OUR FIRST NON-SUN POST. FROM OUR (6/7/14) ROOTS NROCKABILLY SATURDAY SERIES.... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A FOOL SUCH AS I -THE LAST 1950S RECORDING SESSIONS:: During his final week in Memphis before his official induction on March 24, 1958, he went car shopping with his girlfriend Anita (buying one for himself and one for her), hung out with family, and worried himself sick in private. He was also probably aware that his mother was not well. Not well at all. On March 24, 1958, Elvis Presley reported to the Memphis Draft Board, accompanied by his parents, Anita Wood, and 500 of his closest paparazzi pals who documented the entire thing: Elvis getting X-rayed, Elvis standing in his tragic briefs getting weighed and measured, Elvis filling out forms, Elvis taking the eye exam, Elvis being sworn in. Nothing like a little privacy when you are being poked and prodded in your underwear. Believe it or not, Elvis was very modest about his body. Even his girlfriends never saw him naked. So, you know, I feel for the guy here. Not only are you in your underwear, but you have a boil on your back, dude. [] YOURE CHEATIN HEART (FEB. 58)youtu.be/i5Bv1cfA1r8 [] MY WISH CAME TRUE (FEB. 58) youtu.be/IiHoXYn0Va4 [] DONCHA THINK ITS TIME (FEB. 58): youtu.be/O0DJLiD8Wms [] WEAR MY RING AROUND YOUR NECK (FEB. 58):youtu.be/xkbJhn7rXJs RCA had continued to push for more sessions before Elvis shipped out to Germany in September, and the Colonel reluctantly agreed to both a recording session and a photo session during this two week furlough. June 10 & 11, Elvis managed to squeeze in a quick Nashville recording session, his last session until the spring of 1960 after his discharge from active duty. And the results, probably his most overall consistently high quality. [] I NEED YOUR LOVE TONIGHT (TAKE 2 & 10):: youtu.be/CXSZWYieT_Q [] A BIG HUNK OF LOVE (TAKE 4): youtu.be/iFSWCj66WyY [] AINT THAT LOVIN YOU BABY (TAKE 8):youtu.be/oLuWkr3GOOk Backup Vocals: The Jordanaires: Gordon Stoker; Neal Matthews; Hoyt Hawkins; Ray Walker Guitar: Elvis Presley Guitar: Hank Garland Guitar: Chet Atkins Bass: Bob Moore Piano: Floyd Cramer Drums: D.J. Fontana Drums / Bongos: Murrey Buddy Harman [] I GOT STUNG (TAKE 2-7):youtu.be/X162putqmhY June 14, Elvis returned to Fort Hood for ten weeks of advanced tank training. He missed his parents so much that he moved them to a house outside of Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas. He was probably terrified of what was happening to his mother as well. He needed to be near her to watch over her. Eventually, a couple of his cousins moved to Killeen as well, so Elvis rented them a bigger house, and made his second request that he be allowed to live off-base on the weekends (something other soldiers were allowed to request, too). It wasn’t Graceland, but at least it felt like home, and his mother cooked him his eggs rock-hard just like he liked them. [] AINT THAT LOVIN YOU BABY (MASTER): youtu.be/oLuWkr3GOOk [] I GOT STUNG (MASTER): youtu.be/a3xQrSf-OcQ As July progressed, however, Gladys began to get more and more sick. She may have been a bit of a martyr about it (“No, no, I’m fine”) but Elvis was so worried that he put her on a train back to Memphis so she could see her regular doctor. She was hospitalized on August 9, 1958 and the doctor was quite concerned. On that same day, Elvis completed tank training. He was running to the phone every 5 minutes to get updates on his mother’s condition. He had to be out of his mind. He made a request for personal leave. The response was sluggish (as in a couple of days, and at that crucial moment, Elvis probably knew he only had days left). He threatened to go AWOL. Gladys’ doctor pulled some strings with Washington to let Elvis come home. He flew home and went straight to the hospital (there is terribly emotional newsreel footage of Elvis in his uniform disembarking from the plane and getting into a waiting Cadillac on the airfield as reporters press around the car. He looks positively devastated. Like, you-want-to-look-away devastated). His father met him at the hospital, and again, there are photos of Elvis and his dad walking down the hallway and it is such a private moment of family grief and panic, palpable on their faces, tears around Elvis’ eyes, but his face has no expression, that it seems wrong that there is a photo of the moment at all. However, that’s fame. Elvis visited with his mother. She was aware that he was there, and very happy about it. It was August 12, 1958. Elvis hung out at the hospital, holding his mother’s hand. Finally his father convinced him to go home and get some sleep. Elvis didn’t want to leave, but he obeyed his father. Vernon stayed with Gladys. On August 13, 1958, Elvis returned to the hospital. He stayed there the whole day, being with his mother and waiting in the waiting room with family and friends. August 13, 1958, The situation worsened, but they were now in the waiting game, so his father again convinced him to go home and get some sleep. On August 14, 1958, at around 3 in the morning, Gladys Presley died. Elvis was back at Graceland at the time and he said later that the second the phone rang he knew. All day, August 14, Elvis wandered around Graceland sobbing. He sat out on the steps with his father, crying, and hugging On September 11, 1958, less than a month after Gladys Presley passed away, Elvis Presley was assigned to the 1st Medium Tank Battalion, 32nd Armor, 3rd Armored Division which was stationed in West Germany (in the Cold War nomenclature of the time). So. Okay. Off to … Germany then? Where was Germany again? What would he be doing? Where was his mother? It hadn’t even been a month. The young man was wounded...not whole. His innocence and openness protected him, as it always did, but even so he was alone against the onslaught of death and overwhelming change and worry. He already was a worried person. He was about to leave the country for 2 years at the height of his fame. His fame meant everything to him. His fans meant everything to him. There were zero guarantees that he would come back to the same world he left. It all might be over. To then have to deal, in the middle of that, with the death of his mother … well, one can only picture how confusing it must have been. On September 19, 1958, Elvis Presley boarded the troop train headed for Brooklyn, where he would then ship out to Germany. He looked exhausted and cried out, but on the verge of starting up again. He looks terrible. On the train to Brooklyn, Elvis kept to himself, and a fellow soldier, sensing Presley’s emotion, gave him a book of poems to read that he thought might help him through this first phase of loss. Presley was holding that book in his hand when he got off the train in Brooklyn. He mentions it in interviews. He talks about the poem that means a lot to him, that helped him. This is what I mean by his strange innocence that helped protect him. People made fun of him for being stupid, a hick. He just kept going on with his business, sure in himself that he was doing his best, never lashing out, never talking back. It makes him impenetrable, in the best sense. He had no pretense. He was eager to tell everyone, even strangers, about this book of poems that was given to him, and how much it helped him. This is the passivity that so many find so baffling about him, he who was so aggressive onstage. He didn’t, for example, fly off the handle at the presumption of the fellow soldier trying to help him out with the book. He thanked the soldier, read the whole damn thing, and then mentioned it in every interview he gave for two years after that. He was passive enough to take help when it came to him. This is one of his greatest and most misunderstood qualities. On September 22, the train arrived in Brooklyn at 9 a.m. Fans had gathered. The Colonel had set up a giant press conference (which would become par for the course over Presley’s life). Presley submitted to all of the scrutiny like the polite good sport that he was, but the Presley in September of 1958 was different from the Presley of only a couple of months earlier. His mother was gone. His future was totally uncertain. He said later he was nervous about the questions that would be asked, and he obviously hadn’t been sleeping at all for a solid month. He sounds quiet, relaxed, and only stutters a couple of times, rare for him. He is completely sure of who he is in that completely chaotic environment. How did he do it? September 22, 1958: Press Conference, Brooklyn Terminal Reporter: Elvis, do you feel that your fans have been pretty loyal to you since you’ve been in the service? Elvis: Yes, sir, I certainly do. Reporter: What about the presents? What do you think of them? Elvis: All the presents? The majority of the presents consist of cookies, cakes, and all of that. And whenever you get a box of cookies or cakes or anything when you living in the barracks, you don’t even see the box, y’know? [Big laugh from the crowd.] Reporter: You have any plans for after you get out of the service, Elvis? What do you want to do? Elvis: Yes, sir, when I get out of the service I plan to pick up where I left off, if possible. Reporter: Are you interested in the movies more than ever now? Elvis: Yes, sir, I’d like to become a good actor. That’s my ambition right now. [A bunch of people shout questions at the same time.] Reporter: When do you get out, Elvis? Elvis: Uh, scheduled for March 24, 1960, sir. Reporter: Was Miss Wood the only girl you knew well who saw you off? Elvis: No, ma’am, there was quite a few others down there. [Big laugh from the crowd. The same reporter shouts another question.] I beg your pardon? Reporter: Are there some here to send you off? Elvis: I don’t know, I haven’t seen any. Reporter: Why do you think that is? Elvis: I don’t know. Well, school’s going on … [Another big laugh from the crowd. Another shouted question.] I beg your pardon, ma’am? Reporter: Did you have a rougher time than most soldiers because of your celebrity? Elvis: No, ma’am. Everything was straight down the middle. I was treated no better and no worse than any of the other boys, and that’s the way I wanted it, because I had to live with the other boys, y’know? Reporter: Not by the Army, I mean by the other boys. Did the other boys treat you rougher? Elvis: Oh, no, sir. Not at all. I kind of expected because even out in civilian life I get harassed a little bit by a few people, y’know? And I was expecting it there but when those guys looked around and they saw me pulling KP and marching with a pack on my back and everything, well, they figured, Well, he’s just like we are. So I got along very well with them and they’re all a good bunch of boys. Reporter: Have the other GIs given you any nicknames? Elvis: Quite a few. [Big burst of laughter from the group and you can hear Elvis laughing too.] Reporter: Elvis, what’s your idea of the ideal girl? Elvis: Female, sir. [Giant laugh from the crowd. Kids now ready for the Borscht Belt circuit.] No, sir, I … [More laughter.] Excuse me. I really don’t know. I like a lot of different types. I suppose I’ll know if I ever find someone that I really, y’know, fall in love with … Reporter: If you found someone while you were in service that you felt you were in love with, would you get married in service? Elvis: I don’t think so, sir. Because the way I look at it – if you find somebody you’re in love with, and she’s in love with you, she will understand about my career, and she will … she wouldn’t want to do anything to hurt it. So she wouldn’t rush me, in other words. Reporter: Do you think you could ever be satisfied with a girl who was also in show business? Elvis: Well, sir, I don’t think that would make much difference, whether she’s in show business or driving a truck. [Big laugh.] Reporter: A lot of young people are interested in your views on marriage, you were mentioning early on. Do you have in mind a sort of ideal age for a guy to marry? Have you got a target age? What do you say? Elvis: Well. As you’re growing up, a lot of times you think you’re in love with somebody and you want to get married, and then later on in your life you find out you were wrong, that actually you didn’t love them, you only thought you did. And I was no different. Several times as I was growing up I would have probably married had my mother and dad not talked to me and told me, ‘You’d better wait and find out if this is what you want.’ And I did, and I’m glad that I did. Reporter: When was the last time you thought you were in love? Elvis: Oh, not many times, ma’am. I don’t know. I suppose the closest I ever came to getting married was right before I started singing. In fact, my first record saved my neck. [Big laugh. Poor Dixie.] Reporter: Elvis, the readers of our magazine asked me to pass along their sympathy to you about the recent death of your mother. I wondered if you wanted to say a few words in tribute to the ways she has helped you in your life. Elvis: Uh, yes sir, I certainly would. Uh … my mother … I suppose since I was an only child, we might have been a little closer … I mean, everyone loves their mother. But I was an only child, and Mother was always right with me all of my life, and uh … It wasn’t only like losing a mother, it was like losing a friend, a companion, someone to talk to. I could wake her up any hour of the night if I was worried or troubled about something and she would get up and try to help me. And uh …uh … I used to get very angry at her when I was growing up. It’s a natural thing when a young person wants to go somewhere or do something and your mother won’t let you, you think Why, what’s wrong with you? But then later on in the years, you find out, you know, that she was right, that she was only doing it to protect you, to keep you from getting into any trouble or getting hurt. And I’m very happy that she was kind of strict on me. I’m very happy that it worked out the way it did. Reporter: A group of people don’t sort of approve of the thing you do. They seem to think that it contributes to juvenile delinquency and all sorts of things. Do you have any thoughts about the unpopular side of your audience? Elvis: Yes, sir, I have. I’ve tried to figure it out. I don’t see how they could think that it would contribute to juvenile delinquency, someone who is only singing and dancing. I don’t see that. Because if there’s anything I’ve tried to do, I’ve tried to live a straight clean life, and not set any kind of a bad example. I will say that there are people that are gonna like you and people that don’t like you regardless of what business you’re in or what you do. You cannot please everyone. Reporter: Do you feel that the popularity of rock ‘n’ roll will diminish in any way while you are in the Army? Elvis: That’s hard to tell. The only thing I can say is I hope not. Reporter: Is it a relief to get away from all the autograph hounds and the hysterical females? Elvis: No, sir, it is not. Once you get used to it … If nobody comes up and asks you for an autograph, if no one bothers you, then you start worrying. As long as they come around and everything, you know that they still like you and it makes you feel good. Reporter: If you think rock ‘n’ roll won’t diminish in popularity, what do you think sustains its popularity? What quality of it do you think makes it popular? Elvis: Well, sir, rock ‘n’ roll has been around for many years. It used to be called rhythm & blues. And as far back as I can remember it’s been very big, although in the last 5 years it’s gotten much bigger. I personally don’t think it will ever die completely out, because they’re gonna have to get something mighty good to take its place as far as the young people are concerned. Reporter: What about maybe taking the wiggle out of it? [Long pause as Elvis thinks.] Elvis: Rock and roll music, if you like it, if you feel it, you can’t help but move to it. That’s what happens to me. I can’t help it. I mean, I have to move around. I can’t stand still. I’ve tried it and I can’t do it. Reporter: Do you feel you’ve been very lucky or do you feel that you do have a talent that most of the other people you meet don’t have? Elvis: Well, sir, I’ve been very lucky. I’ve been very lucky. I happened to come along at a time in the music business where there was no trend. I was lucky. People were looking for something different and I was lucky. I came along just in time. [Some signal given that its time to wrap it up. Press conference ends.] Elvis boarded the U.S.S. Randall and 5,000 pictures are taken of the process. As a matter of fact, he is made to walk up the gangplank holding his duffel bag 8 times so that every photographer can get the shots they need. For a brief moment he was himself, the easy going, always smiling happy young man..the Elvis we knew. [PLAY] A FOOL SUCH AS I :: youtu.be/iJ5LQb5PQsc elvis/
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 11:37:02 +0000
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