My father was a straight up, honest, hard-working man
He always told me, Son, you’ve got to work as hard as you can
Do right by your family, make sure you earn the money to pay
For food on the table, a roof over their head, put clothes on their backs
A good automobile, some holidays, and of course the odd beer or two
That’s The American Way son, that’s what a man’s got to do
Early every morning, he left home to drive through the local car factory gates
Worked all the overtime hours he could get, he was always coming back home late
I never saw that much of him growing up, guess that’s just The American Way
Mom, she was so pretty, and so clever, and I never understood her reasons why
She dropped out of college to marry my father, raise my sister and me
Become an American at home housewife baking mom’s own special apple pie
Everything around me was always so laid out, my path in life always so clear
Until one night in ’56 on my radio, this voice, this new music I could hear
I soon found out it was called rock’n’roll and that singer, well Elvis was his name
From that moment on, nothing in my life ever again seemed to be the same
And my father, well he tried his best, but he just could never understand
Why I no longer wanted to follow in his footsteps, be led by his hand
Son, he said to me, all those years ago on one long summer’s day
You just can’t sit around doing nothing but listening to this rock’n’roll music all day
You’ve got to get up out that chair, find yourself a job, so get out there
Get your own money, work hard, save a little for yourself if you want some fun to play
I’ve told you often enough son, that’s how it’s done, that’s The American Way
If you don’t want to do that, then under my roof you can no longer stay
So that was me, soon out on the road, a man, out there on my own
And if I ever needed a little money, I did it honestly, found myself some work, The American Way
But something deep inside of me couldn’t settle for doing the same thing day after day
After I while, I soon got bored, got the urge to move on, never been one to stay
Sometimes over the years I’d go back home now and then, just to see mom
But always the same, arguments with my father and mom standing there wiping away her tears
I still remember so clearly, just like it was yesterday, that day back in August 1977
I’d bought myself a new Buick, heading into a new town, thought I was in seventh heaven
When on the car radio, the DJ announced to me that Elvis Presley had died
At first I didn’t believe it, stopped my car, pulled over to the side
But all the headlines on the newspaper stands they were the same, all with his name
I remember it all so clearly, even now, I just sat there in my car and cried
It’s hard to explain the things I felt deep inside of me that day
Like someone had suddenly taken all my youth and those memories away
At the end of the street, it wasn’t too far, I could see there was an open bar
When I walked inside the door everyone was talking about the news on the TV
Elvis is dead a stranger came up to me and said, he didn’t have to tell me
None of us could believe it, Elvis is dead, that’s all I heard for the rest of that day
So I spent the whole night there with all those people I’d never until then met
Drinking whiskey and rye, singing Elvis songs, telling them about mom’s apple pie
In the morning when I woke up I thought I hoped that it would all be a dream
But in the morning I was sober with hangover in my head, but Elvis, he was still dead
I don’t even know why I’m telling you all of this now, are you still too young to know
That there’s more than one road to The American Dream, you just gotta find your own way to go
"Elvis On my Radio (The American Way)" © Tom King 2022
He always told me, Son, you’ve got to work as hard as you can
Do right by your family, make sure you earn the money to pay
For food on the table, a roof over their head, put clothes on their backs
A good automobile, some holidays, and of course the odd beer or two
That’s The American Way son, that’s what a man’s got to do
Early every morning, he left home to drive through the local car factory gates
Worked all the overtime hours he could get, he was always coming back home late
I never saw that much of him growing up, guess that’s just The American Way
Mom, she was so pretty, and so clever, and I never understood her reasons why
She dropped out of college to marry my father, raise my sister and me
Become an American at home housewife baking mom’s own special apple pie
Everything around me was always so laid out, my path in life always so clear
Until one night in ’56 on my radio, this voice, this new music I could hear
I soon found out it was called rock’n’roll and that singer, well Elvis was his name
From that moment on, nothing in my life ever again seemed to be the same
And my father, well he tried his best, but he just could never understand
Why I no longer wanted to follow in his footsteps, be led by his hand
Son, he said to me, all those years ago on one long summer’s day
You just can’t sit around doing nothing but listening to this rock’n’roll music all day
You’ve got to get up out that chair, find yourself a job, so get out there
Get your own money, work hard, save a little for yourself if you want some fun to play
I’ve told you often enough son, that’s how it’s done, that’s The American Way
If you don’t want to do that, then under my roof you can no longer stay
So that was me, soon out on the road, a man, out there on my own
And if I ever needed a little money, I did it honestly, found myself some work, The American Way
But something deep inside of me couldn’t settle for doing the same thing day after day
After I while, I soon got bored, got the urge to move on, never been one to stay
Sometimes over the years I’d go back home now and then, just to see mom
But always the same, arguments with my father and mom standing there wiping away her tears
I still remember so clearly, just like it was yesterday, that day back in August 1977
I’d bought myself a new Buick, heading into a new town, thought I was in seventh heaven
When on the car radio, the DJ announced to me that Elvis Presley had died
At first I didn’t believe it, stopped my car, pulled over to the side
But all the headlines on the newspaper stands they were the same, all with his name
I remember it all so clearly, even now, I just sat there in my car and cried
It’s hard to explain the things I felt deep inside of me that day
Like someone had suddenly taken all my youth and those memories away
At the end of the street, it wasn’t too far, I could see there was an open bar
When I walked inside the door everyone was talking about the news on the TV
Elvis is dead a stranger came up to me and said, he didn’t have to tell me
None of us could believe it, Elvis is dead, that’s all I heard for the rest of that day
So I spent the whole night there with all those people I’d never until then met
Drinking whiskey and rye, singing Elvis songs, telling them about mom’s apple pie
In the morning when I woke up I thought I hoped that it would all be a dream
But in the morning I was sober with hangover in my head, but Elvis, he was still dead
I don’t even know why I’m telling you all of this now, are you still too young to know
That there’s more than one road to The American Dream, you just gotta find your own way to go
"Elvis On my Radio (The American Way)" © Tom King 2022
NOTE - I remember clearly where I was when the news came over the radio that Elvis had died. I think many people old enough to remember that day will also remember where they where and how they heard the news. For the person in our story though, this marks not only the event in his life, but the end of a dream.