Listen to Lana Del Rey's haunting cover of Unchained Melody in tribute to Elvis Presley

Lana Del Rey transformed Elvis Presley's Unchained Melody in a typically haunting cover in honour of the King of Rock and Roll in a televised US performance. 

Filmed as part of the Christmas at Graceland special that aired on US network NBC last night, Lana transformed Unchained Melody in a gothic lament of the highest degree. But then again, what did you expect?

Of course, Unchained Melody is not an Elvis original, but he did release an equally memorable cover of the song in 1977 for his last TV special, in what would be his last televised performance before his death. Many critics point to Elvis's cover of Unchained Melody as his last, truly great moment. 

Lana has also had a very 2023. Not only did she secure her sixth UK Number 1 album with the self-analytical Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd?, she kickstarted one of her biggest promotional rollouts in recent memory, including a headline slot at Glastonbury that grabbed all the headlines when, after appearing on stage late, she was forced to cut her set short. 

MORE: See where all of Lana Del Rey's singles and albums have charted in the UK

The history of Unchained Melody on the Official Chart is also fascinating and deserves to be dived into deeper here.

Originally written by Alex North and Hy Zaret in 1955 for a film called (wouldn't you believe it) Unchained, the song's original status as a standard was secured when Jimmy Hill's cover became the first version of the song to become a UK Number 1 single, in 1955.

But perhaps the song's true path to immortality came when The Righteous Brothers covered the song, and its their cover that has been the basis for Unchained Melody's enduring success when its been taken and re-shaped by other artists. 

After a re-spike in popularity after The Righteous Brother's version (which hit a Number 14 peak in the UK during its original 1965 release) was featured in the popular 1990 blockbuster Ghost, starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. Off the back of this sync, The Righteous Brothers re-released the song, and it hit Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart for four straight weeks in 1990. 

The song was then featured in the popular 90s drama series Soldier, Soldier starring Robson Greene and Jerome Flynn, whose characters sang Unchained Melody in a memorable scene. In fact, it proved so popular that a then-little-known music executive called Simon Cowell signed the two actors as a musical duo, Robson and Jerome, and released Unchained Melody as a single. It became an immediate Number 1 smash for the pair, and is still one of the best-selling singles in the history of the Official Chart.

Cowell, ever the maverick, saw a chance to repeat the same trick when he became a judge on Pop Idol in 2001, where contestant Gareth Gates performed it. Despite coming in second place to WIll Young, Gates was signed to a record deal by Cowell and his cover of Unchained Melody became his debut single, debuting at Number 1 on its first week on sale in 2022, shifting 850,000 copies in its first week. 

So, basically...Lana, get this on streaming hun!