Whats the deal with the song “Elvis Presley & America”?
Originally, “Elvis Presley & America” was a different song but it changed when Daniel Lanois, bored by mixing and listening to U2’s progress, slowed down the backing track of “A Sort of Homecoming” and started to mix it that way. Bono said he was given a microphone by Brian Eno and was asked to improvise over a track that was slowed down or reversed. While singing, Bono had an image of Elvis in his mind, the Elvis from the time when he ate and drank too much, the Elvis who took drugs and who was on the verge of collapsing, but who despite all that kept his credibility as a rock’n’roller. It was this inability to articulate Bono recognised in his own singing. The ‘lyrics’ on the album are more or less a continous wave of images evoked in Bono’s mind while thinking about Elvis. When Bono listened to the recording of the song he was buzzing with enthusiasm to finish the song, to which Brian Eno said: “What do you mean by ‘finish the song’? It is finished!
