Elvis - Clean Up Your Own Back Yard

ORIGINATION Almost In Love LP
LAST LISTENED TO last night
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT astronomically high
RATING

I can remember thinking before going to bed last night, that listening to this Elvis LP late at night almost guaranteed i was going to wake to it. It's nice to be proved correct on occasion.

This track was recorded in 1968, around the time of Elvis' NBC television special. This was a period of heightened musical quality for the man, after many years of languishing in Hollywood.

'Clean Up…' opens with some slide guitar before a bass refrain starts off a groove that will run through the whole song. The drummer soon kicks in, sounding like he may have been listening to a little laid-back James Brown before the recording, although doesn't quite reach that level. He's backed by some understated rhythm piano, before Elvis come in. A soufull brass section gives Elvis a little call-and-response action before things are topped off with some female choir backing. All in all it's a funky, laid-back vibe in a country-tinged Southern soul style.

Elvis was hardly ever less than great in his recordings. Even when he was recording utter dross (and, lord, there a lot of that), Elvis was always convincing. Here he plays it mean and laid back. Whether this was due to the backing music or because of it is largely irrelevant: the music and singing marry perfectly.

Lyrics were often where Elvis' output in the preceding years often fell flat. Thankfully here the lyrics are a little more robust, essentially pointing out man's foibles and suggesting that they sort themselves out before speaking out about others. To begin with a few specific men are mentioned (a preacher, a drugstore owner, an armchair quarterback), before the lyics move on to this closer:

"When you get right down to the nitty-gritty
Isn't it a pity that in this big city
Not a one a'little bitty man'll admit
He could have been a little bit wrong"

Which seems to me to be a rather broader attack on men in general. Elvis, of course, pulls it off perfectly, to the extent that the inherent irony of the whole song, and the last verse in particular, is unnoticeable. It's a great tune recorded by a man at the peak of his powers. It's just a shame that after his escape from one trashy city, another was to claim him after this.