Elvis Presley: Classic Or Dud?

"I need a drink of water. My mouth feels like Bob Dylan spent the night in it."

About all I can add to this is banal and you've probably heard it a million times. But I feel like I've lived it, so indulge me. that Elvis epitomizes the Memphis approach to everything. The casual psychodrama of Memphis. The sublime and insane assurance that you are right and the rest of the world is wrong. The will to make a joke out of the most serious things and something serious out of the most inane shit. I don't really trust anyone who's a pop intellectual who has to slot Elvis into some scheme of "he blew it" or "he wasn't an idealist." Like I would say about Dean Martin, whom I think Elvis was the spiritual brother to, Nothing Matters. Except money, creature comforts, blowing the whole fucking thing off and being glad you can afford to do it. I don't ever listen to Elvis Presley; once in a while I do screen his greatest work, Clambake, the kind of dada I can relate to. I also sometimes listen to "Kentucky Rain" or "True Love Travels on a Gravel Road," and his Dylan cover is really good. I plan on never listening to the guy again as long as I live. I don't believe in him and I think the Guralnick approach, fine as Guralnick is, as good a man as he apparently is and humane, is beside the point when it comes to Elvis. I think anyone who's ever spent time in Memphis, I lived there for almost a decade, gets this pretty much immediately. He's a copy of a copy of a copy and yet real, and he's a joke. Which is how the city is, it might as well not even exist. But Dean Martin! He's great in Rio Bravo, and he's also just as inauthentic as Elvis but somehow far more real. Elvis never got close to the scene in that film in which Dean, drunk for a year, starts to fish around in the spittoon for the silver dollar piece, and Wayne kicks him away. But Dean never sang a musical-comedy number, one of the worst songs ever written, while riding a motorcycle thru Florida with a bad Jerry Reed lookalike. That's my two cents on Elvis.

xps Elvis also covered "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright"

great post edd

Elvis did "Get Back" live

He definitely had a great understanding of hearing a song and knowing it could be an Elvis song

So then by your lights, edd, Alex Chilton is some sort of Elvis through the cracked looking glass filled with Brandy or something

I usually think of myself as a "Sun Sessions, Suspicious Minds, and a couple of other songs" type of Elvis fan, but last night for no particular reason other than the topic of Elvis somehow came up and I was trying to explain to my 6-year old who he was, I decided to put on "Golden Records" for the first time in a couple of years, and I'll be durned if those hammy, hokey songs didn't all sound pretty great. Those ham-fisted arrangements might not win points for authenticity or sublety, but no matter how hard he drives his thoroughbred of a voice, Elvis never really sounds like he's breaking a sweat selling the shit out of those tongue-in-cheek Lieber/Stoller lyrics.

Honestly another thing that I really got out of the doc was how *beautiful* he was especially young Elvis, what an amazing creature you couldn't not be drawn to him

otm

and weirdly childlike
like him & Priscilla holding hands in divorce court

I heard a cheap cover of “always on my mind” and yeah it’s a willie song but I couldn’t help but think of the EP version and how emotionally pregnant it is

I think if I'd lived in Memphis for a decade, I might not ever want to listen to him again either, much less read books about him. But considering how carefully contrived his approach was, from intuition and in-accrual of method, referencing once again The Complete Sun Sessions and studio bootlegs, plus night after night on stage, in quite a range of settings and situations, and considering how interested he got in other performers bouncing his signature sounds back at him----on The Million Dollar Quartet, he keeps trying to tell his hopped-up colleagues about seeing that fella with Ward and the Dominoes (he means Jackie Wilson, Billy Ward's lead singer at that point), in Vegas, doing an Elvis song, singing "tellyphone"--E is fascinated by this detail; did he not know he was singing "tellyphone'?---considering how often he later fell back on self-imitation, and how known the stylistic elements were even at best, it's amazing how many tracks still work---mainly because he found his way back to material that worked for him and his audience, no matter how sappy etc. some of it might be otherwise---I don't particularly give a shit about "Bridge Over Troubled Water" or "How Great Thou Art" or even (gasp!) "Tomorrow Is A Long Time" as sung by anybody else.
(Speaking of Dylan, Presley's jam or vamp on "Don't Think Twice," which I've found on the 'Tube in 5 and 12 minute clips, is just repeating the same words and vocal efx forever, a big bad jokey waste that takes us back to Edd's take.)

"in-accrual"? Ah meant plain "accrual," like.

The song that affects me most is American Trilogy - i guess the Hawaii version. So hush, little baby, don’t you cry / you know your daddy’s born to die ... his truth is marching on... dudes got death on his mind, right?

all my trials lord, soon be over ...

elvis did "hey jude" too

So then by your lights, edd, Alex Chilton is some sort of Elvis through the cracked looking glass filled with Brandy or something
Yeah, filled with a girl named Brandy. Fundamentally Elvis and Chilton are coming from the same place. An attitude toward pop itself, toward seriousness of all kinds. Furry Lewis did it perhaps better than either of them. Stay out of tune, stay aloof from the real world while bemoaning your shitty place in it--Furry swept the street, Elvis drove a truck and hated it, Alex reveled in how it feels to lose your job and be on the bottom. All very Memphis attitudes. I like to exaggerate and I'm definitely doing that in that post above. I do appreciate Elvis, but he's just so hard to listen to now, he's a failed god wandering among this detritus he helped create, and that's not something impressionable young people are good at dealing with, and that's why people like simple rock 'n' roll so much.

There’s a clip of him playing with Lady Madonna on the 70s box.

And, I'd add, I like to exaggerate because that's what rock 'n' roll requires. As Elvis did so well and Alex Chilton, perhaps the most recognizable Memphian after Elvis, tried hard to negate by turning the personal into ugliness you could enjoy. Dickinson also understood this principle, as did Rufus Thomas when he wore short pants, acted like a piece of fried chicken on two legs, and so forth. Tall tales and exaggerated bathos and pathos, perhaps. I wonder what The Searcher's conclusions are about Elvis.

I’d like to add that his closing performance of “If I Can Dream” from the ‘68 Comeback Special suggests that Elvis also seemed to leave a career of being the world’s greatest soul singer on the table. Holy shit, what a performance.

The '70s box has a brief informal rehearsal of "I Shall Be Released." It ends with Elvis just saying, "Dylan." It's a shame it never got a proper arrangement or recording -- I could see it benefiting from an overblown horns-and-strings arrangement.

ha, I have that "Dylan...." echoing away in a mix I made from the period.

I'm sure this has been posted a million times here (and by me, too) but I don't see it in this thread (and haven't seen the doc yet, if it's included)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmLOt9mRD18

To say that Elvis was more expressive than his contemporaries or that there was a yearning in his voice isn't really enough. I know it's common knowledge but all the spending and gift-giving, his jealousy and possessiveness of friends and lovers, the hyperactivity and almost constant joking and punning you hear in-studio, and of course the drugs—all of it was maintained to keep a profound pain at bay. That's what I hear even in some of his goofiest stuff and what for me elevates him as an interpreter and performer—a need to go down into what is painful about music, to locate what hurts in a song and stay there and suffer it, maybe in the hope the pain will abate when it's over.

I haven't seen this yet but I look forward to watching it. In the meantime, re: Bruce and Petty, I find it fascinating that such different people could be equally impacted by Elvis. On one hand you've got Bruce, who is clearly indebted as a musician/ performer. But then Petty, there is virtually no overt Elvis influence, at least not to my eyes and ears. It's like when Ozzy cites the Beatles as his favorite band. We're so used to acts sounding like the Beatles that it's easy to forget the band's impact was so huge that one needn't sound like the Beatles - or even make music at all - to have been influenced by the Beatles. Same with Elvis. (And Dylan, and Bowie, Madonna, Prince, and a few others). It's a pervasive, epochal, elementally cultural impact.

Lemmy was mad for the Beatles, Elvis, all that. It’s more the age group that is the tell rather than their personal musical style

I'd guess class and obviously race played a role, too.

Also who the hell else was on then?

Lemmy was mad for the Beatles, Elvis, all that. It’s more the age group that is the tell rather than their personal musical style

But remember, Lemmy saw the Beatles play in Hamburg, and said they were basically a speed-freak punk band at that point.

much like Christian Nolan digging Stanley Kubrick while not making Kubrickian movies, people can be hugely influenced by a singular artist while taking that energy into entirely new directions

Christopher Nolan even

But also: it’s not quite the same thing but I have 2 friends, one my age and one 10 yrs younger. We were talking abt Michael Jackson & she just didnt get our love for him bcz by the time she was old enough to know about his music he was full tilt boogie weird.
If you werent there when the wave hit, it’s hard to explain what that feeling was like & how that joy compounds over time & carries you through the weirdness

When I went to see a tribute band play Michael Jackson, the crowd responded proportionally by age/generation depending on whether the music was Motown, Off the Wall, Thriller or Bad.

But much more than, say, someone like Kubrick, Elvis (like the Beatles) demarcated a clear cultural before/after.

Esp. for people in palookaville, I imagine. Did anyone look at (insert pre-Elvis musical star here) and think, that could be me? That is my way out of middle of nowhere poverty?

When I went to see a tribute band play Michael Jackson, the crowd responded proportionally by age/generation depending on whether the music was Motown, Off the Wall, Thriller or Bad.

when i was in full Thriller mania, learning to moonwalk etc, a younger friend of my parents said, you know how you feel about Michael Jackson? that's how i felt about Michael Jackson when i was your age

The way he says “Dylan” in the take above, it’s an incantation.

Did anyone look at (insert pre-Elvis musical star here) and think, that could be me? That is my way out of middle of nowhere poverty?

Hank Williams? i think the lack of grooming and willingness to not shy away from southernness & stereotypes about hillbillies was pretty unique and somewhat democratizing.

however im not sure if there was even a pre-Elvis music industry marketing infrastructure to support a popular idea of music as a ticket to riches. like that way of thinking was probably true for Hollywood (and to that effect Elvis is a bit old school by also being a film star) but i dunno.

also this was an era before LP as album & recorded music automated most things, i'd imagine there were lots more opportunities for working musicians. perhaps it was more of a legit career path back then than the "you'll never make it as a giant star" all-or-nothing sort of success chasing we have now.

that unchained melody clip just left me speechless....six weeks before he died...jesus, he's just giving everything to get through it

Hank Williams? i think the lack of grooming and willingness to not shy away from southernness & stereotypes about hillbillies was pretty unique and somewhat democratizing.

There's a great book about the history of country music (and "country music") called Don't Get Above Your Raisin': Country Music and the Southern Working Class; definitely worth checking out.

Is there any documentary that covers the more tawdry aspects of his celebrity – ie, the karate/friend peanut butter and banana sandwiches/super young girlfriends, etc. I appreciate that this doc tried to focus on his artistry as it can be lost among that stuff. But I realize I don’t really know much about it and my sense is that it’s not exactly irrelevant.

peanut butter and banana sandwiches are very good and not tawdry

^ also true of karate

there was a Geraldo-led 20/20 special from 1979 but it's about the "cover up" of his death

Had to do some work at the library today, and discovered this in the stacks:

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41PFAWG6bgL._SX366_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

A Novel About Elvis By William F. Buckley

If you’re looking for sensationalism and hearsay, you may enjoy the Goldman biography

Is there any documentary that covers the more tawdry aspects of his celebrity – ie, the karate/friend peanut butter and banana sandwiches/super young girlfriends, etc. I appreciate that this doc tried to focus on his artistry as it can be lost among that stuff. But I realize I don’t really know much about it and my sense is that it’s not exactly irrelevant.

― Naive Teen Idol, Saturday, 5 May 2018 14:59 (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is what you're looking for: Arena, 1996, The Burger and The King.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b5LQ-rNSd8

To say that Elvis was more expressive than his contemporaries or that there was a yearning in his voice isn't really enough. I know it's common knowledge but all the spending and gift-giving, his jealousy and possessiveness of friends and lovers, the hyperactivity and almost constant joking and punning you hear in-studio, and of course the drugs—all of it was maintained to keep a profound pain at bay. That's what I hear even in some of his goofiest stuff and what for me elevates him as an interpreter and performer—a need to go down into what is painful about music, to locate what hurts in a song and stay there and suffer it, maybe in the hope the pain will abate when it's over.

― DACA Flocka Flame (Hadrian VIII), Thursday, April 26, 2018 4:02 PM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The recording sessions book says he recorded this one in a couple of takes, then listened to the playback in the studio over and over.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pljYD7ncmSU

Another painful stab at loneliness:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLj0aLPLsys

and the live version with "listen Cilla" interspersed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZaFihDRjZs

My stab from a couple years back at soundscaping a young searcher's stomping grounds, jumping between WDIA and WHBQ and meandering up and down the the dial, skipping back and forth across the tracks with Dewey Phillips spots, news bulletins, jingles, good and bad weather, miscellany postwar ephemera.... pm me for a link!

http://i390.photobucket.com/albums/oo346/HadrianVIII/EAP_1941-1953_zpsgqdjuhly.jpg

oh that was big. anyway:

01 Night Train To Memphis (3:39) Roy Acuff 1944
02 All She Wants To Do Is Rock (3:54) Wynonie Harris 1949
03 Up Above My Head (2:27) Sister Rosetta Tharpe 1949
04 Ida Red Likes The Boogie (2:17) Bob Wills 1950
05 Jesus Hits Like The Atom Bomb (2:31) The Soul Stirrers 1950
06 Blue Moon Of Kentucky (2:04) Bill Monroe 1947
07 Gotta Let You Go (2:39) Joe Hill Louis 1950
08 Rolling, Riding, Rocking (1:51) Blackwood Brothers 1953
09 Standing in the Safety Zone (2:22) Professor Johnson 1950
10 That's All Right (2:57) Arthur Crudup 1946
11 That's When Your Heartaches Begin (3:23) The Ink Spots 1946
12 Satisfied (2:41) Martha Carson 1951
13 Rocket 88 (3:01) Jackie Brenston 1951
14 The Hot Guitar (2:59) Eddie Hill 1952
15 When the Swallows Come Back [....](3:19) Billy Ward &The Dominoes 1952
16 Booted (3:02) Rosco Gordon 1952
17 La Fiacre (3:05) Giselle Mackenzi 1951
18 Call Me Fool (3:12) Mario Lanza 1953
19 Sixty Minute Man (2:53) The Dominoes 1951
20 Didn't It Rain (3:20) Sister Rosetta Tharpe 1947
21 The Great Atomic Power (2:56) The Louvin Brothers 1952
22 That's Amore (3:05) Dean Martin 1953
23 Take a Trip (3:38) Utah Smith 1953
24 A Full Time Job (2:24) Eddy Arnold 1952
25 She Moves Me (2:55) Muddy Waters 1952
26 The Golden Rocket (3:53) Hank Snow 1950
27 I'm Gonna Murder My Baby (2:52) Pat Hare 1954
28 Joshua Fit The Battle (3:29) The Spirit of Memphis 1951
29 I've Got Five Dollars & It's Saturday[...] (3:35) Ted Daffan 1950
30 Mystery Train (2:26) Little Junior's Blue Flames 1952
31 Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy (2:43) Red Foley 1950
32 Rats In My Kitchen (3:04) Sleepy John Estes 1952
33 More And More (2:18) Webb Pierce 1954
34 Hound Dog (4:10) Big Mama Thornton 1952
35 There's a Man In Jerusalem (2:21) Southern Jubillee Singers 1951
36 Shotgun Boogie (2:32) Tennessee Ernie Ford 1951
37 Cotton Crop Blues (3:36) James Cotton 1953
38 Everybody Will Be Happy Over There (1:56) The Statesmen Quartet 1954
39 Keep Them Cold Icy FIngers Off Me (3:11) Fairley Holden 1947
40 Mess Around (2:51) Ray Charles 1953
41 I've Forgotten More (2:59) The Davis Sisters 1953
42 Work With Me Annie (2:42) Hank Ballard & Midnighters 1954
43 Cry (3:01) Johnny Ray 1954
44 My Kind Of Carryin' On (3:32) Doug Poindexter 1954
45 Love Don' Love Nobody (3:17) Roy Brown 1950
46 Fortunes In Memories (2:58) Ernest Tubb 1952
47 No Swallerin' Place (4:01) June Carter 1953
48 One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer (3:20) Amos Milburn 1953
49 One More Time (2:54) Dean Martin 1954
50 The Boogie Disease (2:38) Dr. Ross 1954
51 (What About) Frank Clement (2:58) The Prisonaires 1954
52 Thirteen Women (2:51) Bill Haley & His Comets 1954
53 Dear Lord Take My Hand (2:58) Maddox Brothers & Rose 1949
54 Sleepy Eyed John (2:35) Ole Rasmussen 1950
55 Blacksmith Blues (3:26) Ella Mae Morse 1952
56 Who Is That Knocking (2:55) Southern Wonders 1952
57 Better Cut That Out (2:56) Sonny Boy Williamson 1948
58 No Help Wanted (2:24) The Carlisles 1952
59 I'm My Own Grandpa (3:12) Lonzo & Oscar 1947
60 When I First Sought The Lord Sister (2:27) Rosetta Tharpe 1952
61 Rock House Boogie (3:31) John Lee Hooker 1952
62 Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (2:53) Joe & Rose Lee Maphis 1953
63 Just Married (2:23) Faron Young 1953
64 I'm Using My Bible For A Roadmap (2:28) Reno & Smiley 1952
65 Open The Door Richard (2:56) Dusty Fletcher 1947
66 Going To The River (2:31) Fats Domino 1953
67 Molly Darling (2:34) Eddy Arnold 1947
68 Feelin' Good (3:01) Little Junior's Blue Flames 1952
69 Why Should I Cry (2:50) Lonnie Johnson 1951
70 Tired of Your Lies (2:12) Mississippi Slim 1952
71 The Things That I Used To Do (3:23) Guitar Slim 1953
72 The Gold Rush Is Over (2:23) Hank Snow 1952
73 Mona Lisa (3:23) Nat King Cole 1950
74 Working On a Building (2:50) The Jordanaires 1950
75 You Hit Me Baby Like An Atom Bomb (1:58) Fay Simmons 1954
76 Merle's Boogie Woogie (3:00) Merle Travis 1948
77 If (2:48) The Ink Spots 1951
78 Lord Will Make a Way (3:37) Rev. Anderson Johnson 1952
79 Reconsider Baby (3:07) Lowell Fulson 1954
80 Hillbilly Fever (2:52) Little Jimmy Dickens 1950
81 I'll Make Sweet Love To You (3:00) Maddox Brothers & Rose 1952
82 Diesel Smoke (2:34) Doye O'Dell 1952
83 Swing Down Sweet Chariot (3:36) The Spirit of Memphis 1951
84 Tiger Man (2:54) Rufus Thomas 1953
85 This Train (3:03) Rosetta Tharp/Louis Jordan 1943
86 My Happiness (3:35) Elvis Presley 1953
87 Harbor Lights (3:30) Elvis Presley 1954

So good to see some recent ILM love for EP. Got to see the docu last night, ticked all my boxes. There was an ILM thread about doing sp0tify playlists for artists you liked, around 10 years ago. Anyway I did an Elvis primer. Hope links still work.

https://open.spotify.com/user/kwimper/playlist/425zoJTN0Cs6cv9aMOkHrB
https://open.spotify.com/user/kwimper/playlist/0g32rk60x8xf0oc3v0IpAh