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 since 1956, and alternative takes have surfaced on several compilation albums. "Heartbreak Hotel" was awarded by the Broadcast Music Incorporated in its Country music Awards. It was re-released in 1971 for the UK market, where it charted at number 10. In 1979, following Presley's death, author Robert Matthew-Walker wrote: "Heartbreak Hotel became one of the legendary rock performances. For many people it "is" Elvis Presley, and it continues to excite and fascinate listeners. Heartbreak Hotel is a classic performance, yet when it is analyzed it appears so simple that one cannot recall a time when one did not know it."