Today Is the 30th Anniversaqry Of Elvis's Death

He is indeed a talented hottie that died too young
[size=7]Its also Madonnas birthday, Happy Birthday Madge[/size]

Before he started making those awful movies, he was a cultural force to be reckoned with. Other performers sang as well or better, but there was only one Elvis. It's easy to put him down all these years later. That does not diminish his accomplishments. I own copies of all his 1950s recordings and a sizeable amount of later work. I still listen to them several times a year.

he set the course for my entire life, the good and the bad.

Elvis Presley - Lawdy Miss Clawdy
(written by Lloyd Price)

Well lawdy, law, lawdy miss clawdy
Girl you sure look good to me
But please don't excite me baby
I know it can't be me
Well as a girl you want my money
Yeah but you just won't treat me right
You like to ball every morning
Don't come home till late at night
Oh gonna tell, tell my mama
Lord, I swear girl what you been to me
I'm gonna tell everybody that I'm down in misery
So bye, bye, bye, baby
Girl, I won't be comin' no more
Goodbye little darlin' down the road I'll go
So, bye, bye, bye baby
Girl, I won't be comin' no more
Goodbye little darlin' down the road I'll go

I never cared for Elvis in the early days, but I have learned to appreciate him over the years, bear.

Like this one

Wise men say only fools rush in
but I can't help falling in love with you
Shall I stay
would it be a sin
If I can't help falling in love with you

Like a river flows surely to the sea
Darling so it goes
some things are meant to be

take my hand, take my whole life too
for I can't help falling in love with you

Like a river flows surely to the sea
Darling so it goes
some things are meant to be

take my hand, take my whole life too
for I can't help falling in love with you
for I can't help falling in love with you

I too never really cared for Elvis in the early days. I also came to appreciate the man and his music as time went on. I still remember hearing the news of his death, on my car radio, as I drove along Portage Avenue in Winnipeg, Manitoba. (The coldest 2 years of my life)

I like one particular song that never seemed to get much air play.

One Night
by Bartholomew, Steiman, King

One night with you
Is what I'm now prayin' for
The things that we two could plan
Would make my dreams come true

Just call on me
And I'll be right by your side
I need your sweet heavy hand
My love's too strong to hide

Always lived a very quiet life
I ain't never done no wrong
Now I know life without you
Has been too long, too long

One night with you
Is what I'm now prayin' for
The things that we two could plan
Would make my dreams come true

Elvis Presley - One Night Of Sin

One night of sin, yeah
Is what I'm now paying for
The things I did and I saw
Would make the earth stand still

Don't call my name
It makes me feel so ashamed
I lost my sweet helping hand
I got myself to blame

Always lived, very quiet life
Ain't never did no wrong
But now I know that very quiet life
Has cost me nothing but harm

One night of sin, yeah
Is what I'm now paying for
The things I did and I saw
Would make the earth stand still

Always lived, very quiet life
Ain't never did no wrong
But now I know that very quiet life
Has cost me nothing but harm

One night of sin, yeah
Is what I'm now paying for
The things I did and I saw
Would make the earth stand still

The first time I heard about Elvis, someone told me that he was living in his ivory tower. I thought about all those poor elephants, so well you know ...

The occasional glimpses I later got of Elvis through the years were from some black and white movies they showed on TV. Not much exciting - black and white, I mean who looks at that?

I "discovered" Elvis in 2001, yeah, in the New Millenium, I discovered the "Artist of the Century". I happened to have bought a CD with 12 love songs and a nice picture of Elvis - in colour.

Now, there is not a single day that I don't listen to Elvis. His voice and his music have touched me and brought me joys as no other singer could.

So, on this 30th anniversary day, I would just like to say:

I remember you, Elvis.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wun14QYeu0w

Elvis Aaron Presley
(January 8, 1935 - August 16, 1977)

RIP Elvis.

I like this one of Elvis. You have to understand, it's 1956. No one had ever seen anyone like him before, a white boy with a half snarl and a sweet grin and very snappy moves. And that voice! Floating up and around and down, down and deeply down. (shivers said my sister)

He was bluesy and rock and roll and no one knew exactly what rock and roll was. But here he was:

Heartbreak Hotel

Didn't he look like he was having the time of his life? Didn't he sing that song as if he just escaped from Lonely Street?


Oh and yeah, look at that backup group.... one guitar playing leads and breaks, one UPRIGHT bass and a trapset of drums. This is basic basic rock and roll, drive the song through the singer and fill the innards of the music with hot licks and backbeats

Joe(Crazy Daddio, crazy)Nation

I saw all of his movies 100 times. Go figure. In 1965 I was 10 and loved "Viva Las Vegas". I loved all of his movies. I was 10!

1977. I'd just graduated from art school and my fiance and I had just split up for good. I was devastated and went to the book store for solice. I bought two books. "How to Survive the Loss of a Love" and "Elvis, What Happened?" The night of his death, I started reading "Elvis...". I had never heard anything about his drug use or his "eccentricities" and dumbstruck, I stayed up all night and into the next day until I finished it.
What a sad mess he became.

Although he is called "The King of Rock 'n Roll", Elvis liked to sing gospel songs the most. It is said that he knew all the gospel songs that existed, even better than the gospel singers. He only had to listen to a song (any one) once or twice to remember it.

Here are two of his very beautiful gospel songs - "Milky White Way" and "Who Am I?".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRML7_WVY8s

It is said by whom?

One of his backup singers in the DVD "Elvis - The Ultimate Gospel". Elvis hired two or three gospel quartets just to sing gospel songs with him. When the shows finished at midnight, they used to go up in his suite to sing gospel songs till like 5 AM.

His later movies were a bit fluffy, but did anyone see "King Creole"? As acting went, it was better than just okay. He made another serious attempt at acting. I don't recall whether "Stay Away Joe" was the movie, or the book it was taken from, but it was a pretty good presentation of the Navajo tribe. Having said that, and having a few Navajo friends, I'm grateful they never adopted the practice of scalping.

There were two Elvis movies I liked. King Creole and GI Blues.

Roger, I think you meant the movie "Flaming Star".

I like all his movies (the ones I have seen so far). Because we don't have much in terms of DVDs of live concerts, it is nice to have his 33 movies. Elvis wanted to act well and do serious movies but they did not give him the chance, they just wanted him to sing in the movies.

He even wanted to make a martial arts movie because he really liked karate but that never materialized. He had a 7th level black belt and apparently the 8th one he got was a honorary one, according to his karate teacher.

He certainly knew his gospel music, no doubt. Somewhere I recall reading that he actually sang in church with a gospel choir as a young boy
in Mississippi. That's not at all surprising. But to say that he "knew all the gospel songs that existed, even better than the gospel singers" is quite the claim.

My best friend in 1955 liked, well, loved, Elvis. I didn't get it. Never really did. She also loved Marlon Brando - it was a real dilemma for her, between them. Oh, and besides that, as we walked, we went by the boyfriend of the time's house.

1955, was that the year I loved Fess Parker?

(also a certain guy in eighth grade).








Love is strange.......

Elvis was my first real crush. The first one to get my juices flowing. I remember sitting on the floor in someone's basement watching the Dorsey show (can't remember whether it was Tommy or Jimmy). A singer with a strange name appeared on the small screen. I was hooked. Mesmerized. Excited. Bought his records (78s). Collected his bubble gum cards. Went to his movies (I'm a glutton for punishment).

I loved him when he was a real rocker. Loved that amazing baritone.

I loved him when he became the Vegas star.

Loved him to the end.

The night he died, I sat on the floor in the dark next to the radio and listened to the DJs playing his music and talking about him. I blubbered like a baby.

I still love him.