Rock and roll music - Essay Example

Full Heartbreak Hotel Elvis Presley’s famous song en d Heartbreak Hotel is a sorrowful song that tells the story of a man whose lover left for another man. Released in 1956, the song has become a hit not because of its message but more so, because of the genre and the talent of the singer. Indeed, the song is melancholic so that it was not expected to sell for who would want to listen to a sad story? This paper aims to look deeper into the other characteristics of the song that made it successful.

The speaker, the relationship of the text to the music and the double entendre contained in the text will be scrutinized to further understand and appreciate such a simple yet extremely popular song. The speaker in the song is a male lover who has lost his partner. He acknowledges that he is very lonely so that he now found a new place to stay, at the Heartbreak Hotel. He speaks in the first person and so the song effectively communicates the deep emotions of the speaker. Consequently, he is able to present a realistic situation and causes his listeners to empathize with him.

Moreover, the narrator uses simple yet vivid imageries which many people understand and relate with. He speaks of a feeling and circumstance which every individual somehow experiences one way or another, a familiar episode which is easily understood by listeners of different ages. Presley, as the speaker and singer, effectively expresses the message of the song through a manner that is not boring or ordinary but through his unique way of singing he was known to be a king of. The text of course tells the pathetic story of a man left by his lover.

He now lives alone lonely at heartbreak hotel with other heartbroken people. He says that the men who are there have been crying for so long while the women wore black dresses. Such imagery reflect depressed men and women who did not simply lost their lovers but have lost them forever so that there seems to be no tomorrow. As their love died when their lovers left, they feel that they have nothing or no one to return to but stay at Heartbreak hotel forever. Such despondent atmosphere is emphasized by the equally melancholic music.

Although the instruments are quite upbeat, the singer sounds hopeless and seems to really be crying. His pauses and breathes make him sound like a man crying over the death of a loved one. The emotion expressed in the song is quite strong and moving. What makes the song more expressive perhaps is the use of double entendre. For instance, in the third verse, a picture of the hotel attendant crying and the clerk dressed in black may have a double meaning. They are not only a picture of heartbroken people who dwell in the memories of their loved ones but they are also hopeless and helpless that they have committed themselves to nothing but crying and mediocrity.

The non-stop crying of the attendant shows that the man sees no reason to live otherwise and the woman sees herself to be a widow who should stay thus. The last line of the third verse highlights this saying that they are not going to look back.