"Elvis" Soundtrack Lyrics

"Elvis (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)" Soundtrack Description

Overview

How do you retell an over-documented life and still make people feel the shock? Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis answers with a hybrid soundtrack: archival Presley masters, Austin Butler’s in-character vocals, and modern cuts that translate 1950s transgression into today’s muscle. The album arrived June 24, 2022 via House of Iona/RCA alongside the film. Trusted source: RCA Records.

The design is maximal: gospel, blues, country, rock ’n’ roll, hip-hop, and remixes intercut with live recreations of the ’68 Special and Vegas years. That collage isn’t garnish—it’s the storytelling engine. When contemporary tracks hit (Doja Cat, Eminem, Måneskin, Kacey Musgraves), they frame Presley’s impact for new ears without sidelining the originals. Trusted source: Apple Music.

Questions & Answers

Is there an official soundtrack album?

Yes. Elvis (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) released June 24, 2022 (RCA/House of Iona). A Deluxe Edition followed March 7, 2023.

Who composed the original score and who supervised the music?

Score by Elliott Wheeler; music supervision by Anton Monsted (Guild of Music Supervisors Award winner for this film).

Does Austin Butler actually sing?

Yes—especially early-era material; later Vegas sequences often blend Butler with Presley stems for authenticity.

Which song closes the film?

“Unchained Melody” (real 1977 performance footage), followed in credits by cuts including “The King and I” and “Don’t Fly Away.”

What song scores the Beale Street/Club Handy stretch?

Big Mama Thornton’s “Hound Dog” (Shonka Dukureh) onstage, with Doja Cat’s “Vegas” surfacing over the Memphis street momentum.

Is “If I Can Dream” in the movie?

Yes—performed in-story by Elvis during the ’68 Special; Måneskin’s cover lands in the end credits; Kacey Musgraves sings “Can’t Help Falling in Love” for the romance thread.

Notes & Trivia

• Music Supervisor Anton Monsted won the 2023 Guild of Music Supervisors Award (Film > $25M).
• RCA’s Deluxe Edition (2023) adds more Butler vocals and deeper film mixes (“Fly Away Weave,” “How Do You Think I Feel,” etc.).
• Doja Cat’s “Vegas” premiered as the lead single after a Coachella tease; it interpolates Big Mama Thornton’s “Hound Dog.”
• The finale uses authentic 1977 “Unchained Melody” performance footage—one of the few places the film yields fully to archival Elvis.
• Luhrmann’s mash-ups briefly collide “Bossa Nova Baby” with Backstreet Boys and “Toxic”—a pointed comment on recycling and pop spectacle.

Genres & Themes

Gospel & spirituals → moral compass. Church-rooted cues (“Take My Hand, Precious Lord,” “I’ll Fly Away”) frame Elvis’s inner code and the film’s view of his earliest sparks.

Jump-blues/rockabilly → ignition. “Baby, Let’s Play House,” “That’s All Right” mark the body-electric moments where rhythm collides with taboo and the crowd erupts.

Vegas big-band pop → control vs. burnout. Brassy arrangements (“Suspicious Minds,” “Polk Salad Annie”) sell triumph while hinting at the treadmill beneath.

Contemporary hip-hop/pop → translation layer. Doja Cat, Eminem, PNAU, Tame Impala function as adapters, making 1950s shock legible for 21st-century ears without erasing source lines. Trusted source: Entertainment Weekly.

Tracks & Scenes

(Selections; not a full tracklist.)

“Baby, Let’s Play House” — Austin Butler
Where it plays: Early first-show ignition (~00:15:00). Diegetic; stage performance that shocks the crowd.
Why it matters: The “switch flips” moment—desire and danger meet on a small stage.

“Hound Dog” — Shonka Dukureh (as Big Mama Thornton)
Where it plays: Club Handy sequence (~00:19:00); diegetic performance, then transitions across Memphis.
Why it matters: Centers Black originators before Elvis’s versions; the movie’s ethical spine shows its face.

“Vegas” — Doja Cat
Where it plays: Memphis street momentum (~00:20:00); non-diegetic overlay during Beale Street energy.
Why it matters: Bridges eras via a Big Mama sample, reframing the swagger in current vernacular.

“Heartbreak Hotel” — Austin Butler
Where it plays: RCA studio (~00:34:00); diegetic session.
Why it matters: Studio Elvis—the craft behind the charisma.

“Are You Lonesome Tonight?” — Austin Butler
Where it plays: Backlash montage (~00:38:00); performance collides with public moral panic.
Why it matters: The crooner tone undercuts the “threat” headline, highlighting the era’s anxieties.

“Trouble” — Austin Butler
Where it plays: Russwood Park (~00:54:00); diegetic defiance onstage.
Why it matters: The film’s thesis statement about censorship and embodiment, folded into a single sneer.

“Tutti Frutti” — Les Greene (as Little Richard)
Where it plays: Club Handy (~00:45:00); diegetic scorcher with Elvis and B.B. King watching from the wings.
Why it matters: Shows the pipeline of style Elvis learned from and loved.

“If I Can Dream” — Austin Butler; Elvis Presley
Where it plays: ’68 Special (~01:30–01:31); diegetic performance, then Elvis’s original.
Why it matters: Grief and hope in one breath; the film’s clearest bridge between protest and pop.

“Power of My Love” — Jack White
Where it plays: Vegas transition (~01:36:00); non-diegetic grit before a health lapse.
Why it matters: Modern rock timbre as warning flare amid the glitz.

“Suspicious Minds” — Austin Butler
Where it plays: Vegas rehearsal/build (~01:41:00); diegetic with backing-vocal assembly.
Why it matters: Arrangement as storytelling—stacked voices, tighter camera, rising control.

“Polk Salad Annie” — Elvis Presley
Where it plays: Live montage (~01:55:00); diegetic performance.
Why it matters: Athletic, relentless—he is working himself to the edge.

“Burning Love” — Elvis Presley
Where it plays: Career-machine montage (~01:59:00); non-diegetic.
Why it matters: Hits-as-armor while the pills escalate offstage.

“Unchained Melody” — Elvis Presley
Where it plays: Concert sequence and finale (~01:50:00; again ~02:24:00); diegetic, then archival reveal.
Why it matters: The film yields to the real man; voice over myth.

End-credits stack
Where it plays: ~02:31–02:36—“The King and I” (Eminem & CeeLo Green), “Don’t Fly Away” (Elvis & PNAU), “If I Can Dream” (Måneskin).
Why it matters: Summation—dialogue between source, interpreters, and future audience.

Music–Story Links

Club Handy scenes put Elvis inside a living lineage (Thornton, Sister Rosetta, Little Richard), so when “Trouble” detonates at Russwood Park, it reads not as theft but as synthesis. The ’68 Special pivots the narrative: protest seeped into pop, and the soundtrack answers with a clean handoff from Butler to Elvis on “If I Can Dream.” In Vegas, “Suspicious Minds” becomes more than a hit; it’s a portrait of work, repetition, and entrapment. The last beat—“Unchained Melody”—drops all artifice and shows the body doing what only it can.

How It Was Made

Score & stems. Elliott Wheeler composed the incidental score and helped build hybrid cues by accessing and separating elements from Presley recordings. That allowed precise blends of Butler’s vocals with Elvis’s masters. Trusted source: IMDb.

Supervision & awards. Anton Monsted led music supervision—licensing, commissioning, sequencing—and won the Guild of Music Supervisors Award (Film > $25M) for the work.

Modern tracks as translation. Luhrmann used contemporary cuts (Doja Cat’s “Vegas,” Eminem’s “The King and I”) to communicate the original scandal and energy to new listeners; he’d done a similar period-to-present bridge on The Great Gatsby.

Deluxe Edition. RCA’s 2023 expansion added Butler performances and fuller film mixes; it also surfaces collages like “Fly Away Weave,” deepening the on-screen arrangements.

Reception & Quotes

Critics split on excess, united on musical architecture and Butler’s conviction.

“An exhilarating, maddening spectacle — but one made with love.” TIME

“Luhrmann’s unsubtle, flashy style.” The New Yorker

“Painstakingly re-created… Presley’s haunting ‘Unchained Melody.’” Los Angeles Times

Album availability: standard and Deluxe streams on major platforms; physical editions vary by region. Trusted source: Apple Music.

Additional Info

• Label credit: House of Iona/RCA; album produced by Baz Luhrmann and Anton Monsted.
• Singles rollout: “Vegas,” “Trouble” (Butler), “The King and I,” “If I Can Dream” (Måneskin), “Can’t Help Falling in Love” (Kacey Musgraves).
• Gary Clark Jr. appears on-screen (Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup) and on the soundtrack; modern cues also feature Jack White, Tame Impala, Jazmine Sullivan.
• End-credits order stacks hip-hop and remix cuts between Presley deep cuts—intentionally reframing legacy.
• Score + sound team coordinated live-record and playback swaps for ’68 Special and Vegas sequences.

Technical Info

• Title: Elvis (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
• Year / Type: 2022 / Film soundtrack (Various Artists)
• Label: House of Iona / RCA Records
• Composed by: Elliott Wheeler (original score)
• Music Supervision: Anton Monsted
• Key placements (selected): “Trouble” (Russwood Park), “If I Can Dream” (’68 Special), “Unchained Melody” (finale), “Vegas” (Beale Street), “Suspicious Minds” (Vegas build), “Hound Dog” (Club Handy, Dukureh)
• Release context: Day-and-date with film (June 24, 2022); Deluxe Edition March 7, 2023
• Edition notes: Digital 36-track set; CD editions shorter; Deluxe expands to 50+ tracks with additional Butler vocals

Canonical Entities & Relations

Sources: Apple Music; RCA Records; Vague Visages; Entertainment Weekly; Los Angeles Times; The Hollywood Reporter; Variety; WhatSong; MusicBrainz; Discogs; IMDb.

November, 09th 2025