Putting ‘Suspicious Minds’ in the ‘Argylle’ Trailer Might Hurt for Elvis’ Image
The trailer for Henry Cavill and Dua Lip’s new movie Argylle includes two classic rock songs. One of them is Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds.” The use of the song is flattering in one way, but it isn’t doing any favors for Elvis’ posthumous image.
The ‘Argylle’ trailer uses David Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’ and Elvis Presley’s ‘Suspicious Minds’
Here’s a summary of the Argylle trailer. It starts with a 007-esque spy dancing with a glamorous woman to David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance.” The scene is elegant, and “Let’s Dance” is an elegant dance song if there ever was one.
We then learn these characters are the fictional creations of an author named Elly Conway. In the real world, criminals feel that Conway is predicting their lives through their books so they target her. The tone of the film gets more comic and a remix of “Suspicious Minds” plays. The remix makes the tune sound like a joke.
The use of ‘Suspicious Minds’ disrespects the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll
In some ways, it’s an honor that filmmakers remember “Suspicious Minds” over 50 years after its release. That speaks to the song’s continuing popularity, or at least its prominent use in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis.
On the other hand, the tune is used in a comic way. From a certain point of view, it’s mocking the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Considering how bad Elvis’ movies became, Argylle is probably going to be better than most of the “Can’t Help Falling in Love” singer’s movies. Regardless, one wishes Hollywood would treat one of Elvis’ signature songs with a little more respect.
How the song got into Elvis Presley’s hands in the 1st place
While “Suspicious Minds’ might be considered Elvis’ signature song today, it was actually originally recorded by its writer, Mark James. During a 2017 interview with The Tennessean, James revealed he was given the task of writing a song for Elvis and he couldn’t think of anything until music publisher Don Crews gave him an idea.
“I was down, man, because I still hadn’t come up with anything,” James said. “[Crews] says, ‘What about your old catalog?’ By the time I hit ‘Suspicious Minds,’ he said, ‘What about ‘Suspicious Minds?’ I turned around in the chair and it was like seeing a golden No. 1 and I knew that was the song I’d been looking for. And of course, I said, ‘That’s the song I’m looking for, that’s the song!’
“And I felt like — and I knew most of the guys with Elvis, some of them working there, around Memphis — felt like telling George Klein, Marty Lacker, I felt like even shaking Elvis and saying, ‘This is a great one for you, man, to record,'” he added. “But I knew probably everyone in the world had probably said that to him. So all I could do is tell all the guys around him, ‘Get him to cut this, this is a great one for him!'”
“Suspicious Minds” was a great song for Elvis but it’s not a great song for Argylle.
