To promote the forthcoming album, on June 6, 1977 RCA Records released "Way Down" / "Pledging My Love". Nineteen days later it entered Billboard's "Hot 100" at number 70, had a run of 21 weeks and reached number 18. On the same day the single was also listed on the "Hot Country Singles Chart" for the first time. Here it became a number one hit and stayed on the charts for 17 weeks. Finally, on July 2nd, "Way Down" entered the "Easy Listening Chart", too. It could be found there for 19 weeks and peaked at number 14. Of course the death of the king was a huge sales boost, in September 1977 the RIAA gave a Gold Award to the Presley family. 22 years later it was updated to Platinum. Abroad "Way Down" / "Pledging My Love" also sold very well. When BMG re-released the single in 2005 Elvis was successful again and scored a number 2 hit on the UK Charts. The global sales are estimated at more than 5 million units, which translates to 750 million paid streams. Over the years the popularity of "Way Down" has decreased, but still the track accumulates around 20 million streams on Spotify. "Pledging My Love" clocks in at 5 million requests.

Without doubt "Way Down" / "Pledging My Love" is one of the most successful single releases of the king. But it has to be noticed, that 45s like "Suspicious Minds" / "You'll Think Of Me" sold better, even without the hype of Elvis' demise.

The picture on the cover was taken half a decade before the release, when Elvis performed in Honolulu in November 1972. Of course RCA Records didn't forget to promote the new album "Moody Blue".

On the streaming platforms the tracks can be found on the "Moody Blue" album in the way it was issued in 2016 as part of the set "The Album Collection". For this project all tracks were scanned with high-resolution equipment and remastered. Sony also produced MQA files. Therefore the album can be presented with the golden Hi-Res emblem and (on the accordant platform) as "Tidal Masters". The better sound of these versions is owed exclusively to the new mastering (the elimination of interfering noise). Because first one cannot turn an analogue recording into a high resolution recording just by scanning the tape with hd equipment and second even an old cd with 16 bit/44.1 kHz exceeds the auditory sense of a human being.

 "Way Down" was written by Layng Martine jr, Elvis recorded it on October 29, 1976 at the den of "Graceland" mansion. The master take is numbered 2c, because Felton Jarvis messed up the counting. If it had been correct, it would have been take 5. On January 22, 1977 the producer added harmony vocals. I would describe "Way Down" as an uptempo popsong with retro rock'n'roll elements. It could have been great if Elvis had invested a little more energy. It's still a nice track, but also a missed opportunity.

On the same day Elvis also recorded "Pledging My Love". In contrast to his somewhat tired performace of the rocker this country ballad is sung with emotion and enthusiasm. To me this one is another highlight. The song was written by Ferdinand Washington and Don Robey and first performed in 1955 by Johnny Ace. According to some rumors the song was also on the set list of the young Mr. Presley. Twentyone years later he needed six takes to put the ballad on tape. On January 22, 1977 Felton Jarvis added additional vocals and instruments and shortened the recording of two and a half minutes.