Music has always played an important part of my life. I have eclectic tastes, but there are specific songs that inspire me, calm me, and one could say enlighten me. One such song is "Walking in Memphis" by Marc Cohn.
Cohn wrote the song after a visit to Graceland as an inspiring songwriter/singer. He has labeled his time in Memphis as a "spiritual awakening" that changed how he viewed his career and life. It just so happens that "Walking in Memphis" was Cohn's only number one hit.
My objectives in this project are:
1) Research the hidden meanings to the song. For instance, I have already learned that Cohn's first historical reference in the song, "put on my blue suede shoes and I boarded the plane," was actually not a reference to Elvis Presley but to the unknown artist who recorded the song before him.
2) Research the historical places and figures represented in the song (i.e. Elvis, Bruce Springstein, Reverend Green, WC Handy, BB King, Beale Street, the Hollywood Cafe)
3) Follow the journey that Cohn took myself, from Union Ave to Graceland, down towards Tunica to the Hollywood Cafe, trying to put myself into Cohn's shoes as someone struggling to find my way hoping to recreate the spiritual awakening.
I plan on staging my presentation with an introduction to my audience about my project followed by my own documentary like "music video" of my journey to Cohn's "Walking in Memphis". Then of course the meat of my presentation and the closing.
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