The Last Time Elvis Sang for His Fans

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Abstract

e, the “fat Elvis image” prevailed among tacky Elvis impersonators and “gag” Elvis menu items like food stuffed with peanut butter.</p><p id="6b7f">How often do we similarly punish ourselves: beaming over (and constantly recounting) our peak memories while hiding, punishing, or shaming ourselves over our lowest moments? For example, we shamed fat Elvis and loved “hot Elvis,” but both were the king of rock ‘n roll.</p><h2 id="c815">His final TV special (airing after he died) closed with ‘My Way’</h2><p id="eecf">For years, we recalled his last song as the one he used to complete his <a href="https://readmedium.com/dde950f7517e/edit">final TV special</a>, where the closing song was his powerful rendition of “My Way,” the unofficial anthem of American self-reliance. But, we didn’t know there was an actual “final song that would move us even more.</p> <figure id="3e60"> <div> <div> <img class="ratio" src="http://placehold.it/16x9"> <iframe class="" src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FzR_NwNR9vTc%3Ffeature%3Doembed&display_name=YouTube&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DzR_NwNR9vTc&image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FzR_NwNR9vTc%2Fhqdefault.jpg&key=a19fcc184b9711e1b4764040d3dc5c07&type=text%2Fhtml&schema=youtube" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" width="854"> </div> </div> </figure></iframe></div></div></figure><p id="c1ea">But with the newly revived “real” final song featured in the 2022 film, we can play a video of a more battered Elvis singing his last song before his final live audience. He’s bloated and has trouble moving, but he comes to the piano and plays it in a way we didn’t know he could.</p><p id="0aba">We see this habit with many other heroes:</p><ul><li>A Frank Sinatra mini-series, produced by Sinatra’s family, closed with a 1974 comeback concert, 24 years before Sinatra died.</li><li>We beam over St. John Paul the Great in his prime and looked away as Parkinson’s Disease ravaged his body in his final decade of life. But John Paul, who became pope just two months after Elvis died, showed us that suffering could be redemptive too.</li><li>After Presley died, CBS aired his final TV special, closing with “My Way,” so many didn’t know his actual “final song” was very different: <i>Unchained Melody. </i>They didn’t want viewers to see how bad he looked at the very end.</li></ul><h2 id="e0ec">The new Elvis film closes with his actual final song — it melts your heart and makes you cry tears of joy</h2><p id="9926">He pours every bit of his body, soul, spirit, and brilliance into that final song (as if he knew it was his last song ever), and we see why we always loved him then and always will in the future. Elvis is unique and unrepeatable.</p><p id="451e">The last words Elvis

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sang on stage summed up his life’s purpose of loving and being loved in return: “I need your love. God speed your love to me.”</p> <figure id="f30c"> <div> <div> <img class="ratio" src="http://placehold.it/16x9"> <iframe class="" src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2F4svkR46CesI%3Ffeature%3Doembed&display_name=YouTube&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D4svkR46CesI&image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2F4svkR46CesI%2Fhqdefault.jpg&key=a19fcc184b9711e1b4764040d3dc5c07&type=text%2Fhtml&schema=youtube" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" width="854"> </div> </div> </figure></iframe></div></div></figure><div id="33ee" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/new-elvis-film-reveals-why-hes-still-idolized-as-the-king-of-rock-n-roll-d2b680569e29"> <div> <div> <h2>New Elvis Film Reveals Why He’s Still Idolized as the King of Rock ’n’ Roll</h2> <div><h3>The new Elvis film, like the king it celebrates, is beautiful, moving, inspiring, entertaining — and ultimately a…</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*ICehvhrebPA2gPEfuveO_g.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="2287" class="link-block"> <a href="https://popoff.us/female-elvis-the-everlasting-power-of-ann-margret-and-her-music-260b2f394a12"> <div> <div> <h2>Female Elvis: The Everlasting Power of Ann-Margret and Her Music</h2> <div><h3>Why are we still so captivated? From JFK, the Elvis era to Johnny Carson to now, her appeal is timeless</h3></div> <div><p>popoff.us.</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*prkv2sT_JwOT_kPTcaX8Cw.png)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="ce6e" class="link-block"> <a href="https://serwachjoe.medium.com/membership"> <div> <div> <h2>Join Medium with my referral link — Joseph Serwach</h2> <div><h3>As a Medium member, a portion of your membership fee goes to writers you read, and you get full access to every story…</h3></div> <div><p>serwachjoe.medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*0lAq2j052Kfzzc6K)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div></article></body>

Can we now finally love the suffering Elvis? For years, we stared at his fun self — looking away from ‘fat Elvis’

Above: The U.S. Postal Service in 1992 asked the American people to pick “which Elvis is king,” and 1.2 million voted, with 75 percent preferring “young Elvis” to the pained man he became. The new 2022 Elvis film shows the whole Elvis, including some broken moments, revealing a final live performance showing he was just as talented — or more — at the end as he was in his youth. USPS public image.

For decades, no one wanted to watch this video — we feared the pain — but suddenly, we see the last time Elvis Presley sang for fans, weeping tears of joy.

Even one of the DJs on the 18-year-old Sirius XM Elvis Radio — which plays his music 24/7 — admitted he couldn’t watch this video until after the new Elvis film showed us a new way to appreciate the ill Elvis.

This footage is the new film’s most enduring gift. Instead of glossing over or ignoring Presley’s unhealthiest moments (images we’d like to forget), they close with the final song of his last live performance.

We can now see clearly how incredibly talented and gifted he remained — even when he was a shattered man inside and out.

His forgotten final song shows that even a beaten-down Elvis was still amazing

The most hopeful message is that even when you seem to have hit bottom, your inner gifts (the person you were born to be) remain inside.

Elvis died at age 42, but many thought he looked more like 60 at the end, obese, overcome by years of addictions. Who killed him? The doctors? The colonel? His slow-motion suicide? Or was it us too? We all tried to look away, enabling his decline.

The new film allows us to love the whole Elvis Presley, including the broken, wounded soul who made us look away. A 1992 vote of the American people confirmed this public sentiment of preferring his peak more pleasant years.

Thirty years ago, the U.S. Postal Service did something unprecedented, calling for a vote to choose the best stamp to honor Elvis. The Post Office shared two Elvis portraits, one of “young Elvis” and one of “mature Elvis,” and asked the people to decide. Americans cast 1.2 million votes, an overwhelming 75 percent preferring “young Elvis.”

So the approved postage stamps show the approved “young Elvis.” At the same time, the “fat Elvis image” prevailed among tacky Elvis impersonators and “gag” Elvis menu items like food stuffed with peanut butter.

How often do we similarly punish ourselves: beaming over (and constantly recounting) our peak memories while hiding, punishing, or shaming ourselves over our lowest moments? For example, we shamed fat Elvis and loved “hot Elvis,” but both were the king of rock ‘n roll.

His final TV special (airing after he died) closed with ‘My Way’

For years, we recalled his last song as the one he used to complete his final TV special, where the closing song was his powerful rendition of “My Way,” the unofficial anthem of American self-reliance. But, we didn’t know there was an actual “final song that would move us even more.

But with the newly revived “real” final song featured in the 2022 film, we can play a video of a more battered Elvis singing his last song before his final live audience. He’s bloated and has trouble moving, but he comes to the piano and plays it in a way we didn’t know he could.

We see this habit with many other heroes:

A Frank Sinatra mini-series, produced by Sinatra’s family, closed with a 1974 comeback concert, 24 years before Sinatra died.

We beam over St. John Paul the Great in his prime and looked away as Parkinson’s Disease ravaged his body in his final decade of life. But John Paul, who became pope just two months after Elvis died, showed us that suffering could be redemptive too.

After Presley died, CBS aired his final TV special, closing with “My Way,” so many didn’t know his actual “final song” was very different: Unchained Melody. They didn’t want viewers to see how bad he looked at the very end.