Rant #3,052: Lights Out

I see that Lisa Marie Presley, the only child of Elvis Presley, has joined her father in Rock and Roll Heaven.

She passed away at age 54 after sustaining a heart attack a few days after she appeared at the Golden Globes ceremony, where she looked about 30 years older than her actual age.

Like with her father, past drug abuse certainly led to her early demise.

In fact, she actually outlasted her father on this earth, as he died, with a past filled with pill popping, at age 42.

I don’t even know what Lisa Marie’s legacy was to the world, unlike her father, who was probably the greatest and most successful solo recording artist ever (SoundScan be damned).

Beyond being a mother and a grandmother herself, the younger Presley did record several successful albums that reached the upper regions of the Billboard Top Albums chart.

And a few of her singles did receive some airplay. I seem to vaguely remember the song “Lights Out,” now so prophetically titled, which was a hit single about 20 years ago.

She was married four times, and of course, her greatest claim to fame might have been her marriage to Michael Jackson, a union that could only be made in media heaven, and which, of course, didn’t last very long.

I think she had four kids, Elvis and Priscilla’s’ grandchildren, and that one of hers sons committed suicide a few years back.

Based on the fact that she was her father’s sole heir, she was probably one of the wealthiest people in the country, if not the world.

But once again, her demise has proven that money can’t buy you longevity.

I would imagine that her estate will make her kids and grandkids very wealthy once it is doled out.

Other than that, what more is there to say about her?

The interesting thing is that every news show worth its salt made initially the health attack story, and then her death, into “Breaking News,” making each of stories on just about the same level as the President’s top-secret papers mishap or George Santos’ string of lies.

And every newspaper put the heart attack she suffered and her death as news on its front page.

I guess that that simply shows the pull, the draw and the popularity her father continues to have, nearly a half century after his death.

He still brings in millions upon millions of dollars each year through things like record sales and the use of his likeness and name, and while Lisa Marie simply did not have that cache, she certainly benefited big time from being his daughter.

But again, money cannot buy happiness, and whenever you saw her, she looked so down, so unhappy, and ultimately, so sickly, like she did just the other day.

I guess she was the ultimate “Poor Little Rich Girl,” and that is how she will probably be best remembered …

Having everything, but really, having nothing.

Sad to say, but it appears to be true.

I remember when her father passed away.

I was working as a security guard at Green Acres Shopping Center, one of the sprawling shopping centers on Long Island. I was in college picking up a few bucks doing this work.

My shift was over, and I got in my car to drive home. I had on the radio, tuned in to venerable FM powerhouse WNEW-FM, probably the most popular FM rock station in the country at that time.

As I was driving home, I heard one Elvis song, then another, then another. If you remember the station, one of the best things about it was that it had, at least during those years, an expansive playlist that was determined by the disk jockeys themselves, and you didn’t blink if you heard a Led Zeppelin song and then, right after, a song by the Monkees on that station.

Anyway, I was driving home, and all they were playing was Elvis songs, one after another after another.

And yes, in my mind, I did wonder why they were doing that.

Finally, Scott Muni—one of the all-time best music disk jockeys—came on the air and told listeners something to the effect of, “If you haven’t heard, Elvis Presley, the ‘King of Rock,’ passed away today,” and he did it through tears.

And as I drove home that day, the Elvis songs never stopped.

And now, nearly 50 years later, his daughter has joined him in music heaven.

And I am sure he is singing to her “Love Me Tender” right now as we speak.

Have a great weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday.