ELVIS PRESLEY “1126”
By Mahnuel Muñoz
On June 26, 1977, at 8:30 p.m., on the stage of the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis, Elvis Presley gave his last concert, number 1,126 since his return to the stage in 1969. It was a great show, at the level that at those heights of his career he could maintain. Although he manages to offer powerful performances, the electric and wild Elvis of the early seventies was far away. Many people had been saying for a while that Elvis should have retired, or at least taken a break, and maybe they were right. But inside a sick and exhausted body his voice continued to shine like the sun, projecting directly from a heart that refused to stop as long as there was a single musical note inside it. For this show, Elvis recovered two old declarations of love towards his audience that had been out of the repertoire for some time: “I Can’t Stop Loving You” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water”, carrying sadly premonitory verses; In less than two months, all those attending the concert and millions of followers around the world would walk over the turbulent waters of the world on the bridge laid by Elvis with his art, and having been orphaned by the idol, they would live their lives in dreams. from yesterday.
Since he was just a child, Elvis remained attentive to his heart. He wanted, knew and could hear the sound of the gears of his soul despite all the noise; under the clear sky of Tupelo, a few years later in the air full of Memphis melodies and the New York pollution, immersed, in the sixties, in the technicolor chaos of Hollywood and finally under the sky of false stars of Las Vegas , always clearly heard the music inside him, reverberating in his clean soul; In the lubricious innocence of his adolescence and in the murky fog of his maturity, in the refuge of gospel and the piano and in the Roman circus of pop, behind the wheel of a truck or under his crown of thorns, Elvis always had the words in mind. by Khalil Gibran, one of his favorite authors: “When you are born, you already carry your work in your heart.”
And that’s why Elvis continued singing when his body asked him to stop. Even when, in December 1976, his hand wrote an anguished note on a sheet of paper with the letterhead of the Vegas Hilton asking God for help to overcome or end the torment that came with spending his life on stage putting glitter on his sadness, He would wear his shiny jumpsuit again every night to bleed out in “Hurt” or “How Great Thou Art.”
He did it because, despite the pain, the contracts, the inhuman greed of Colonel Parker, the delirious adoration of his fans, Elvis always knew what his job and his purpose were. He lived it the way his heart urged him to, even if it meant agonizingly surrendering himself to the rusty scythe of death.
Of course he wanted his pain to stop. But perhaps what he felt deep down was much more important. His last performances alternate moments of man’s overwhelming struggle against suffering with glorious demonstrations of divine, indestructible talent; We can see in his face and perceive in his voice that for a few seconds the pain has given way to music, the language of divinity in its purest form. Elvis Presley, the most famous singer in the world, is in one minute, the most scared and alone human being of all, but suddenly, by the grace of a song, by the power of a lyric written with the blood of truth, he He is moved again, he falls in love again, he becomes ecstatic again, he feels in each of his fibers the forces of the universe that converged in him in the moments of his greatest artistic and personal glory.
It is truly amazing to see how a surrendered and resigned Elvis who mumbles “Love Me” for the umpteenth time transforms into a heartbreakingly powerful, humane and honest performer, capable of making the empty sockets of death squint with “You Gave Me A Mountain.”
When Elvis, the living legend, extends his show by handing out tissues as a metaphor for his desire to throw in the towel once and for all, the young truck driver who, with as much shyness as determination, shared his dream with Marion Keisker in the small office appears. from Sun Records, claiming to sing all kinds of music like no one else. The spirit of that 19-year-old Elvis is also the clarion of the imminent death of the physical body of the King of Rock, and is urging the exhausted artist to fulfill the mission entrusted to him at birth, since his days are numbered and in the The next phase of the journey will have to leave that body behind, without a single musical note inside.
For this reason, and not because of the money, nor because of Colonel Parker, Elvis continued singing with all his soul when his body was breaking down, when the infamous book written by his former bodyguards fired a point-blank shot into his very vital core. At that moment, the music sounded even louder. Elvis unraveled in the highest notes of his record, causing confusion among skeptics, but reaching the deepest and beating hearts of his followers with a plea for help. All the strength necessary to speak, move, breathe… he used to offer his audience a few final moments of perfection.
The decline of Elvis equally outraged rockers with Peter Pan syndrome and the right-thinking and moldy middle class. But what value can there be in the criticism of those people who, as the song says, “look at the earth and see nothing but earth?” ? Elvis never betrayed rock by singing Italian songs and shaving his sideburns, nor did he disrespect the establishment by not being the healthiest specimen in the neighborhood. These concepts are the sole responsibility of the tiny minds that create them. His heart entrusted him to share his music with the world and make the gray days of millions of people in the world happier. And his followers are happier and therefore more useful to society for the mere fact of having his voice, his image and the incalculable value of his dedication.
Article written and provided by Mahnuel Muñoz
If you want to visit more articles about the life of Elvis Presley, enter the following Elvis Radio 24h link: https://elvisradio24h.com/tag/articles Thanks TCB ?
We remind you that you can also listen to Elvis Radio 24 hours on your mobile phone by downloading our free applications for Android in the Play Store ? https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.icreo.elvisradio24h1, and for iPhone in your Apple Store ? https://apps.apple.com/app/elvis-radio-24h/id6444257119. Thank you very much!!…
