If you're old enough, you understand...
The sex appeal of this guy, and this song, set a standard in 1968 from which the music biz has been shrinking ever since.
There's a not so fine line between subtle sexuality and the brutal variety you find in, say, the rap industry... or even Led Zeppelin "I wanna be your back door man" and so forth. Subtlety, long gone.
Now the invocation of sexuality in pop music is about like a punch in the face.
This lyric was not brutal, but the presentation and the man and the lyric together set a generation of young ladies on FIRE --
"A little more bite, a little less bark,
A little less fight, a little more spark,
Shut your mouth and open up your heart, and baby, satisfy me."
Elvis was trying to come back, in his 30s, after his young pop star years kind of dried up on him. The Beatles were part of his problem, but the times are always changing. So, under the wise management of Col. Tom Parker, he went on tour in 1968, with longer hair and a closer contact with audiences. He made a movie called "Change of Habit" with Mary Tyler Moore, a serious love story -- with current and prominent social issues -- that was a radical departure from the simple and almost silly musical romances of the early 1960s.
And he turned up the heat a little in his music. "Burnin Love" notwithstanding, I think this was the hottest, sexiest song in his rota.
"Baby close your eyes and listen to the music
driftin to the summer breeze
it's a groovy night and I can show you how to use it
So baby come along and put your mind at ease"
By themselves, not lyrics of breathtaking poetry that would necessarily melt a woman's heart. But with the pulse and throb of the backbeat... with the King's baby blues locked on yours... well, I may be naive, but I'm thinking there just weren't that many young ladies in 1968 who were left cold by this whole presentation... the man, the music, the words...
Young people today think of Elvis the way I think of Bing Crosby. Old and dusty and kind of comical to watch and to hear. But this song ought to straighten up those cynical young whippersnappers. This is raw sex, enormous power, with a smile and a light touch... by the blue eyed boy from Tupelo.
As a straight guy with a straight eye, I will pick Elvis as the all time "Sexiest Man", if they ever start a poll on that.
When you pass a certain age, you look back and see stuff with a little extra wisdom... at least I think this is wisdom... might be just bullsheite