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| BBC ALBANIAN.com | BBC WORLD SERVICE | LEARNING ENGLISH | ||
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Lesson 19 Heartbreak Hotel, '56. You could put it on the radio and you could hear it and even if you hadn't ever heard it before, it could be a new song. His appeal is everlasting, you know. John Lennon always said, "Before Elvis there was nothing" - and it's true. Really, Elvis started a whole revolution in music - suddenly you heard this 'Heartbreak Hotel' and it was revolutionary. It's hard to explain now but it was actually revolutionary at that particular time. It's a very sad song. It's a pity that Elvis's first big hit was a sad song about someone who was suicidal, you know, the guy's lost his girlfriend. But, sadly in life, a lot of big songs have been sad songs. Elvis recorded 'Heartbreak Hotel' in the foyer of the RCA studios in Nashville - that echoey sound - and because of that, of course, when he sang it on stage afterwards, he never got the same effect. He wanted an echo effect and that mystery and you can imagine a dark, dingy, lonely 'Heartbreak Hotel' - the backstreets, which are really dingy, you know and they are very depressing places. Many people in big cities are very, very lonely but they're lonely because no one communicates with them. And what Elvis has done more than any other artist I can think of, he's made people communicate. Elvis has brought people together through the music. |
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