Elvis Presley Never Sang 1 of His Favorite Songs Correctly Due to a Psychological Quirk

Elvis Presley will always be remembered as the King of Rock and Roll. But since his untimely death, it’s become clear he lived with pain. Although fans loved him, he often felt alone. One of his biggest hits was the emotional ballad “Are You Lonesome Tonight.” And whenever he sang it live, he ran into an unusual problem. He couldn’t sing certain words correctly. Some experts think they know why that part of the song seemed impossible for him to sing.

It didn’t take long for his music to capture people’s attention, and he recorded his first single, “That’s All Right,” at only 19 years old. His music soon dominated the charts. Eventually, he moved into acting, appearing in movies such as Blue Hawaii and Viva Las Vegas.

And the reason is even sadder than the song itself.

Elvis Presley’s legendary career

Though Presley grew up in a poor home, he went on to change the music world. According to Biography, his mother gave him his first guitar for his 11th birthday. His musical talent was obvious even then, and within a few years, he won his high school talent show.

By the time of his death in 1977, Presley had released more than 20 albums topping the Billboard charts and 35 number-one singles. But even when he seemed to have the music world in the palm of his hand, he still couldn’t master one of his most popular songs.

‘Are You Lonesome Tonight’ was too hard for Elvis to sing
One of Presley’s biggest hits was the melancholy tune “Are You Lonesome Tonight.” However, according to 710 Keel, he couldn’t sing it correctly in a live performance. In about 12 recordings of him in concert, he makes significant mistakes in the same part of the song.

The troublesome portion Presley couldn’t manage was the spoken bridge, where the lyrics shift from the person the song is about to the singer himself. As Presley tried to sing lines like “honey, you lied when you said that you loved me,” he fumbled the words and lost his composure. Sometimes he started laughing, and other times he even cried.

But why did he struggle with this song? The reason may be because of his emotional reaction to the lyrics.