Separate Ways – Elvis Presley
About the song
Welcome to my blog, where I share my passion for music and the stories behind some of the most iconic songs of all time. Today, I want to talk about a song that is very personal and emotional for both the singer and the listeners: Elvis Presley’s “Separate Ways”.
“Separate Ways” is a 1972 song written by Red West and Richard Mainegra. West was one of Elvis’s bodyguards and friends, who also wrote several songs for him. Mainegra was a young songwriter who had just moved to Nashville. They started working on a melody that Mainegra had, and then West came up with the idea of writing about Elvis’s divorce from Priscilla, which was making headlines at the time.
They changed some details to make the song fit Elvis’s situation, such as the gender of the child in the last verse, which refers to Lisa Marie, Elvis’s daughter. They also tried to capture the sadness and regret that Elvis must have felt, as well as his hope for a better future for himself and his family.
Elvis recorded the song on March 27, 1972, at RCA Studio C in Hollywood. He sang it with a lot of emotion and sincerity, as if he was pouring his heart out. He released it as a single with “Always On My Mind” as the B-side. It reached gold status in the US for sales of over half a million copies. It was also listed as a double-sided hit, reaching #16 on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles chart in November 1972. In the UK, “Always On My Mind” was the hit song and “Separate Ways” was the B-side.
The song was also featured in a documentary film called Elvis On Tour, which showed Elvis rehearsing and performing live in various cities in 1972. The film won a Golden Globe for best documentary in 1973. You can watch some clips of Elvis singing “Separate Ways” in the film here .
“Separate Ways” is a song that touches many people who have gone through a breakup or a divorce. It expresses the pain of losing someone you love, but also the courage to move on and wish them well. It is a song that shows Elvis’s vulnerability and humanity, as well as his amazing voice and talent.
I hope you enjoyed this blog post and learned something new about this song. If you did, please leave a comment below and share it with your friends. And don’t forget to subscribe to my blog for more posts like this one. Thank you for reading!
Watch the song video :
