river flows",
"surely to the sea", and "Darling so it goes" and each
phrase is followed by a strum of the steel guitar. Then he
ends the bridge with, "some things are meant to be."
• 1:23- Another chorus starts and resembles the last.
• 1:50- The second bridge begins and resembles the last
exactly.
• 2:08- Another chorus starts and resembles the last
• 2:36- The final words of the chorus, "for I can't help
falling in love with you" are repeated after the final
chorus. The background singers sing the final
words, "falling in love with you" with Elvis and they
end on a higher key harmony.
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Listening Guide- Suspicious Minds
(4:33)
• 0:00- The song begins with the general rhythm that plays throughout the
whole song. This rhythm consists of the electric guitar, bass, and drums.
The rhythm has a bit of a rough disjunct timbre.
• 0:05: The same rhythm continues, the vocals come in. Elvis sings the
main melody, and a group of background singers harmonize with every
word.
• 0:09: The rhythm changes keys. Then a couple seconds later it changes
keys again.
• 0:19: A group of strings comes in for a second then are followed by a
simple secondary rhythm that continues throught the first chorus. The
violins and the drums give the song a thicker texture, and it helps build
up to the chorus.
• 0:40- The first chorus starts, the vocals become louder and more
energized, the violins come back in to provide another layer of texture
and the continue into the second verse. The second verse is much like the
one before, but it includes a few extra instruments than the one before.
• 1:25- backround singers harmonize the words "tears I'm crying"
together without elvis.
• 1:46- A bridge begins. Here, Elvis sings the lyrics by himself while the
background singers hum a harmony. The only instruments that play with
him here is the drums and the electric guitar. The song goes from having
a thick texture during the chorus to having a very thin texture in the
bridge. The bridge ends with elvis and the background singers humming
a harmony until the original melody starts back up again.
• 2:14- The original Melody picks back up with a chorus.
• 2:50- The chorus repeats with louder strings.
• 3:02- The chorus repeats a 3rd time but this time around there are
trumpets that are add to the rhythm and create a thicker texture.
• 3:21- The chorus repeats 4 more times until the end of the song.
Everything is repeated with no added elements.
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Bibliography
• https://www.biography.com/musician/elvis-presley

• Graceland.com

• https://biography.elvis.com.au/

• songfacts.com

• https://ig.ft.com/life-of-a-song/can't-help-falling-in-love.html

• smoothradio.com

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