To be honest, the only time I ever hear Presley's name these days is when somebody accuses him of basically appropriating black music and using his privilege to capitalize on it. Which... yeah, he did do that, but isn't there more to the guy than that, cheesy movies, and unhealthy eating habits?
Well, saying that Presley "stole" black music is a little shortsighted. Throughout his life, he had the utmost respect for African-American culture and their music, and plenty of black performers at the time respected him. Yeah, it's true that his being white helped him to achieve success, but that's the system that you can blame, not the man.
And for what it's worth, Elvis was a very talented musician. He knew just the right inflections in his voice he had to make to roll with the groove, as evidenced by this song. He was a very charming performer, and definitely deserved every moment of stage presence he could get. Honestly, I don't think people these days give Elvis enough credit.
There are more reasons he became famous than simply that he was a white guy doing black music: he was a white guy doing black music well. Given that Vanilla Ice became famous, I think we can allow for Elvis to do the same, especially since he was far more talented than Ice will ever be. That's a fact.
Ugggghhhh.
So, what's good about this song in particular? Well, like I said, Elvis has great control over the rhythm of his voice, flowing right along with the instruments. The song really swings, and it's also just the right length. A lot of pop songs back then were really short, and given the lack of true subject matter in the lyrics, that sounds exactly right. Ooh wee, he needs your love tonight. Not much more to say.
So yeah. I hope that I can instill a better outlook on Elvis's music looking back, because he does deserve another look these days. Elvis Presley: truly a king of music.
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