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By Dave Karger
Dave Karger
Dave Karger
Dave Karger, a senior writer at EW, also reports on box office and other movie- related matters on NBC's ''Today''

With lovesick laments like ''Wicked Game'' and ''Somebody's Crying,'' Chris Isaak, 40, has cornered the market on the heartbroken ballad. It's no wonder that the stylish rocker — whose new album, The Baja Sessions, is due in stores next week — finds Elvis Presley's 1955 ode to lost love, ''I Forgot to Remember to Forget,'' so unforgettable.

''I was 20 and didn't know what I was going to do with myself. I was doing anything to keep from working. I went to a junk store and bought an old Elvis 45, which you never see — people don't throw out their old Elvis records. It was the first time I heard something and went, 'Wow. I want to do this as a job. I want to play music all the time.' I loved the words — about somebody who's lost somebody but can't forget them. It had this great Scotty Moore guitar solo; it was electric and biting. And it had pretty sentiment and pretty singing. It was everything I wanted. I picked up an acoustic guitar and I could kind of sing it and it sounded like the record. And I went, 'All right. I surrender. Where do I go to surrender?'''


Posted Oct 04, 1996 | Published in issue #347 Oct 04, 1996 | Order Article Reprints