Elvis Presley And America: reconstructed

[LemonMelon]

I had a little free time today, so I put this together this cover of EPAA:

YouTube - U2 - Elvis Presley And America cover

As you can tell, there was a whole lot of necessary work to be done in order to perform this song like you would anything else in U2's canon. For starters, the tab I used was very simple:

Capo - 3rd fret

Verses: Cmaj7-G
Break (2:25): Fmaj7-C-Fmaj7-C-Fmaj7-G-Fmaj7-G

The additional riff that pops up is as follows:

e|--3-3-3-3-3-3-5-5-5-5-5--
b|---3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3---

A good number of the lyrics were rewritten, although they often sound about as same, as they are phonetically similar to the original set. Much of it is still gibberish, but you can actually hear it now, which is either a good or a bad thing, depending on your view.

There are not a whole lot of Elvis Presley And America covers out there, so it's a novelty, if nothing else. Just figured it would be an interesting experiment.

 

[digitize]

Nice!

 

[U2DMfan]

That drum machine certainly sounds familiar.
Perhaps a Digi-Tech pedal?

I might have gone somewhere else with this concept but it's still worth noting the steel balls it took to post this.

 

[LemonMelon]

That drum machine certainly sounds familiar.
Perhaps a Digi-Tech pedal?

Good ear.

Wouldn't have posted this if I didn't think it was at least recognizable. It's not my best effort, but this is a nearly impossible song to cover.

 

[Axver]

This did not disappoint, LM. Very good work.

 

[DreamOutLoud13]

What the hell LM. For the FIRST TIME I actually like this song, and see what all the fuss is about (ASHLEY, I'm talking to you!) God, if only Bono had gotten closer than two feet from the microphone, EPAA would've been such a good song.


Now what are the chances we'll get a remastered version where you can actually hear him?

 

[LemonMelon]

What the hell LM. For the FIRST TIME I actually like this song, and see what all the fuss is about (ASHLEY, I'm talking to you!) God, if only Bono had gotten closer than two feet from the microphone, EPAA would've been such a good song.


Now what are the chances we'll get a remastered version where you can actually hear him?

EPAA actually has a killer melody and some great atmosphere. It's a damn shame about Bono. There's nothing genius about what he did with the song, if anything, he turned it into a novelty. I think the band should have taken the version of EPAA we hear on UF as the foundation for a completely rerecorded version, featuring a melody that borders on beautiful instead of nebulous and taken the handful of brilliant ideas in the current version and attempted to duplicate them, instead of just rambling bullshit into the mic.

What I'm NOT saying is that the arrangement I came up with is in any way definitive. What I AM saying is that the band should have gotten their heads out of the clouds and focused on turning this into a great song instead of an interesting experiment.

 

[cobl04]

Really, really nice job You have good vocals, do you have a lisp? Interesting guitar work as well. That was pretty cool.

 

[LemonMelon]

Really, really nice job You have good vocals, do you have a lisp? Interesting guitar work as well. That was pretty cool.

Ha, no lisp, but my mic has been on the fritz for a good while, and the S's tend to crackle.

Or maybe I'm just in denial.

 

[An Cat Gav]

Great job LM, really liked it. EPAA has always been a real favourite of mine and you have really done it justice.

 

[Salome]

What I AM saying is that the band should have gotten their heads out of the clouds and focused on turning this into a great song instead of an interesting experiment.

I'm sure they would have if Eno would have let them

good stuff

 

[bono_212]

It's awesome Mel, I'm really glad you ended up doing it .


And Chass....

 

[JOFO]

What I'm NOT saying is that the arrangement I came up with is in any way definitive. What I AM saying is that the band should have gotten their heads out of the clouds and focused on turning this into a great song instead of an interesting experiment.

Yeah but they wrote it. It's easy to play armchair quarterback 24 years later.

 

[LemonMelon]

Yeah but they wrote it. It's easy to play armchair quarterback 24 years later.

Very true.

I should use that argument on the War bashers. Let's see how that goes over.

 

[neilm]

From recollection, the entire musical backing track to EPAA is just A Sort of Homecoming slowed down and played backwards. Brian Eno then got Bono to improvise lyrics over the top of it on a first listen. It wasn't a work in origress song or anything. It was purely a studio experiment.

 

[BVS]

From recollection, the entire musical backing track to EPAA is just A Sort of Homecoming slowed down and played backwards.

No, it wasn't ASOH, or any other known track, but it was a recorded instrumental that was slowed down but not played backwards.

Brian Eno then got Bono to improvise lyrics over the top of it on a first listen. It wasn't a work in origress song or anything. It was purely a studio experiment.

From what I've read, this is mainly true but it was Bono improvising thinking it was just a scratch track in order to find a melody and Eno saying I think we should go with this...

 

[neilm]

No, it wasn't ASOH, or any other known track, but it was a recorded instrumental that was slowed down but not played backwards.

Interesting but that pretty much contradicts what I've read about the track and understood for years...even listening to the track it sounds like ASOH played backwards - especially the drums. I'm certain that's what it is.

 

[U2girl]

I think it's the drums from ASOH backwards, not necessarily the entire song.

 

[neilm]

I think it's the drums from ASOH backwards, not necessarily the entire song.

I think it is the entire track, but there is also some overdubbed acoustic guitar on there as well as Bono's improvised vocals.