Elvis & I (an impromptu and non-alcohol induced commentary)

I have 440 Elvis Presley songs in my iTunes. He was my first favorite singer, and I've probably read a half-dozen biographies on him.

He was one of the few truly unique singers (I decline to call singers "artists," no matter how good they are at it. I can pass gas with the best of them, but I am no "artists"--though maybe a "fartist"?).

By unique, I mean his sound and style. It's all his. No one before him sang the way that he did. When he first went to Sam Phillips's studio in Memphis to record a song, the receptionist asked him if he could sing in different genres. He answered yes. When she asked whom he sounded like, he said, "I don't sound like nobody." (Let's forgive him the double negative). People used to tell Merle Haggard that he sounded like Lefty Frizzell. People used to tell David Allen Coe that he sounded like Merle Haggard. People tell me that I sound like a deaf orangutan with diarrhea. But Elvis never sounded like anyone other than Elvis.

Think about it. The only people who sound like Elvis are those who are trying to sound like Elvis. Anyone who has ever heard a live Elvis recording can also attest to his talent. Most singers sound worse live than they do in the studio, but Elvis's live recordings are perfect. In some respects, they're even better because they are more tinctured with emotion.

One interesting aspect of Elvis's voice is that it was unique and amazing. Most unique voices aren't really that great: Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Tom Waits, Eddie Vedder, Bob Dylan, Hank Williams (Sr), James Brown, Janis Joplin, Jim Croce, Kenny Rogers, Robert Plant, Louis B. Armstrong, Nat King Cole, William Hung...

The thing about great voices is that they really are a dime a dozen. Range and tone are the two key ingredients to a great voice. Consider Frank Sinatra, Celine Dion, Harry Connick (Jr), Josh Groban, Michael Bublé, Julie Andrews (by far the most beautiful female voice ever recorded), Crystal Gayle...

However, a great voice does not necessarily make a great performer. A great performer needs to have emotion and be able to evoke emotion from the audience. Johnny Cash's cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" does this. In fact, it's this key that makes a unique but not great voice possibly more of an accomplishment and more enjoyable.

Compare James Brown's "I Got You, (I Feel Good)" to Frank Sinatra's "I've Got the World on a String." Both songs are essentially about the same thing. "I've Got the World on a String," is lyrically better than "I Got You," and Sinatra's voice towers over Brown's in overall quality; but Brown's unique voice and the way that he performed gives an intangible quality to his song that makes it not just good, but great. It actually imparts feeling good. I'm not saying that Sinatra couldn't sing with emotion. "That's Life" certainly has this quality, as do "My Way" and "Send in the Clowns," but comparatively, a song with emotion trumps one that's just sung well (e.g. good range and tone). That's why no one will remember Celine Dion in twenty years. There's nothing special about her voice. It's just good, and that's just not enough. Even when she tries to be "powerful," all she's doing is putting more air into the words. The emotion is insincere.

Compare cover songs to the originals. Very rarely do the covers have even an iota of the original emotion that made the song so great in the first place. Perhaps the best (and most awful) example of this is Madonna's cover of Don MacLean's "American Pie." In her version, the wistful angst that drove Roberta Flack to write "Killing Me Softly" is gone. However, you also have some successes. Most notable is Pearl Jam's cover of "Last Kiss." The lyrics and the beat remained the same, but Eddie Vedder added his emotionally broken voice--at times almost an in-tune moan--and made the lyrics sound the way a man who has just "Lost my love, my life that night." Jimi Hendrix added power to Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower," and got it so right that Dylan forevermore sang the Hendrix version.

A cover song only works if it is infused with that emotional touch that segregates performers from singers. This is also why great songs should probably not be covered. In as much as covering a song is concerned, Elvis Presley was in a class by himself. His cover of Big Mama Thorton's "Hound Dog" is very different from the original. It had to be, for the original was great. But Elvis brought his own Midas touch to the song, rearranged it and made it his (seriously, had you even heard of Big Mama Thorton?--Golf Guy probably saw her in concert...).

Here's some more:

Elvis and at least five other singers covered David Hill's "All Shook Up," but it's Elvis's version that survives.
"Are You Lonesome Tonight," origianlly done by Ned Jakobs
"Big Boss Man," originally by Jimmy Reed
"Blue Hawaii," first recorded by Bing Crosby (that's right, Elvis did better than Bing)
"Blue Suede Shoes" was great when Carl Perkins did it first, but Elvis made it immortal
"Help Me Make It Through the Night," originally by Kris Kristofferson, whose version is riddled with angst, but Elvis still brought something more
"Lawdy Miss Clawdy" by Lloyd Price--check out Elvis's live version from his '68 Comeback Special). It was his opening song for the special, and it was freaking perfect.
"Bridge Over Troubled Water," a Simon and Garfunkel song done perfectly by Simon and Garfunkel, but Elvis's powerful tenor does something that Garfunkel's angelic alto cannot.
"Love Me," originally by Willy & Ruth
"Love Me Tender" --I don't know the original singer, but I know that it's been covered over 20 times. Do you know any other than Elvis's?
"Make the World Go Away," was a Ray Price original/
"My Way" was a Paul Anka hit Sinatra's magnum opus, but I've got to go with Elvis again.
"Suspicious Minds" (I don't know the original)
"Sweet Caroline," a Neil Diamond classic done even better by The King
"That's All Right," by Arthur Crudup was Elvis's first hit for Sun Records
"You've Lost that Lovin' Feeling," yes, the Righteous Brothers' version is awesome, but Elvis's is perfect--especially in the one live performance when he ad libs, "Baby, baby, I'd get down on my knees for you--if this suit wasn't so tight!"

There are others, but I've made my point. With the exception of a few, Elvis's versions are the ones we remember or enjoy more. Even those ones that may not be better than the original--I'll accept challenges to "My Way," "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "Sweet Caroline," and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling,"their only problem--if there is one at all--is that they are covers of singers who are darn near peerless in their own rights.

His impact on music and culture is manifest by the fact that so many have refused to let him die. 2Pac fans have done the same thing, but do they know that they're just doing a bad cover of something that Elvis did perfectly the first time?

So why all of this disorganized "Elvis Is Great" ranting? It's because I was looking at myself in the mirror today, and I realized that I'm a lot like Elvis. We both struggle with our weight--fat, thin(ish--in my case), fat, thin, fat, thin, etc. And we both think that Elvis was awesome. I may not have all the talent, money, and women, but let's not nitpick.

If you managed to read through this whole thing, and you have the ability and inclination, test my assertions. Pair Elvis covers with the originals. Pair Elvis originals (or covers) with subsequent covers.