AboutMel Priddle Expertise For 50 years I have been listening to, buying and searching into the music of Elvis Presley. If you have a question relating to any song that Elvis recorded (officially, unofficially or privately), then I guarantee to give you an answer. Likewise with his movies. Questions relating to Elvis' private life I prefer to leave to others.
Experience Ex-cinema manager, film publicist, record merchandiser, and Elvis music lover since 1955.
Expert: Mel Priddle Date: 5/3/2008 Subject: Elvis' Softly As I Leave You
Question QUESTION: Is there anyway I could buy that song? I believe he did the sang in concerts between 1973 through 1975. It's the only song (that I recall) that Elvis spoke the words and did not sing a single note. I've been looking a CD or CD's with that song.
ANSWER: Hello Donald,
"Softly As I Leave You" was one of those songs that Elvis never recorded in a studio, but only sang at various live shows in the mid-70s. When he first did it, he just spoke the whole thing with no accompaniement, but he later changed it to include one of his backing singers, Sherrill Nielsen. Elvis would just speak the recitation and the lyrics (except for the very last line which he sang with Nielsen), and Nielsen would sing the lyrics. The recitation would change very slightly each time he did it, but below is the most usual version. Sherrill Nielsen's vocals are in brackets:
"This next song, ladies and gentlemen, is a song that's been around for a long time, but I'd like to tell you the story behind the song. There's a man who's dying in hospital, and his wife has been sitting by his bedside for three days and three nights. Somewhere on the third day, between midnight and day, she lay down beside him and dozed off to sleep. And he felt her when she dozed off to sleep and at the same time he felt himself start to die. And he didn't want her to see him pass away, so he took his notepad from the side of the bed and he wrote .......
(Softly) Softly
(I will leave you softly) I will leave you softly
For my heart would break (For my heart would break)
If you should wake (If you should wake)
And see me go (And see me go)
So I leave you softly (So I leave you softly)
Long before you miss me (Long before you miss me)
Long before your arms (Long before your arms)
Can beg me stay (Can beg me stay)
For one more hour (For one more hour)
Or one more day (Or one more day)
After all the years (After all the years)
I can't bare the tears (I can't bare the tears)
To fall (To fall)
So softly, (So softly) So softly
(I will leave you there)
BOTH: I will leave you there
The song is available on the following CDs:
"Closing Night" - This is an early version from 1973 with just Elvis speaking (very short, only 1:34)
"Elvis It's Midnight" - 1974 version
"Elvis Dinner At Eight" - 1975 version
Glad to be of help. Cheers.......Mel.
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Sometime back, I read that on December 27, 1976 Elvis performed at the Levitt Arena in Wichita, Kansas. Then on December 28, 1976 in keeping of the Christmas spirit, Elvis included many gospel & religious hymns at the concert in Dallas, Texas.
Could you please tell me where I would find those CD's and about how much would they cost?
Thank you.
Donald
Answer Hello again Donald,
The concert on December 27th 1976 has not yet been released in any form that I am aware of.
The concert on December 28, 1976 at The Memorial Auditorium in Dallas is available on the bootleg CD "A Hot Winter Night In Dallas" (Fort Baxter 2207). The track listing is as follows:
Also Sprach Zarathustra
See See Rider
I Got A Woman/Amen
Love Me
Fairytale
You Gave Me A Mountain (incomplete)
Jailhouse Rock (incomplete)
O Sole Mio/It's Now Or Never
Trying To Get To You
Blue Suede Shoes
My Way
Polk Salad Annie
intro : Early Morning Rain
What'd I Say
Johnny B. Goode
(Elvis sings some lines of 'hey Bo Diddley')
Love Letters
School Days
Hound Dog
Hurt (with reprise)
Unchained Melody
Can't Help Falling In Love
Closing Vamp
This was pretty much the normal line-up of songs for an Elvis concert of that period. As you can see, there are no gospel/religious songs in there.
I'm afraid I cannot help you with how and where to purchase bootleg CDs. Maybe the Fan Clubs might be able to supply them, and I know that they sometimes turn up on ebay.
