What do you think Black Velvet means?

Alannah Myles: Black Velvet Meaning

Tagged: Elvis | Memphis [suggest]
Album cover for Black Velvet album cover

Song Released: 1989


Black Velvet Lyrics

Mississippi in the middle of a dry spell
Jimmy Rogers on the victrola up high
Mama's dancing with baby on her shoulder
The Sun is setting like molasses in the sky.
The boy could sing, knew how to move, everything.
Always wanting more, he'd leave...

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  1. anonymous
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     Dec 11th 2022 !⃝

    The world's final religion. Christ will even tell you the same. It gives him goosebumps everytime he hears this song that miraculously plays whenever he reaches a new milestone along his journey. Stay in the light. Peace, love, and all that jazz! Cm solbaid

  2. anonymous
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     Jan 8th 2021 !⃝

    I first Heard the playing of this song. And they released black velvet whiskey. That was back in the late 60s early 70s in Houston Texas. The song maybe about Elvis that I don’t know being from Mississippi I liked it because of that. They had a good looking lady on the billboards trying to sale a product. It got a lot of air play on both rock and country stations. I know nothing about who the singer was but I did like the song. And it went from a add to the full song.

  3. anonymous
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     Jul 9th 2019 !⃝

    Black velvet refers to Elvis’s voice nothing else

  4. anonymous
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     Jan 29th 2019 !⃝

    Astonishing that anyone would think that Alannah didn't actually sing this song!?
    I was there when she first sang it and released it as a single, and she was amazing!
    It was at the taping of a TV show that David Foster had at the time, and she was a guest on the show. They used much of the live footage from the show for the video of the song when it started playing on MTV and MuchMusic. Her performance was incredible, visually and vocally. I really don't know why I'm responding to this post and defending her, because it is honestly so silly to think she didn't sing her own song... Oh well! And yes, the song is all about Elvis Presley. Christopher Ward was a host on MuchMusic and went down to Graceland to cover a special vigil celebration of Elvis' I think 10 years after his death, and was so impressed with the fans devotion to him even after all that time that he wrote a song about it!

  5. anonymous
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     May 13th 2017 !⃝

    R I p dear friend. We miss you. We will never forget you. Black velvet.

  6. anonymous
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     Nov 25th 2016 !⃝

    I agree with your interpretation. I think it's about Elvis. I don't believe it isn't Alannah not singing, tho. I've compared the vocals live and the record. They're the same. I'm also a music with near perfect pitch. That's Alannah, not a ghost singer.

  7. anonymous
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     Nov 13th 2016 !⃝

    If I think of black velvet I think of the flag of the "new religion will bring you to your knees..." ,the religion of murders lost in crazyness and illness,full of blindness and inhumanism which endanger the whole world trying to rule the world into an aera of darkness and loss of liberty for everybody, an absolute diabolic wave like coming from hell!

  8. anonymous
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     Jun 23rd 2014 !⃝

    Got news for you.... Alannah Myles never sang that song on the album. Found out through a record industry big wig that they paid a "Ghost Singer" to sing that song. Paid her a decent sum to not talk about it or perform it live anywhere . But the time has past and now the real singer of that song can sing it freely when ever she performs live.

  9. anonymous
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     Jul 28th 2012 !⃝

    I sing and this is one of my favorite songs to sing. I was nicknamed, "Black Velvet". One day I was asked about the song lyrics. I believe that this song is about Elvis Presley and his rise to fame; and subsequently, his death.

    "Up in Memphis, the musics like a heat wave" is referencing Elvis' birthplace and where he started singing.

    "In a flash he was gone, it happened so soon.. what could you do" refers to Elvis' overdose and sudden death.

    I could be wrong, but I've sang this song so many times that it's all I think about when I'm singing it.


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