Message songs...

[MikeFromHolland]

My very first post here. Been a fan since '74, but completely new to this forum. What a wealth of information! Will take a while to read this all through. Thanks for sharing you all.

Like to start with a question: can anyone advice me on ALL the message songs that Elvis ever recorded? Songs with messages in them, like 'In The Ghetto', 'Clean Up Your Own Back Yard' and 'Walk a Mile in my Shoes'? I wonder which there are and if there are many...

[JimmyCool]

"If I Can Dream" and "Change Of Habit" too.

(Welcome to the board!)

[MikeFromHolland]

Thank you

[drjohncarpenter]

Message songs? Here are a few, some silly, some sacred, some profane, all Elvis.

Tryin' to Get to You
How Do You Think I Feel?
I Believe
I Want To Be Free
I Believe in the Man in the Sky
Lonely Man
I'm Not the Marrying Kind
Return to Sender
I Need Somebody to Lean On
Tomorrow Is a Long Time
Stand by Me
Nothingville
Clean Up Your Own Backyard
Long Black Limousine
In the Ghetto
Don't Cry Daddy
(That's What You Get) For Lovin' Me
Holly Leaves and Christmas Trees
I Shall Be Released
Are You Sincere?
Help Me
My Boy
I Can Help
Pledging My Love

[Dan_T]

Elvis had a David Brent moment at the Houston press conference, he could only think of In The Ghetto, bit you can clearly see he is searching his mind for the others.

[ElvisLive3August1969]

Message songs? Here are a few, some silly, some sacred, some profane, all Elvis.

Tryin' to Get to You
How Do You Think I Feel?
I Believe
I Want To Be Free
I Believe in the Man in the Sky
Lonely Man
I'm Not the Marrying Kind
Return to Sender
I Need Somebody to Lean On
Tomorrow Is a Long Time
Stand by Me
Nothingville
Clean Up Your Own Backyard
Long Black Limousine
In the Ghetto
Don't Cry Daddy
(That's What You Get) For Lovin' Me
Holly Leaves and Christmas Trees
I Shall Be Released
Are You Sincere?
Help Me
My Boy
I Can Help
Pledging My Love

Hound Dog?

[midnightx]

"Life" is the ultimate message song.

[Blue River]

My very first post here.

Been a fan since '74, but completely new to this forum.

"Life" is the ultimate message song.

[norrie]

"Life" is the ultimate message song.

The Bible abridged into a three minute song.It saves you reading it!

norrie

[midnightx]

Milete was a genius.

[norrie]

Clearly.

[rjm]

Welcome, Mike!

"Hound Dog" is a GREAT choice! (I don't have it on my CD-R "Elvis Protests." I should. I should get the list. Anyway, it starts simply, with him discussing, in the dressing room sessions, how the songs of the '50s, the pop songs, had that same chord progression, and demonstrates. He includes "Blue Moon.")

So, I basically start there, then you hear his "Blue Moon," and then it gets increasingly "pointed." I included "Poison Ivy League." (That's actually come up in the pre-election chatter, that sort of thing, so it's interesting. About the "silver spoon" bit. Don't want to go THERE right now, though!)

And, anyway, there are quite a few more that are quite pointed, and not "personal" at all. I do end with a "personal" one, and I shouldn't have.
But, that aside, here are some. "Talk About The Good Times," a critique of suburbia and the middle-class post-war landscape of impersonality in human relationships. (Why is Google telling me that's not a word?) Anyway, there's "Trilogy," and the usual ones from the Comeback period. I think I included "I Shall Be Released," because there are so many social prisons . . . I preface it with "Men With Broken Hearts," instead of putting that with "Walk A Mile." Works nice. Several gospel/spiritual songs that have a strong social message. Peter Guralnick said, in his original review of FEIM, that Long Black Limo turns into "a vehicle for savage social protest" against the idea of "somebody-hood" in society. "True Love Travels On A Gravel Road" is similar, but not savage. It all ends up with a couple dozen, actually.

And "Life" is NOT among 'em!

rjm (And I don't have the playlist, because it was on my Itunes on my crashed hard disk, and the IPod got all erased, and I had to start over. So, it's just a CD-R. I'll re-do the playlist eventually. There were a lot of little gems in there. And a song that I heard in the context of WHEN it was recorded, what the lyrics actually say, the tone . . . and it didn't sound like an unrequited love song anymore. I guess that was a cheat. It was in a film with a genuine, certified "message song." "Clean Up Your Own Backyard" is one of those. it's even stronger outside of the film, although it's a nice little music video.)

"Clean Up Your Own Backyard" always makes me think of contemporary history's most ardent speechifyin' hypocrite. Hated "rock music." Needed to clean up his own backyard, obviously, cause he got kicked out of office, and had been taking bribes. (He "resigned.")

spiro-t_speaks_out_text.jpg

I didn't correct all the lyrics from the lyrics site. Oops. It's "lies," of course, not "lines." But that's funny for the anti-drug crusader! Maybe he did do a few "lines" with . . . whomever!! LOL!

rjm
P.S. -- Saw the posts about "the genius."

P.P.S. -- Dig into the photo section; it's the greatest thing! It's like a new "land" over at Disneyland: "Elvisland," and the most gorgeous photos, plus photo-essays. And the multi-media, too! But the photo-section is just awesome. A member named James (who has a real nice avatar at the moment -- it could change to the usual, but right now ) has put this together: http://www.elvis-collectors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=55122 If you dig Elvis, and have never been here before, it'll knock your eyeballs right out of their sockets!

[MikeFromHolland]

Well, thank you all! And those whom welcomed me: special thanks!

Perhaps I stated my question a bit vague. I gave no definition of what I meant with "message song". What I meant is songs where Elvis gives a direct message or advice to the imaginable person he's singing for. Or share some words of wisdom. That's why I choose the Sound Advice avatar for now, and the Sound Advice quote at the bottom of my post. As I stated earlier: a bit vague...

I already started a list myself, but not sure if it's complete. And I forgot all about Hound Dog when he looked into that one big square eye in the middle of her.... (forehead?)

Once is Enough (message: all you got is one life, don't settle for crumbs, if you live every sec., once is enough)
New Orleans (message: if you feel low down, you shouldn't loose the blues in Louisiana .. In New Orleans the living is easy and the love is fine)
We Call on Him (message: why don't we call on him, before we loose our way?)
Wonderful World (message: life is a carnival, live it for all it's worth)
There is So Much World To See (message: title says it all)
One-sided Love Affair (message: if you wanna be loved, you got to love me too)
Run On (message: you may run on for a long time, but one of these days 'you'll get caught')
Have a Happy (message: have a happy warm smiling face, it opens the door to miracles of spring. Start believing in believing and the world will be a better place)
How Can You Loose What You Never Had (message: title says it all)
It's Your Baby, You Rock It (message: title says it all)
Never Say Yes (message: title says it all)
Scratch my Back (message: if you scratch my back, than I'll scratch your back)
Crying In The Chapel (message: take your troubles to the chapel, get down on your knees and pray, than your burdens will be lighter)
King of The Whole Wide World (message: the man who can sing, when he hasn't got a thing is a king)
What Every Woman Lives for (message: ... is to give her love to a man).
That's When Your Heartaches Begin (message: if you bring a friend into your love affair, that's the end of your sweet heart, that's the end of your friend)
Your Cheatin' Heart (message: ... will turn on you)
Only the Strong Survive (message: title says it all)
Stop, Look And Listen (message: ... or you'll get in trouble)
True Love Travels on A Gravel Road (message: title says it all)
Love Coming Down (message: a man so busy going up in the world, can't see love coming down)

And ofcouse the earlier mentioned Change of Habit, Clean Up Your Own Backyard, In the Ghetto, Men With Broken Hearts (poem) and Walk A Mile in My Shoes.

Big Q: are the more which I've overseen? If so, what are the messages in them?

[Jove]

Better just a shack where two people care
Than a house that has everything, everything but love

Fools Rush In where angels fear to tread

Never bite a hand that feeds me, no siree

But drinking daddy's juice
I swear I'll never touch that stuff again

And the best advice : Stay single, save a dollar

[likethebike]

"Life" most surely is a message song RJM. It's just not a good one. That's why I always creep up to message songs, because they are very hard to do and extremely people can do them without being boring, bound to their time, or unintentionally hilarious. Even when they're good, the lyrics often have problems. As Dave Marsh pointed out in his book one of the favorites from the '60s "For What It's Worth (Stop Hey, What's That Sound?)" actually succeeded without actually taking a side. "Nobody's right if everybody's wrong." But we love it because of that great stinging electric guitar line, the melody, that great chorus, and the fact that some of the lyrics create the vibe of a big statement without actually saying it. "Something's happening here/What it is ain't exactly clear." And that's a good one.

Milete's track has none of those virtues save for a committed Elvis vocal. Its lyrics are not even individual enough to be funny like "Eve of Destruction."

[rjm]

"Life" most surely is a message song RJM. It's just not a good one. That's why I always creep up to message songs, because they are very hard to do and extremely people can do them without being boring, bound to their time, or unintentionally hilarious. Even when they're good, the lyrics often have problems. As Dave Marsh pointed out in his book one of the favorites from the '60s "For What It's Worth (Stop Hey, What's That Sound?)" actually succeeded without actually taking a side. "Nobody's right if everybody's wrong." But we love it because of that great stinging electric guitar line, the melody, that great chorus, and the fact that some of the lyrics create the vibe of a big statement without actually saying it. "Something's happening here/What it is ain't exactly clear." And that's a good one.

Milete's track has none of those virtues save for a committed Elvis vocal. Its lyrics are not even individual enough to be funny like "Eve of Destruction."

Well, of course, the intention of "Life" is well-intended. But it's my playlist. Anyway, you're right about that: such songs are always very risky, and I don't think listeners consider that quite enough. They're not easy, and if they work, if you're the artist who is making them work, well one can suddenly feel trapped. This was most clear, as everyone knows, with Dylan. To the point where he did a song saying he was "outta here." Never doing that again. And he did do that again, and did it well. But anyone who has a wide-ranging artistic sensibility would feel as if they've been put inside a box labeled "message songs," and the box was sealed with ducktape. You can hear Elvis going through this thought process in the Astrodome, 1970 press conference. He's really thinking aloud, as if he hadn't considered it this way before. As a trap. He decides that if a song is good, regardless, he would do it, sure. But not all of 'em! Like it had dawned on him right then, that he was all of a sudden expected to do this! Which must have seemed weird, after everyone was having a nervous breakdown over "In The Ghetto," including G.K., who was not only a D.J., but outspoken with his liberal beliefs. And he told him, at first, just not to do it. (Chips played a little mind game, and said he'd just give it to someone else, if he was going to stall over it. And that was that.) But I don't think he imagined, at first, that people would start expecting it. And, of course, they did.

We know when he stopped, and he stopped rather suddenly. By the end of 1970, he was DONE with that sort of thing! But we know he really wasn't. (I love what I heard on the full 1972 interview tape about "Trilogy" and that guy in the Cowboy Hat, who sat impassively through the show, until he heard "Dixie" and then put his hand over his heart. I think Elvis said he stood. And then, of course, sat back down, when it wasn't "Dixie" anymore. Most people hadn't heard the Newbury experiment before Elvis did it. They just thought he was singing "Dixie" at first. And then: "surprise!") So he didn't just stop. People have ridiculed "Trilogy" - his version, over the years. It's "Wagnerian." Or it's lacking in "blood" or something . . . The Cowboy Hat story shows that Elvis even liked challenging an audience, but that really shouldn't be a surprise! In Seattle, in '57, he had the audience "rise" for "the National Anthem," and after a few plinks of the guitar, to fake 'em out, as they began to rise, and some put their hands on the hearts, he ripped into "Hound Dog." The fellow who wrote it up later, Gordon Bowker, and quote in Marcus's "Mystery Train," said the stadium moved like a "huge sea anemone." So, why should it surprise anyone that he would challenge an audience?

He had some personal reasons, not artistic or political reasons, for stopping {breaks screeching} in his tracks during that period in late '70 and into the early '70s. But he didn't quite stop. He decided, for a number of reasons - including artisitic, that he didn't want that image, or those expectations. And that way, he had more freedom, and very few expectations. It's understandable. And sensible, when you consider it from an artists' point of view. According to a 2010 interview with Bud Krogh, with Gillian Gaar, he told the President, in the White House "I don't make speeches on stage." Period. Nor for you, or for anyone else. This was not quite true, because a few months before, he was reciting "Men With Broken Hearts" as part of his presentation of "Walk A Mile In My Shoes." Sounds like a speech to me. But he did what he felt he had to do, and if it hadn't been for the events of those days shortly before Christmas, 1970, we'd never understand it at all. (Not that too many people actually try to understand it, even now.)

He did something funny on stage during August, and I can't remember if it was on the disk that came with the TTWII book, or if it was in the 3-CD set of discs, but it was on one of 'em. He told the audience "the Vietnamese Army is in the balcony." You can hear odd sounds, and he responds: "I just work here; you hear rumors." Since we can't see it, we don't know if some people ducked for cover! But whatever happened, he got a kick out of it. That the audience would react to something so absurd, and that he could make them react. (And RFK told a joke that was oddly similar: "when they cross the Rockies, I'll get worried." Apparently, some people in Nevada, in 1970, thought that possible.)

So anyone who says he just wanted to "please" audiences" doesn't know enough about him. But, as you said, it's a very difficult thing to do. And for someone who was encouraged to play to the largest possible audience, without ever offending anyone, it took particular guts, I think. More than many others. And I don't see that he stopped: he just presented it differently. The spritual material always had an edge to it of social commentary. it was the nature of it, in many ways. But there were lyrical interventions that ended up on the cutting room floor. In one song, he sang, in an outtake, "well the rich man lives, he lives so well, children when he dies, I've a home in hell." Whoa. That was not the master take. That one says "heaven." (As though singing from the point of view of his audience, who are not rich. In one take, he just said it. "I have money and I live well; I'm going to hell.") There are other little surprises that make you hit the "rewind" button. Songs about mercy, forgiveness, love for one's neighbor . . . long after he "stopped."

rjm
P.S. -- What do you think of "Where Did They Go, Lord?" "They" does not imply "love." It implies a set of beliefs. Sounds like a song about the loss of ideals, the way he sings it, to me. And he did record it at an appropriate time, when you think about it. A very appropriate time. (I'd like to do a video. I know people might see it as an eccentric interpretation, but that's what interpretation is for. It's what YouTube is for, at its best, I think. That's the democracy of the thing. Unlike the "official" videos, you don't have to interpret the song as the label wishes. If they wish to do so, at all. He did say to the writers, who were commissioned to write it, to go along the lines of Aretha Franklin's "Think.")

[likethebike]

Oops sorry about that RJM. I thought the "Life" comment was separate from your playlist. I lost your train of thought. I thought were you saying "Life" was not a message song.

You're absolutely right that, especially coming from a Southerner, "An American Trilogy" is definitely a message song. Opening with "Dixie" it most definitely refuses to dump on the South, but then with the slave song it lets us know that all wasn't exactly well in old Dixie, and finally ending with "Battle Hymn of the Republic" condemns the Southern cause just as well as the earlier part of the song refused to condemn the Southern people and region. (It's forgotten now but for years many Southerners were offended even at hearing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic.") Now, of course, Elvis wasn't the one who joined those songs together. But being that he was who he was and that his success represented a mixture of the South, the North, and the black experience and that the union of those three influences is greater than the sum of its parts said a lot about him. The conviction and sincerity with which he sung the song showed how important it was to him. I think the complaints about the bombast are misplaced. The opening parts of the song are wistful and intimate in Elvis' version. The final bear down on "Battle Hymn" makes it explicit that the true glory in the concept of unity. It's a moment of exultation, an arrival at a previously elusive truth.

I would definitely say "Where Did They Go Lord" is a message song although it's more personal than something like "In the Ghetto" which is told in the third person, or "Trilogy" which is acted in the third person. Elvis sings it with conviction and it's clear it meant something to him. My beef with it mostly is the melody which seems kind of stiff to me.

I see what you're looking for Mike. I thought you were looking more for direct comments on the way the world should be.

[zolderopruiming1]

Crawfish is clearly a message song (i.e. Don't believe what people tell you).

[MikeFromHolland]

I see what you're looking for Mike. I thought you were looking more for direct comments on the way the world should be.

Guess now I'm looking for both.

Very interesting information all together. Again thanks to all.