Elvis Presley Blues Lyrics

Lyric discussion by jweyek 

Cover art for Elvis Presley Blues lyrics by Gillian Welch

I believe the lyric should be "like you never seen", not "like he never seen". The idea is that the people who watched Elvis on TV in those early days were shocked by his gyrations. They called him "Elvis the pelvis". Elvis might have gotten some of his dance moves from watching black R&B artists perform. Elvis had seen it all. So, it's not "like he never seen". It's "like you never seen".

It's "he was all alone in a long decline", not "he was all alone in a long dead climb". Elvis was fat, isolated and addicted to all kinds of drugs. He was in a long decline.

On the contrary, I think it is "like he'd never seen", as I believe the song is about Welch's admiration for this "country boy", who came out of nowhere and changed the face of music, shaking it (in every sense) like "a chorus girl...like a Harlem queen", even though he had never seen those things.

I think it is celebrating the inspirational nature of Elvis Presley, that somebody so amazing can come out of nowhere, out of nothing, not out of some Fame School X-Factor academy or production line.

This song is incredible,...

Beautiful, but also enjoyed the Irish chuckle: "Makes we wanna cry." :)