THE LAST SOUND ON ELVIS PRESLEY’S FINAL SINGLE WASN’T EVEN ELVIS
What if the final sound on Elvis Presley’s last single was not his voice at all?
In the summer of 1977, Elvis Presley was still hearing his records on American radio. His new single, “Way Down,” had been released in June and was slowly climbing the charts. At first, it looked like another late-career Elvis record—successful, but hardly extraordinary.
Then everything changed.
On August 16, 1977, Elvis Presley died at Graceland.
Just four days later, “Way Down” reached No. 1 on Billboard’s country chart. Within weeks, it would reach the top of the British singles chart, where it remained for five weeks.
But the story behind the record is even more remarkable than the chart numbers.
“Way Down” was written by Nashville songwriter Layng Martine Jr., a lifelong Elvis fan whose fascination with the singer began when he was still in seventh grade. Hearing one of Elvis’s early records on the radio had left such an impression that, years later, Martine still remembered exactly what Elvis had meant to him.
Ironically, “Way Down” was not even the song Martine was most excited about.
He played it for his friend Ray Stevens, who immediately heard something special in it. A demo was recorded, with Stevens even providing the deep bass vocal himself. Eventually, the song reached Elvis’s producer, Felton Jarvis.
But getting Elvis into a recording studio had become increasingly difficult.
By the mid-1970s, traditional recording sessions were no longer simple for Elvis. Several Memphis studios associated with his greatest recordings were no longer available. Rather than continually trying to bring Elvis to a studio, RCA eventually decided to bring the studio to Elvis.
In 1976, a mobile recording unit was brought to Graceland.
The Jungle Room was transformed into a makeshift recording studio. Cables ran from the house to the recording truck outside, allowing Elvis to record without leaving home.
And that detail changes the way “Way Down” sounds when you know the story behind it.
Elvis recorded late at night inside his own home, surrounded by the familiar furniture and décor of Graceland. The sessions were not always easy. Musicians could wait for hours. Sometimes Elvis would disappear upstairs. On other occasions, recording plans simply did not happen.
Yet when Elvis finally stepped up to the microphone, he could still deliver.
Songs such as “Hurt,” “Moody Blue,” “Pledging My Love,” and “Way Down” emerged from these Graceland sessions. “Way Down” became particularly memorable because of what happened at the very bottom of the arrangement.
Enter J.D. Sumner.
Sumner had been connected to Elvis since the earliest years of his career. He had been part of the gospel world that influenced Elvis as a young man and later became a member of the Stamps, the gospel group that performed behind Elvis during the final years of his life.
Sumner’s bass voice was extraordinary.
On “Way Down,” his deep vocal response after the choruses became one of the recording’s most recognizable features. And at the very end, after Elvis has essentially finished singing, Sumner delivers that famous subterranean “way on down.”
It creates an eerie musical moment.
The King’s voice disappears.
But the record doesn’t.
One of the men who had stood beside Elvis for years provides the final vocal sound.
Then came August 1977.
Elvis was gone, but “Way Down” was still climbing.
The song reached No. 1 on the Billboard country chart shortly after his death. On the U.S. Hot 100, it eventually climbed back after initially falling, reaching No. 18. In Britain, its rise was even more dramatic.
On September 3, 1977, “Way Down” reached No. 1 in the United Kingdom.
Elvis would never know.
The songwriter, Layng Martine Jr., later recalled learning about the song’s success while on vacation. But when he learned that Elvis had died, his thoughts were not immediately about charts or royalties. Instead, he remembered himself as a young boy hearing Elvis on the radio.
That is perhaps what makes the story so haunting.
A songwriter who had once been a schoolboy listening to Elvis eventually had his own song recorded by the man who had inspired him.
And that song became Elvis’s final single released during his lifetime.
Just two days after Elvis’s death, J.D. Sumner and the Stamps performed at his funeral at Graceland. Years earlier, Sumner had also participated in the funeral of Elvis’s mother, Gladys.
The connection is difficult to ignore.
He had sung for Elvis’s mother.
He had sung behind Elvis on stage.
And now, he was singing at Elvis’s funeral.
The recording itself remains tied forever to the Jungle Room—the unusual room at Graceland where some of Elvis’s final studio recordings were made.
Today, visitors can walk through that same room.
They can see the green carpeting, the distinctive décor, and the space where Elvis recorded during the final chapter of his career.
But behind those walls is a much stranger story.
A song its writer wasn’t initially convinced about.
A singer who no longer wanted—or found it increasingly difficult—to record in conventional studios.
A recording truck parked outside Graceland.
A late-night session inside Elvis’s own home.
A single released while he was still alive.
And then, only weeks later, a No. 1 record after his death.
But perhaps the most unforgettable detail is saved for the final seconds.
Elvis Presley sings “Way Down.”
His voice carries the song.
Then his voice stops.
And another voice takes over.
Deep.
Powerful.
Almost impossibly low.
It belongs to J.D. Sumner—the man who had spent years singing beside Elvis and who had known the Presley family long before the final days.
So when you listen to the last seconds of Elvis Presley’s final single, listen closely.
The final voice you hear is not Elvis.
It is J.D. Sumner.
And somehow, that makes the ending of Elvis Presley’s recording career even more unforgettable.