Elvis Presley
From about 1978 to 1993 I’d acquired or listened to numerous Elvis Presley items. Some of those items included: 1. An Elvis movie soundtrack compiliation. 2. A video titled “This is Elvis“ . 3. A cassette tape titled “The Great Performances of ELVIS”. 4. A book titled ”Elvis and Me” and 5. A video titled “ELVIS 68′ comeback Special”.
When I was a kid, my parents used to own a record, which I can’t recall the title of!! This record contained songs from the movies Elvis had starred and sung in. The songs which I used to really enjoy listening to were “King Creole”, “G.I. Blues”, “Rock-A-Hula Baby”, “Follow That Dream”. I used to enjoy listening to them as they’d make me feel great and were really boppy.
In about 1989, I video tapped an Elvis movie/documentary on TV which was titled “This is Elvis” (1981). What I remember and which still stands out for me about the documentary is that 1. It contained real footage of Elvis’s first singing performances on TV in the 1950’s. Those are where he is singing the songs such as “Hound Dog” & “Don’t be cruel”. 2. It had footage of after Elvis’s divorce and where he is singing the song “You were always on my mind” in a music studio. 3. Scenes where Elvis is carrying out Karate moves in the early 1970’s. 4. However, the memory about this video which still sticks in my mind is a part where Elvis is singing live on stage to a big audience near the end of his life. He is up on stage where he is very overweight, is sweating and then he sings some wrong words to the song “Are You Lonesome Tonight”. In a part of the song he sings “And I am standing there… without any hair!” Then he mumbles some incomprehensible words. Back when I first tapped the documentary, I was a bit appalled by his weight but now I find it interesting watching him there on stage in the video.
Youtube video of "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" (1977)
In the early 1990’s, my brother bought me an Elvis cassette tape for Christmas. This tape was titled “The Great Performances of ELVIS”. The tape mostly has songs from the 1950’s and 1960’s. However, it has a few songs from the early 1970’s.
Cover picture of "The Great Performances of ELVIS" tape
Some of the songs on the tape include:
- My happiness
- That’s all right
- Shack, rattle & roll/flip flop & fly
- Heartbreak Hotel,
- Jailhouse rock
- King Creole
- Return to Sender
- Always on my mind
- American Trilogy
- Memories
The songs I like most from this tape and which I still own are “Always on my mind”, “American Trilogy” and “Memories”. Those songs are from the late 1960’s and early 1970’s and I just like them the most because they are just awesome and they make me feel good!
Youtube video of "Always on my mind"
In about 1989 or 1990, I bought a book titled “Elvis and Me”. This book is an autobiography by Elvis’s ex-wife Priscilla Presley about her life with Elvis.
Similar book cover to the "Elvis and Me" book which I once owned
I can’t remember much about the book but I do remember that in the past I had read it several times. Obviously, I did that because I found she had led a very interesting life with Elvis! However, I do remember a few things from the book. Firstly, is that Priscilla met Elvis in Germany, while Elvis was stationed there in the armed forces. Secondly, that Priscilla was given permission by her parents when she was fourteen to stay at Gracelands with Elvis’s parents, while she was doing her schooling nearby. I thought that was pretty cool and would have been very fun. Thirdly, I remember that Priscilla states in the book she had a lot of drugs either to keep her awake or to make her sleep. She was given these pills from Elvis so that she could keep up with a hectic life with him. Such as staying up all night, and then so she would be able to get up in the morning to go to school etc. Lastly I remembers that Priscilla states in the book that she was suspicious of Elvis having an affair with Ann-Margret before they were married in 1967.
I also recall that the book contained some very interesting photos of Elvis, Priscilla and their daughter Lisa-Marie. One of the great photos in it is of Elvis and Priscilla’s wedding in 1967 and Priscilla looks quite stunning with her black, long hair and gorgeous wedding dress.
Other photos I like in the book is a family photo of Elvis, Priscilla and Lisa Marie. Priscilla looks so beautiful in this photo with her long brown hair!. Lisa-Marie looks very cute too.
Also in the book, there is also a photo of some horses at Gracelands with Lisa-Marie and Priscilla in the background.
Photos from Elvis and Me
Elvis & Priscilla’s wedding day on May 1, 1967
On the day of Elvis and Priscilla’s Divorce in Jan 8, 1973
In about 1993, I received a video titled “ELVIS 68 comeback Special” for Christmas. This video contains Elvis and his band playing songs live to a studio audience.
The back of the video states “June 27 & 28, 1968, NBC TV Studios, Burbank California. Elvis is about to revitalise and reorientate his extraordinary career with his first appearance before a live audience since March 1961 and his first television appearance since March, 1960”.
Cover picture of "ELVIS 68 comeback Special" video
Personally, from watching this video, Elvis looks fabulous in his black leather clothes and black hair.
The set up of the concert also looks great with Elvis and his band sitting down on chairs and playing musical instruments. Elvis’s band does a superb job in the video playing their instruments and singing with Elvis. They sing well and help him along whenever he needed it.
Also, in the video the audience is mostly woman. The woman are ogling over Elvis and just can’t get enough of him. In one spot of the video, Elvis wipes some sweat off his head with a tissue and a bit of tissue is left on his face. Then a member of his band gives the tissue bit to one of the women in the audience and she just goes ballistic with excitement and puts it in her purse!!
Another area of the video, which shows just how much the women adored Elvis is where he sits down on some steps near his band and sings “Memories”. Then these women move up close to him and look up to him lovingly while he is singing the song. Man some women. Also girls are still like that today with rock stars. One rock star of such is Justin Beuber.
Youtube video of "Memories" (1968)
Then at the end of the live concert Elvis is singing and acting with people in a studio. Also coming with that are different scenes with various different backgrounds, props and items around. I didn’t find this part of the video very interesting. In my opinion it was quite boring as I didn’t like the whole set up of it and the way the girls were dressed etc.
I have not acquired any other items regarding Elvis since about 1993, as I became a huge fan of David Bowie from 1995 onwards and focused on him for years. Due to that, I will end it here.
Bye for now.
Frances
Frances's Classic Rock 'n' Roll Weblog 