Exploring "The Brilliant Nonsense of Elvis Lyrics" with The Atlantic
Elvis' music continues to impact pop culture and generations of music lovers have discovered the king's unequivocal style. In a series on TheAtlantic.com, indie-rock singer Hamilton Leithauser gives song-writing lessons from the king - using his favorite Elvis lyric in the opening line of "All Shook Up."
"I’ve listened to Elvis my whole life. My mom always played his records when I was growing up, so I got started on him early. Once you get into The Beatles, The Stones and Bob Dylan, you realize that they all saw Elvis as their hero, and that brings you back."
From a song-writer's perspective, Leithauser breaks down the simple but rather complex meaning behind his favorite Elvis tune "All Shook Up." He says he prefers to write the words to serve the song, rather than the other way around. He also notes Elvis' delivery of the words gave the song life and the nonsensical tone works for the context of the song.
"For me, 'All Shook Up' demonstrates the challenge of writing lyrics the way I do. You’ve got to balance what works for the song with a desire to have things make sense, hang together, check out intellectually."
Read the complete article "The Brilliant Nonsense of Elvis Lyrics" by visitingTheAtlantic.com.
http://www.graceland.com
Elvis' music continues to impact pop culture and generations of music lovers have discovered the king's unequivocal style. In a series on TheAtlantic.com, indie-rock singer Hamilton Leithauser gives song-writing lessons from the king - using his favorite Elvis lyric in the opening line of "All Shook Up."
"I’ve listened to Elvis my whole life. My mom always played his records when I was growing up, so I got started on him early. Once you get into The Beatles, The Stones and Bob Dylan, you realize that they all saw Elvis as their hero, and that brings you back."
From a song-writer's perspective, Leithauser breaks down the simple but rather complex meaning behind his favorite Elvis tune "All Shook Up." He says he prefers to write the words to serve the song, rather than the other way around. He also notes Elvis' delivery of the words gave the song life and the nonsensical tone works for the context of the song.
"For me, 'All Shook Up' demonstrates the challenge of writing lyrics the way I do. You’ve got to balance what works for the song with a desire to have things make sense, hang together, check out intellectually."
Read the complete article "The Brilliant Nonsense of Elvis Lyrics" by visitingTheAtlantic.com.
http://www.graceland.com