It's definitely a song about what somebody else might say about him and his art (don't get sarcastic, spare us the verbal gymnastics). I once read that this song is about what his loved ones would say in the future looking back at where he was at the time he was writing the song. Now that's a "Through the looking glass" mind warp, isn't it?
So that's why my favorite part of the song is the last line, which he repeats a few times. Nobody writes letters anymore, but "PPS" stands for post postcript, or something you add at the end of a letter even after you've added "PS". Then he spells out "I love you".
I think he's adding a special message at the end of his song telling the people who love him, whenever in the future they should happen to listen to the song, that he loves them too. He loves them right here and now in this moment even if he's too sarcastic or too much of a tortured artist to say so. He's spelling it out, being coy, because he is too much of a complex case to say it outright. But he does love them. I actually think he's also saying he loves his fans, including me personally. I am touched.
Later on Elvis will go through phases where he does sing beautiful sincere uncomplicated love songs (my favorite is "Still" off his album "North"). But that's the best he could do at the time he wrote "The Loved Ones".
It's definitely a song about what somebody else might say about him and his art (don't get sarcastic, spare us the verbal gymnastics). I once read that this song is about what his loved ones would say in the future looking back at where he was at the time he was writing the song. Now that's a "Through the looking glass" mind warp, isn't it?
So that's why my favorite part of the song is the last line, which he repeats a few times. Nobody writes letters anymore, but "PPS" stands for post postcript, or something you add at the end of a letter even after you've added "PS". Then he spells out "I love you".
I think he's adding a special message at the end of his song telling the people who love him, whenever in the future they should happen to listen to the song, that he loves them too. He loves them right here and now in this moment even if he's too sarcastic or too much of a tortured artist to say so. He's spelling it out, being coy, because he is too much of a complex case to say it outright. But he does love them. I actually think he's also saying he loves his fans, including me personally. I am touched.
Later on Elvis will go through phases where he does sing beautiful sincere uncomplicated love songs (my favorite is "Still" off his album "North"). But that's the best he could do at the time he wrote "The Loved Ones".