Heartbreak Hotel about a man who had destroyed all his identity papers and jumped to his death from a hotel window, leaving a suicide note with the single line, "I walk a lonely street". In 2016, an article in "Rolling Stone" magazine suggested that the story in reality originated from a report about a painter and petty criminal, Alvin Krolik, whose marriage had failed and who wrote a partial autobiography including the line "This is the story of a person who walked a lonely street." Krolik's story was published in news media, and received further publicity after he was shot and killed
Heartbreak Hotel Freberg parodied "Heartbreak Hotel" immediately after its release, because the vocals on the original record featured a heavy use of reverb. In the cover, the lead singer repeatedly asks for "more echo on [his] voice." When Presley recorded "Hound Dog" a few months later, he had taken over the role of producer, using what he learned at Sun Records (although Sholes was still credited) and decided not to use echo. Connie Francis recorded the song for her 1959 album "Rock 'n' Roll Million Sellers"; this album also features "Don't Be Cruel". Country singer Johnny Cash parodied the song in 1959