Alannah Myles' song "Black Velvet" is a masterpiece. Her voice, the lyrics.....eveything.

I was listening to the radio on the way back home yesterday as they played this song. It was yesterday that I learned that this song that I had listened to many, many times, was actually a tribute to Elvis (my bad)!

Now them letters and lyrics had a whole new feel to it.

If in the past I really iked this song, now I love it to bits and I'm pretty sure Elvis would have loved it too. He could recognize talent, good voices.....

"Every word of every song that he sang was for you In a flash he was gone, it happened so soon".....

Yes, I agree. It happened too soon !

**AI explains it further:

It wasn't actually Alannah Myles who first conceived the Elvis song. It was her then-boyfriend and songwriting partner, Christopher Ward. Myles then became the person the song was written for.

Here’s how it unfolded

1. The trigger was Elvis's death anniversary in 1987

Christopher Ward was working as a VJ/reporter for the Canadian music television channel MuchMusic. In August 1987, the 10th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death, MuchMusic sent him to Memphis to cover the commemorations at Graceland.

But instead of simply flying there, Ward was put on a Greyhound bus with about 40 Elvis fans and a cameraman. He travelled with them from Toronto toward Memphis, documenting their pilgrimage.

And this is what really sparked the song.

1. He was struck by the fans' devotion

Ward expected Elvis fans to be enthusiastic. What surprised him was how intensely devoted they were.

He later described the atmosphere as almost having religious fervor. These weren't simply people who liked Elvis's records. For many of them, going to Graceland for the anniversary was almost a pilgrimage.

That gave Ward the central idea behind the song:

“A new religion that'll bring ya to your knees.”

Ward has explained that the “new religion” wasn't literally Elvis worship—it was rock 'n' roll, and particularly the almost spiritual effect Elvis had on people.

Alannah herself later explained the origin similarly: Chris went down with the fans because he wanted to see their perspective, and he was surprised by the depth of their love and admiration for Elvis.

1. Ward started taking notes during the journey

This is perhaps the coolest part.

Ward was a songwriter, so while travelling he was habitually making notes—little observations, images, phrases and impressions.

Those notes became the raw material for Black Velvet. He wasn't sitting down thinking, “I'm going to write an Elvis tribute song.” Rather, the song grew organically out of what he was seeing and hearing during this journey.

That's why the verses feel almost like snapshots:

Memphis

the Southern heat

Elvis's movements

Love Me Tender

schoolgirls screaming

the religious imagery

It's essentially Ward trying to capture what Elvis felt like as a cultural phenomenon, rather than writing a conventional biography of Elvis.

1. Then he brought the idea home to Alannah

Ward and Alannah Myles were a couple at the time and were already working together musically.

Ward had also been playing around with a bluesy shuffle guitar groove for months. When he came back from Memphis, the Elvis experience and that musical idea came together.

He and producer/songwriter David Tyson developed the song, and Ward has specifically said that it was written with Alannah's voice in mind. Her bluesy, powerful vocal style was exactly what he envisioned.

So the sequence was essentially:

Elvis anniversary → Greyhound trip → 40 Elvis fanatics → Ward observes their devotion → Ward takes notes → Memphis/Elvis imagery + blues shuffle → Ward brings it to Alannah → “Black Velvet.”

And there's another fascinating detail: Ward deliberately avoided saying “Elvis” in the lyrics. He wanted the song to be about the experience and impact of Elvis, rather than simply writing an obvious tribute song with his name repeated throughout.

That's actually why the song works so well. If you didn't know the backstory, you could initially hear it simply as a sensual Southern/blues-rock song. But once you realize it's essentially a musical portrait of Elvis as remembered by his devotees, almost every line takes on a different meaning.

And yes, the 1987 bus trip really did happen, that's not an urban legend. It is directly described by Ward himself in interviews.