A poesia foi escrita por Bono em homenagem a Elvis Presley e se chama "American David", reunindo trechos de músicas compostas por Elvis. Escrito em 1994 ou 1995, Bono chegou a ler um trecho de dois minutos de sua obra anos atrás.Bono gravou a poesia originalmente para um documentário sobre a história da gravadora Sun Records. O líder do U2 foi convencido a declamá-la pelo diretor Des Shaw. "Eu disse que adoraria ouvi-lo. Então, ele correu para o andar de cima e leu para nós. Eu suponho que realmente seja o seu pensamento sobre de Elvis".
“Bono é um grande fã do Rei do Rock e sabe muito sobre a obra dele”, comentou o cineasta. “Passei um bom tempo pensando no que fazer com o material, e aí está o especial para a rádio.”
Não só o vocalista como todos os integrantes do U2 são admiradores de Elvis Presley. A banda gravou o álbum “Rattle and hum”, de 1988, no Sun Studios, em Memphis, com um microfone usado pelo astro. O baterista Larry Mullen foi ainda mais longe: batizou seu primeiro filho, Aaron Elvis, em homenagem ao cantor.
O poema completo tem 14 minutos de duração (a versão falada), e a Radio 4, ligada ao grupo BBC, transmitiu a gravação de Bono na íntegra.
ELVIS : American David (by Bono)
Elvis
son of tupelo
Elvis
mama’s boy
Elvis
the twin brother of Jesse who died at birth and
was buried in a shoe box
Elvis
drove a truck
Elvis
was recorded at sun studios by the musical diviner
sam phillips
Elvis
was managed by colonel tom parker, an ex-carnie
barker whose last act was a singing canary
Elvis
was the most famous singer in the world since
king david
Elvis
lived on his own street
Elvis
liked to play speedcop
Elvis
had a monkey named bubbles before anyone
Elvis
wore a cape at the white house when he
was presenting nixon with two silver pistols
Elvis
was a member of the drug squad
Elvis
wore eye make up, just hangin’ out
Elvis
wore a gold nudie suit and trained his lip to curl
Elvis
was macho, but could sing like a girl
Elvis
was not a big talker
Elvis
was articulate in every other way
Elvis
dyed his hair black to look like valentino
Elvis
held a microphone the way valentino held nita
naldi in blood and sand
Elvis
dressed black long before he dressed in black
Elvis
sang black except in lower registers
where he was a student of dean martin
Elvis
admired mario lanza
Elvis
delivered the world from crooning
Elvis
was a great crooner
Elvis
had a voice that could explain the sexuality of america
Elvis
was influenced by jim morrison in his choice of
black leather for the ‘68 comeback special
Elvis
invented the beatles
Elvis
achieved world domination from a small town
Elvis
was conscious of myth
Elvis
had pharoah-like potential
Elvis
was made by america, so america could remake
itself
Elvis
had good manners
Elvis
was a bass, a baritone, and a tenor
Elvis
sang his heart out at the end
Elvis
the opera
Elvis
the soap opera
Elvis
loved america, God, the bible, firearms, the movies, the
office of presidency, junk food, drugs, cars, family,
television, jewellery, straight talkin’, dirty talkin’ game
shows, uniforms, and self-help books
Elvis
like america, wanted to improve himself
Elvis
like america, started out loving but later turned on
himself
Elvis
body could not stop moving
Elvis
is alive, we’re dead
Elvis
the charismatic
Elvis
the ecstatic
Elvis
the plastic
Elvis
the elastic
with a spastic dance that might explain the energy
of america
Elvis
fusion and confusion
Elvis
earth rod in a southern dorm
Elvis
shaking up an electrical storm
Elvis
in hollywood his voice gone to ground
Elvis
in las vegas with a big brassy sound
Elvis
the first rock’n'roll star with scotty moore, bill
black, and d.j. fontana
Elvis
with james burton and ronny tutt
Elvis
the movie star made three good films : viva las vegas,
flaming star, and jailhouse rock
Elvis
the hillbilly brought rhythm to the white race,
blues to pop, and rock’n'roll to
whereever rock’n'roll is
Elvis
the pelvis, swung from africa to europe, which is
the idea of america
Elvis
liberation
Elvis
the kung fu would come later
Elvis
hibernation
Elvis
built a theme park he later called Graceland
Elvis
woke up to whispers
Elvis
thought of himself as a backslider
Elvis
knew guilt like a twin brother
Elvis
called God every morning
then left the phone off the hook
Elvis
turned las vegas into a church
when he sang “love me tender”
Elvis
turned america into a church
when he sang “the trilogy”
Elvis
was harangued by choice;
flesh vs. spirit, God vs. rock’n'roll
mother vs. lover,father vs. the colonel
Elvis
grew sideburns as a protest against tom jones’
hairy chest
Elvis
would have a president named after him
Elvis
was one of the boys
Elvis
was not one of the boys
Elvis
had an acute intelligence disguised as talent
Elvis
broke priscilla’s heart
Elvis
broke lisa marie’s heart
Elvis
woke up my heart
Elvis
white trash
Elvis
the memphis flash
Elvis
didn’t smoke hash
and woulda been a sissy
without johnny cash
Elvis
didn’t dodge the draft
Elvis
had his own aircraft
Elvis
having a laugh
on the lisa marie
in a colour photograph
Elvis
under the hood
Elvis
cadillac blood
Elvis
darling bud flowered and returned
to the mississippi mud
Elvis
ain’t gonna rot
Elvis
in a memphis plot
Elvis
didn’t hear the shot
but the king died
just across the lot from
Elvis
vanilla ice cream
Elvis
girls of 14
Elvis
memphis spleen
shooting at the tv
reading corinthians 13
Elvis
with God on his knees
Elvis
on three tvs
Elvis
here come the killer bees
head full of honey
potato chips and cheese
Elvis
the bumper stickers
Elvis
the white knickers
Elvis
the white nigger
ate at burger king
and just kept getting bigger
Elvis
sang to win
Elvis
the battle to be slim
Elvis
ate america
before america ate him
Elvis
stamps
Elvis
necromance
Elvis
fans
Elvis
psychphants
Elvis
the public enemy
Elvis
don’t mean shit to chuck d
Elvis
changed the centre of gravity
Elvis
made it slippy
Elvis
hitler
Elvis
nixon
Elvis
christ
Elvis
mishima
Elvis
marcus
Elvis
jackson
Elvis
the pElvis
Elvis
the psalmist
Elvis
the genius
Elvis
the generous
Elvis
forgive us
Elvis
pray for us
Elvis
Aaron Presley
(1935-1977)
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