For her first remake ever, Lisa Marie Presley covered a certain rock legend — but, surprisingly, one to whom she wasn’t related.
Instead, the lead single from her second album, 2005’s “Now What,” found Elvis Presley’s only child dipping into Don Henley’s catalog and smartly dusting off his 1982 hit “Dirty Laundry.” The media-bashing anthem took on an added bite from the woman who grew up under a public microscope, with a role-reversing Presley snarling, “We got our dirty little fingers in everybody’s pie/We love to cut you down to size.”
It was such a perfect song for Presley — who died suddenly at 54 on Thursday after going into cardiac arrest — to redo. It was almost as if Henley and partner Danny Kortchmar wrote it just for her.
But coming off of her 2003 debut “To Whom It May Concern” — a pop-rock set of all original tunes that, while going gold, failed to establish Presley as the musical heir to her dad’s throne — she probably could have made a king’s ransom simply by remaking one of her father’s classics. This was the make-or-break time when she needed a surefire hit — which her take on “Dirty Laundry wasn’t — and an Elvis cover would have been a no-brainer.
You have to give Presley credit, though, for not riding her dad’s coattails — even at was likely the detriment of her own career. She could have taken the easy way to the top of the charts, but she fought to create her own musical identity and earn her own artistic credibility against what she knew would be suspicious minds.
After waiting until she was 35 — an ancient age to make a pop debut — to finally continue the family legacy with “To Whom It May Concern,” Presley co-wrote every single song on the album. And she had some A-list assistance from Grammy winner Glen Ballard, who had co-written and produced no less than Alanis Morissette’s “Jagged Little Pill” opus.
When it came time for “Now What,” Presley again co-wrote all but “Dirty Laundry” and the bonus track “Here Today, Gone Tomorrow” (a Ramones cover), while collaborating with Pink and 4 Non Blondes’ Linda Perry.
And on 2012’s “Storm & Grace” — her third and final album — Elvis’ daughter was graced by the king of roots-music producers: T Bone Burnett. But it was Presley’s own smoky voice that helped to set the slow-burning mood of torch and twang.
While Presley would eventually duet with her late father on the 2007 charity single “In the Ghetto,” 2012’s “I Love You Because” and the title track of his posthumous 2018 collection “Where No One Stands Alone,” this was not the calculated move of Natalie Cole doing “Unforgettable” with dad Nat King Cole in 1991 (from “Unforgettable … With Love,” an entire album covering her father).
“I could’ve done this ages ago,” Presley told Spinner after releasing the “In the Ghetto” duet in 2007. “I always find it necessary to make my own path and not ride on his coattails, which I have not done.”
And by then, it was clear that Presley was no longer reaching for pop superstardom. But perhaps she never was. If so, wouldn’t she have taken musical advantage of being married to another musical royal, King of Pop Michael Jackson, when he was still cranking out hits in the ’90s?
No doubt — Presley was always determined to make a name for herself, by herself, as an artist.
“Any name will help you get in the door, but it doesn’t mean you’re going to stay in the house,” she told Spinner. “I don’t try to use it. I’ve never tried to use it.”