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Suspicious Minds from Elvis Presley I first found odd, but once I settled on a suitable interpretation, it became stunning. Not a note is out of place, the arrangement is stellar, and the song’s form is both exciting to listen to and directly influenced by the song’s subject matter.

The intro features some exquisitely timed, spot-on guitar playing matched with hi-hat. The song’s first verse lays out the thesis: a man confessing his trapped feeling to a lover. Strings enter, and the drums expand. Bass guitar and background voices fill out the sound during the chorus, where Elvis explains that her distrust of him causes his sorrow.

Othe verse following the chorus, the arrangement expands to horns, that frankly sound a bit Beatle-y. But what’s awesome is just when it feels that the song’s pattern is clear, there’s a complete tempo change. Elvis puts on a soul voice, that pleads and displays his honest yearning for reconciliation. It’s an awesome bridge moment, and gutsy, but it comes across as seamless.

But the best is yet to come. Once back in same tempo, Elvis returns to the words that the song began with: “We’re caught in a trap - I can’t get out - because I love you too much, baby.” This section repeats, over and over. All the musical elements introduced before, reunite to form this coda section. Each has a definite role: the horns provide a counter melody to the vocals. After four repeats, the female background vocals move an octave higher, blossoming into a hook that upon my first hearing, it lodged deep within my subconscious, haunting me in the middle of the night.

The there’s a fade out. But wait… the song isn’t over. It fades back in. Why? I’ve decided it sonically demonstrates the emotional trap Elvis is in, from which he can’t emerge from. Just as this realization sinks in, the song fades out and the song finally ends.

This coda section is directly relevant to the lyrics, and in that sense is as powerful than other lengthy coda songs like Hey Jude or Sympathy For the Devil. With this song and Hound Dog, I can see why many still call Elvis the King.

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