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So just why do the end of songs fade out instead of coming to an abrupt end?

Well, if you've got a good ending to the song then use it?

Aside from musicians' writer's blocks regarding nice, neat and efficient ways to wrap-up songs, the reasons vary but a consensus emerges when it comes to pop music when it started getting played regularly on the radio in the 50s. Quite simply, it signalled to the DJ that the song was about to end so he would have time to put another disc on the turntable while introducing it or cut to commercial.

With that in mind, we'd like to feature a song that has probably one of the most famous fade-outs of all time... that to everyone's sheer delight fades back in again before fading once more to end the song.

Ladies and Gentlemen, from Tupelo, Mississippi via Memphis, Tennessee, it's Elvis Presley performing "Suspicious Minds".





(note: Word around the campfire is that Elvis was singing with such passion at the first designed fade-out, the singers decided to pick it up again, giving the song one more minute of life.)





And this being Christmas Eve, we're in the giving spirit and want to feature a second song that also fades-out twice.

Ladies and Gentlemen, from Manchester, England, it's The Smiths performing "That Joke isn't Funny Anymore".




No word if it was Morrissey's impassioned singing the convinced Johnny Marr and the rest of the band to keep the song rolling.

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Recorded in his first session with Sam Phillips at Sun Records in August of 1954, this is a cover of a 1946 blues obscurity by "Big Boy" Crudup.



Ladies and Gentlemen, it's the King, Elvis Presley, performing essentially what is the ground zero of rock'n'roll and checking in at #113 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs, "That's All Right, Mama".

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"I once had a dream so I packed up and split for the city"

Beatles or Stones? Yawn. Elvis or the Beatles? Whatever. We tire of the same ol’ same ol’ exercises in pop culture turf-claiming. If you want to get down to the real nitty-gritty and peer into one’s soul, the question to be asked is Pet Sounds or Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts’ Club Band?

Ladies and Gentleman, from Torrance, California it’s the Beach Boys performing “That’s Not Me."

Elvis: Branching out in directions you may not have been aware

We’re all biased by our own personal experiences so you can understand that while we might consider the 70s the Golden Age of Game Shows, it was only because that was the only time we ever watched them while staying home sick from school.

The Price is Right, Hollywood Squares, Match Game, Family Feud… great shows all but also some great theme music.

We were having this conversation with our little bro and we opined that the Family Feud theme was written for Elvis….. Vegas Elvis. Seriously. Listen to the banjo in the opening and then the horn section belting out that full sonic broadside and tell us you can’t picture the Rotund One in the white jumpsuit, knees bent in a half-crouch, microphone extended straight-out in one arm while the other is making a slow windmill motion….? Tell us!

Enjoy!

Back from Vegas....... (earlier than hoped)

Nothing sexy like losing our shirt at the craps table or even losing our shirt to a long cool woman in a black dress, rather our early departure was the result of a logistical conflict back here in San Diego. It was a shame because after just 2 days there, we felt we were just getting comfortable... as if the initial scald of the hot tub had subsided and we were now fully immersed into the soothing rhythm of casino life.

Well, since Vegas is still on the mind, what better time to post appropriate than on the day after the 30th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death.

The man still dominates this nation's cultural conscience and sub-conscience more than any figure outside the political realm. We tread lightly here not wanting to trivialize the planet-altering, life-as-we-know-it-in-America-providing contributions of giants like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. However, the man whom Camile Paglia dubbed "America's first Protestant Saint", has left a legacy that continues to be interpreted and built upon, much as the 3 aforementioned Presidents, to this day.

(The picture posted above is of one of the finest books we have ever read and the image of Presley is evocative of Ms. Paglia's assessment. In fact, because the book was so unlike anything we had read and because it so effectively captured that "something" about the American experience and about American exceptionalism, we wanted to work the title into the blog name somehow. Alas, we failed to come up with anything remotely elegant that would not, in our eyes and minds, have been somewhat over-the-top and/or pretentious. So we settled for the image of corporate elites boozing it up with the True Believers in an effort to garner ratings points. Charmed, we're sure).

Anyway... Elvis as our best weapon against totalitarian oppression? Click on link below for full story.

http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=082102B

P.S. Many thanks to The Substitute (aka Brother Mike) for his fine work in holding down the fort. The kid ought to get his own blog, dontcha think?

P.P.S. You heard it here first... Late, great NASCAR driver, Dale Earnhardt: "America's second Protestant Saint."