I'm a huge Elvis fan

And guess what... I just discovered it, a few days ago. Just one CD of his I heard, and I was floored.

I realised, Elvis had become nothing more than a legend to us. A legend, whose music, we - you and I - at our age - are embarrassed to listen to. At least embarrassed, for some odd reason, to acknowledge that, "I listen to Elvis."

Sure, we'd say, "What a great performer," or "what an amazing singer." But... na-aa, we won't listen to him.

Anyway, I guess it's really a matter of choice.

But my point is, at 25, I heard Elvis for the first time... and he left me floored.

"She even kisses me like you. And it's just breaking my heart. Coz she's not you..."

Every word he wrote and sang was just awesomely meaningful - at least to me. I could relate with it. Most of it.

Elvis - he was a loner too. Succesful, messed up, lonely - even though he was always surrounded by people... women... crazy fans.

He died on August 16, 1977... at the age of 42 of an overdose of drugs.

A genius, they say, is always lonely.

You hear the song in the background? "Are you lonesome tonight?"

Well, there's a story behind this song. Ironically, a very funny one. Can't you hear Elvis laughing hysterically - and mind you, that's a 1969 vegas live concert he's singing in.

Psycho...

To tell you how deep this song is - in between the song, Elvis starts saying: "I wonder if you're lonesome tonight.

You know someone said that the world's a stage. And you must play a part. Fate had me playing in love with you as my sweet heart.

Act one was when I met you, I loved you at first glance.

You read your line so cleverly. And never missed a cue. Then came act two, You seemed to change and you acted strange. And why I'll never know.

Honey, you lied when you said you loved me. And I had no cause to doubt you. But I'd rather go on hearing your lies...

Than I go on living without you.

Now the stage is bare and I'm standing there

With emptiness all around

And if you won't come back to me

Then they can bring the curtain down."

In the early 80's, a strange version of this track was released - a track that stunned Elvis fans across the world, and had them laughing like crazy. The version of this track was called 'Are you lonesome tonight (laughing version)', which till date is probably considered THE most popular Elvis performance.

While performing the intended serious version of 'Are you lonesome tonight' in 1969 in front of a huge audience, Elvis, strangely, started lauighing hysterically on stage. He was laughing so hard that he coulnd't finish the lines of any verse in the track.

That, they say, was the last time he ever sang that song. He just coulnd't after that. He would start cracking up.

Now why did he start laughing?

Again... it's just what they say. I just think, Elvis was totally totally high. That apart, he was probably on a level that's unimagineable for most of us. Maybe he was just mocking his own words that he once wrote.

But then... while these could be several reasons, the one fact, if you hear the song clearly, is that Elvis, who was known for changing the lyrics of his songs while performing, in the first para, instead of singing the line, "Do you gaze at your doorstep and picture me there?", sang, "Do you gaze at your bald head and wished you had hair?"

And immediately after two seconds Elvis spotted a completely bald man in the audience. And started laughging.

An Elvis fan, who had never heard him sing before, heard the laughing version of the track and said, "Any man who can laugh like that... has to be great. Elvis is awesome."

What can I say?

I'm not sorry I never gave Elvis a chance before last week. I am just happy that John, my flatmate, said: "Ro, I'm gonna make you hear Elvis. You might like his music."

Phil: At the end he says '14 years down the drain boy, 14 years, just shot right there, man". The recording was RELEASED in the 80's but was recorded in 1969 in Vegas. The truth is: Elvis was looking into the audience and noticed 2 girls trying to pull the wig (toupe) of the guy in front of them and hence the ad-lib. What is so funny is that the musicians and backing singer (Kathy Westmoreland) give such a great performance and arent laughing too, so Elvis shouts 'Sing it, baby' to her as he cracks up and she goes for the high notes. That's the truth according to Red West who was there at the time. The recording is Elvis at his best. He always joked around with that song because Colonel parker asked him to record it as a favour so he'd take the mickey out of the song as a way of making fun of his manager. That's hence the lyrics bluff in the 1977 version where he did NOT forget the lyrics as his bitter Ex wife lets you think, but he was joking as he always did. Elvis rocks!! Long live the king.