Elvis' Daughter Lisa Marie Is Haunted By Graceland's 'damn Back ...

Elvis Presley: Upstairs of Graceland ‘like he just left’ says expert

Lisa Marie Presley would visit her childhood home every Christmas and was one of the very few people to have access to the upstairs floor, which houses just her bedroom and that of her father Elvis Presley. The King's daughter, who died yesterday at just 54, would still entertain friends there, using the kitchen and dining room. The Memphis mansion is both a museum and a home. Outside are the gardens where she raced golf buggies with Elvis during the days and, indeed, many nights with the famously nocturnal star. But one part of the grounds was particularly troubling to the rock 'n roll heiress – and understandably so.

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Lisa Marie has rarely given interviews and even less so in the past decade. But the songwriter often expressed her most personal feelings and thoughts in her lyrics.

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Asked about her 2003 track, Lights Out, when it was released, she opened up about the painful personal inspiration behind the song. 

One of the verses says: "Someone turned the lights out there in Memphis, That's where my family's buried and gone. Last time I was there I noticed a space left, Next to them there in Memphis, In the damn back lawn."

SCROLL DOWN TO WATCH LISA MARIE PRESLEY'S LIGHTS OUT VIDEO

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Elvis Presley and his daughter Lisa Marie (Image: GETTY)

Elvis Presley and Priscilla with daughter Lisa Marie (Image: GETTY)

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Asked about the lyric, Lisa Marie was painfully honest first about why she used the phrase "Damn back lawn."

She said: "Because I couldn't say 'mother****ing back lawn.' It didn't work melodically."

She went on the explain why she felt that way about Graceland's back garden, and why it continued to haunt her years later.

Lisa Marie said: "The back lawn of Graceland is a graveyard, basically. How many people have a family grave in the backyard? How many people are reminded of their fate, their mortality, every ****ing day?"

She went on to talk about whether she would also be buried there.

READ MORE: Lisa Marie Presley, 54, dies two days after Golden Globes appearance

Elvis Presley's grave at Graceland (Image: GETTY)

Up until then, the Meditation Garden at Graceland had housed the graves of Elvis, his parents Vernon and Gladys, and his grandmother Minnie Mae. It has been a place of pilgrimage for fans ever since the house was opened to the public.

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But then Lisa Marie's son, Benjamin Keough, died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds in a horrific accident on July 12, 2020. He, too, is now also buried at Graceland with his family. 

The official statement read: "Benjamin Storm Keough was laid to rest in the Meditation Garden at Graceland with his family including his grandfather, Elvis Presley, great-grandmother, Gladys Presley, great-grandfather, Vernon Presley and great-great-grandmother, Minnie Mae Presley."

Since then, Lisa Marie largely retreated from the public eye and social media until the release of Baz Luhrmann's Elvis biopic, which is adored.

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Speaking of her own future, Lisa Marie had previously said: "All the graves are lined up and there's a spot there, waiting for me, right next to my grandmother

Asked about her own plans, she added: "I don't plan on anything. I'm sure I'll end up there. Or I'll shrink my head and put it in a glass box in the living room. I'll get more tourists to Graceland that way."

Despite that, the singer/songwriter also talked about the great joy she remembered during her childhood at the house with her father.

Elvis Presley life and death (Image: GETTY)

Lisa Marie was only nine when Elvis died, and those early years were a child's paradise, filled with extravagant gifts, extraordinary trips and the private hiring of cinemas and funfairs purely for her enjoyment.

Elvis kept unorthodox hours and his daughter described them as "nocturnal," with her father sometimes waking her in the middle of the night to go and play in the gardens.

She said: "(He would) go to bed at four or five A.M. and get up at two or three the next afternoon. It was always a lot of fun. There is not one bad memory. There was always a lot of energy and life in the house. He was very mischievous."

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