I think the song is about the way people shamefully try to exploit Elvis’ popularity after his death instead of letting him rest in peace: for example, the first stanza in the song refers to those people, in the years after his death, who claimed his death was fake or staged. Many of those people claimed to have seen Elvis after his death; tabloids and others made money by publicizing those sort of stories.
In addition, you can’t deny the criticism of Elvis adulation in the song too . I don’t think Living Colour was a fan of The King. The song admits that people idolized Elvis (“he was crowned king”), but it also notes that he was taught by a black man (whom nobody remembers or talks about today). So the song points back to the way Elvis allegedly plundered black music. The song also points out, harshly, that Elvis died all alone while he was sitting on his throne, or his toilet; so the song is mocking the way he died . The point of all this is to say , basically, that “Elvis wasn’t all that.” So why, the song asks, do we still exploit his name and fame decades after he died when he wasn’t so awesome in the first place?
I think the song is about the way people shamefully try to exploit Elvis’ popularity after his death instead of letting him rest in peace: for example, the first stanza in the song refers to those people, in the years after his death, who claimed his death was fake or staged. Many of those people claimed to have seen Elvis after his death; tabloids and others made money by publicizing those sort of stories.
In addition, you can’t deny the criticism of Elvis adulation in the song too . I don’t think Living Colour was a fan of The King. The song admits that people idolized Elvis (“he was crowned king”), but it also notes that he was taught by a black man (whom nobody remembers or talks about today). So the song points back to the way Elvis allegedly plundered black music. The song also points out, harshly, that Elvis died all alone while he was sitting on his throne, or his toilet; so the song is mocking the way he died . The point of all this is to say , basically, that “Elvis wasn’t all that.” So why, the song asks, do we still exploit his name and fame decades after he died when he wasn’t so awesome in the first place?
[Edit: Added some more detail]