Elvis Descended Into Darkness and Searched For Forgiveness

Above, the Jungle Room at Graceland. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

An interesting look at Elvis Presley has been posted at the Dallas News website.

It is by Robert F. Darden and it takes a looks at the descent of Elvis Presley "into darkness" and his search for forgiveness.

It starts with:

With all of the politicians, movie stars and athletes asking for forgiveness, I've been thinking about Elvis Presley. 

Elvis is suddenly everywhere these days. The acclaimed two-part HBO documentary, Elvis Presley: The Searcher, drew extraordinary viewership as it tried to shift the focus back on the music and away from the lurid tales of an obese, drug-addled, Howard Hughes-like figure, lost in the Jungle Room at Graceland. 

And 2018 is replete with Elvis-related anniversaries. Two of the most significant events in the King's life have important milestones this year: Elvis' beloved mother Gladys died in 1958 and the broadcast of the TV special Elvis (better known as the '68 Comeback Special and album) dates from the end of 1968. 

Peter Guralnick's award-winning two-volume biography of Elvis, Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley and Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley document like nothing before or since the meteoric rise and crushing fall of an American icon. Together, the books present a compelling, can't-look-away journey down the river as a musical Marlowe slowly transforms into a reclusive Kurtz. 

As both Guralnick and the producers of The Searcher repeatedly note, that descent into the heart of darkness is not a straight line. Elvis made great music both at the beginning and near the end of his career. His religious faith, which had sustained him early, never really left him. And for all of the lurid tales of the Memphis Mafia and Borgian excess, he died as he had lived much of his life — essentially alone.

To read more, go here.