Lana Del Rey has shared a rare track, “Elvis”, that’s featured in Eugene Jarecki's new Elvis Presley documentary, The King.
Fans of Lana Del Rey’s music will know that she wasn’t always called Lana Del Rey. In 2010, she was recording music under her own name, Lizzy Grant, and released a debut album called Lana Del Ray (note the spelling of ‘Ray’ rather than ‘Rey’).
Before that, though, she was using the name Sparkle Jump Rope Queen. “Lizzy Grant was born on the day of Worldly Rapture,” her Myspace page read. “She is inspired by Caffeine, Good d, and David Lee Roth. She spent two years as a trapese artist in a southern California circus.”
She also uploaded three demos to the page back in 2008: “Blue Ribbon”, “Axl Rose Husband”, and an early demo for “Elvis”. While “Blue Ribbon” was later reworked into “Gramma”, neither of the other two tracks ever saw a release over the following decade – but proving that no good idea should ever be abandoned entirely, this weekend Del Rey tweeted a clip of “Elvis” playing over a monage of Elvis Presley photos and videos.
“My composition ‘Elvis’ for the new film called The King out now directed by Eugene Jarecki,” she wrote in the tweet. The King looks at Presley’s legacy by following his 194 Rolls-Royce on a road trip across the US.
Check out the tweet above and listen to the full 2008 demo below.
