“The king is dead, long live the king.”
Elvis Presley died August 16,1977, at the age of 42. To this day, he remains the king of rock ‘n’ roll.
Presley was a bloated, overweight, drug addicted caricature of himself when he died on the toilet of his master bathroom. The coroner, even as the autopsy was taking place, announced Presley had died of cardiac arrhythmia. Lab results available a few months later suggested otherwise.
He probably died of a drug overdose. He had 14 drugs in his system, many such as Codeine and Methaqualone, were in large quantities.
His doctor, known as Dr. Nick, defended his decision to give him the drugs, saying Presley would have found them elsewhere. And he could control the amounts. Dr. Nick ultimately lost his license for overprescribing drugs, in 1995.
Presley sang our Song of the Day, “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” for the 1961 movie “Blue Hawaii.” The melody is based on a 1784 French love song.
George Weiss, one of the credited songwriters, said the movie’s producers didn’t like it and didn’t want to use it, but Presley insisted. The song reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100. The movie soundtrack reached number one on the album chart. It stayed there for 20 weeks.
Presley closed his concerts with “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” It was the last song he sang at his final concert six weeks before he died.
Song of the Day is created by Sheldon Zoldan, and produced by Pam James for WGCU. To receive the Song of the Day in your inbox every day, email shzoldan@comcast.net with the subject line ADD ME TO SOTD.
