Lonely Rivers Flow To The Sea

In the early hours of August 16, 1977, after a midnight game of racquetball, Elvis Presley sat at his piano at the court behind his Graceland home and gave his final performance.

He played Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain and Unchained Melody before going back into the house, presumably to go to bed. He was found a couple of hours later, collapsed in his bathroom. The official coroner's report lists heart failure as the cause of death.

Elvis had been relaxing for a few weeks at Graceland after completing his latest tour. The last concert performance was given in Indianapolis' Market Square Arena on June 26. His next tour was scheduled to begin on August 17 in Portland, Maine.

Today Graceland is the second only to the White House as most-visited home in the U.S. Elvis could have lived anywhere, had multiple homes or could have died in a hotel room while on tour. Instead, Elvis chose to stay close to his southern roots and in his home, Graceland, and the affinity that fans now find there could have been lost.

This is the last officially published live recording of Unchained Melody during Elvis' lifetime, performed on April 24, 1977 at the Ann Arbor, Michigan Crisler Arena. Elvis wore the "King of Spades Suit" for the audience of 12,000. When the track was released in July, 1977, on his last album, "Moody Blue," RCA overdubbed the percussion, bass, and organ. Elvis had originally performed it solo, playing the piano as he sang.