How the Rise and Fall of Elvis Presley Inspired the Song “Blue Moon” by Beck

Before recording Modern Guilt in 2008, Beck suffered a spinal injury. In his video for “E-Pro,” Beck was suspended by wires and floating over computer-generated landscapes, when he injured his back. He canceled his tour and wasn’t sure if he’d ever tour again. 

Modern Guilt was recorded in severe pain, forcing Beck to sing in a whisper to keep from wincing in agony. It was his final album for his longtime label, Geffen Records. Four years would lapse before he released the follow-up album Morning Phase. 

During the gap, he had amassed three or four albums of material but wasn’t sure if he wanted to release new music again. In 2012, Beck traveled to Nashville to record at Jack White’s studio, Third Man. The resulting tracks were released on White’s label. A few others were recorded during the same sessions and set aside for what was to become Morning Phase.

Beck returned to his home in Los Angeles and finished the album with his regular collaborators: Justin Meldal-Johnson on bass, drummer Joey Waronker, guitarist Smokey Hormel, and Roger Joseph Manning Jr. on keys. 

With a healed body and a new batch of songs, Beck returned with a beautiful and cathartic album, releasing Morning Phase in 2014 on Capitol Records. The acoustic collection is similar to his work on Sea Change, but Morning Phase is lighter than Sea Change’s profoundly sad folk songs. 

California Dreamin’

Beck described “Blue Moon” as a California song—a descendant of The Byrds, Gram Parsons, and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. He borrowed the title from the Rodgers and Hart standard.

The opening line, I’m so tired of being alone, is a call for human connection. Beck read Peter Guralnick’s two-volume bio on Elvis Presley, Last Train to Memphis and Careless Love: The Unmasking of Elvis Presley. Beck was reflecting on Presley at the beginning of his career and who he’d become at the end. Early on, Presley was accessible but ended up alone in hotel rooms, a prisoner of his fame. 

I’m so tired of being alone
These penitent walls are all I’ve known
Songbird calling across the water
Inside my silent asylum

Perhaps Presley felt like a traitor to his family, friends, or even himself. A touring musician lives like a vagabond—with an address to spend fleeting moments from a busy travel schedule. If you are the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, once home, you hide behind guarded walls while multitudes of strangers—or fans—wait outside to glimpse their hero. 

See the turncoat on his knees
A vagabond that no one sees
When a moon is throwing shadows
You can’t save the ones you’ve caught in battle

Curious if Presley had moments of wishing he wasn’t famous. The following lines describe bringing a musical god back to Earth. The irony of fame is loneliness. 

Cut me down to size so I can fit inside
Lies you try to hide behind your eyes

Presley covered the Rodgers and Hart standard in 1954 with producer Sam Phillips. It was included on his self-titled debut, released in 1956. Using Presley as inspiration, Beck completed a blue circle with a borrowed title from the old ballad.  

It Almost Didn’t Happen

Classic albums are full of accidents. Though “Blue Moon” was released as the first single from Morning Phase, it almost didn’t make the cut. Beck discovered a demo toward the end of the Los Angeles sessions and added it to the record. 

Returning to the Presley biography, Beck told NPR’s All Songs Considered the book had been sitting on his shelf for 15 years. The dark truth of the music business is how it created the myth of Elvis Presley and then destroyed him. It struck Beck, and the result was “Blue Moon.”

Though “Blue Moon” was the last to be recorded, it defined Sea Change’s successor. Morning Phase was critically adored, debuting at No. 3 on the Billboard 200. It also won three Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. 

Everybody Hurts

The King wasn’t immune to loneliness, and his life ended tragically in a bathroom at Graceland. The cause of death was cardiac arrest. Presley had been abusing pills for some time, but the medical examiner ruled out drugs as the cause—a finding at odds with the toxicology report showing high levels of opiates. For the purity of the myth, Presley had a broken heart. On “Blue Moon,” Beck created a beautifully complex portrait of the emotions surrounding the life of Elvis Presley—the rise and colossal fall of a legend. 

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Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for The Art of Elysium