Lyrics Loudon Wainwright III

Loudon Wainwright III

Happy Birthday Elvis

Happy birthday, Elvis;

You're not really dead.

It's a lie, it's just a crock,

Something some people said.

I heard a cassette of you speaking

On a telephone;

From a bunker beneath Graceland,

The king sits on his throne.

Happy birthday, Elvis;

Fifty-eight years old today.

It isn't true, you didn't die,

No matter what they say.

The colonel just decided

You should drop out of sight

After the Bicentennial--

The timing was just right.

(Bridge:)

Happy birthday, Elvis;

You're alive in '93.

They took away the body,

But who the hell was he?

Who was that tall fat man

They buried in your place?

Just another imitator;

Plastic surgeons did his face.

Happy birthday, Elvis;

You still love to ball.

Somebody said she spotted you

In a Memphis mall.

Check out the checkout counters;

Read what the tabloids say:

Aliens abducted you,

But somehow you got away.

Happy birthday, Elvis;

I for one will not shed tears.

You'll be back for the millennium;

That's in seven measly years.

And if you're blue and lonely,

Pick up that telephone,

Down in that bunker beneath Graceland,

The king sits on his throne.