Elvis Presley and today's pop/rock stars!

I thought I would give Elvis his own thread since we had some fans of his on the white musicians forum.

Elvis Aaron Presley was born into poverty in Tupelo, MS. and grew up in the Memphis, TN. area, however, he never forgot his roots and was a very generous man. Elvis, like all of us had many faults, but he always carried himself with dignity and "Class", unlike most of today's pop/rock stars. At one time he was credited with having the all-time most number 1 hits and top 10's. I'm not sure if he still holds the record or not. I've been told he was "Christian," I hope he was.

So for DixieDestroyer, Awake in America, Extra Point, me and others here on CF who appreciate Elvis, here are 2 of my favorite songs by the "King Of Rock and Roll." American Trilogy and in honor of the true "KING, Jesus Christ" How great thou Art. I thought it would be nice considering we're only a few days from the savior's birthday.

Can you guys imagine a pop or rock star today singing a gospel song live, like "How Great Thou Art"? I can't. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

[video=youtube_share;gbE1Dg-4fvI]http://youtu.be/gbE1Dg-4fvI[/video]

 

Elvis, "How great Thou Art"

[video=youtube_share;HwVJSe6WGfw]http://youtu.be/HwVJSe6WGfw[/video]

Sorry, would only let me put 1 video/post.

 

Who dressed him? Elton John?

HAHA just kidding. Elvis was the greatest, no question, unfortunately his post rock career when he morphed into a Vegas entertainment act veered from campy to weird. He was undone by riches and fame as many people do who cannot resist the temptations offered. And Elvis did not resist the temptations.

Not only was it unusual for a popular singer to sing gospel as in the clips above, but horrors of horror he also sang "Dixie", doesn't that now qualify as a hate crime?

 

Thanks CS! Yessir, Elvis was said to have had a heart of gold & gave endlessly to others. He grew up a fan of the legendary "Statesmen Quartet", so we know he had great musical taste! ;-). I don't know of what or how much drugs he got into (which I don't condone), but I know this...he was one of the most naturally gifted singers of all time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yjSwk82vZk&feature=youtube_gdata_player

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvGvmsLQaHA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLbOBoa8vD8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

Yeah, that's funny jaxvid, but true. however, I think Elton was more into feathers and the same sex. Yes Elvis was very eccentric and dressed very different from others. I didn't know him personally, but I know people who did know him personally.

When he was in high school at Humes High, Memphis, he often wore silk and pink shirts, which was considered very effeminate at the time, I have never worn pink, but that's me. The media and some movies have tried to paint him as a feminine, passive, type of guy, but from the stories I've heard from people who knew him, he was a tough kid that would kick your butt, if you gave him reason to. He also became a black belt in Karate.

One biography got it right about his sexuality, which documented that one of his acquaintances at a party tried to get him into a threesome with another guy and 1 woman, to which he turned down and said he didn't want another naked man anywhere near him, however, he was known to be with more than 1 woman at a time.

As I said, Elvis had many faults, including drugs, which his doctor over prescribed, probably how he became addicted, but he was straight and a very giving and humble man.

 

What a voice. How about a little Blue Christmas with Elvis and through the magic of video editing, Martina McBride, a great singer in her own right.

[video=youtube;3KK6sMo8NBY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KK6sMo8NBY[/video]

 

Thanks, DD and Quiet Speed! Good stuff and may I say Martina is looking and sounding good in that edited video with Elvis!

 

I like Elvis' stuff from the 50s.. 'Mystery Train', 'That's All Right', 'Peace in the Valley', 'All Shook Up' etc..
The story of 'That's All Right' is an interesting & fortuitous moment in American pop culture. Elvis & crew we're just playin around in between takes, and his first single was born from that ad-lib cover song.

There was a Twilight Zone episode, from the '80s incarnation, 'The Once and Future King' that featured a hypothetical young Elvis in a typical Twilight Zone scenario.. It's stayed in my mind.

[video=youtube;rcQgwOdC9J8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcQgwOdC9J8[/video]

 

Too bad the King didn't stick around long enough to incorporate Don Henley's "Sunset Grill" into his stage act. SG's fadeout would've been a perfect showcase for his karate kicks.

"The Greatest Love of All" would've been good for Presley too. Lyrically, it's much like "If I Can Dream" from his comeback TV special (1968).

Yes, his act included "Dixie", but he gave it PC balance by medleying it with "Battle Hymn of the Republic".



John

 

Sorry, I'm cracking up at the picture of a fatter, older, Elvis, doing a karate kick at the end of one of his sweaty shows in a rhinestone suit. :bigsmile:

 

An interesting thing about Elvis is that he was heavily influenced by Dean Martin. If you think about it you can see the influence.

His admiration for Dino is never mentioned by the mainstream media. Instead they spread the lie that Elvis was only influenced by blacks.

The reason for this is that the mainstream media is controlled by leftists. Leftists want to turn young whites against their ancestors and their heritage. They want to turn them against all the whites that came before them.

Since Elvis was popular with white youth they rewrote his history.

Instead of him being influenced by a white man, Dean Martin, they lied and said he was only influenced by blacks. They eliminated all mention of any white influence.

They don't want young whites to recognize that their heritage is passed down from older whites to younger whites. They don't want young whites seeing how white culture is passed on from generation to generation.

 

EP, I think the characterization of 'influenced', is being diplomatic.. Lots of Presley haters have characterized Presley as a thief.. But imo, that's more ideology than reality.
Presley paid royalties, and was typical of Southern musicians (of both races) who were influenced by bluegrass & blues.
Presley was a great performer, but not a great composer.. Michael Jackson was similar, but he's rarely beaten up for not writing his own music.. It is what it is, but it's hard to imagine any performer ever rivaling Presley's popularity again. And some of the songs that Presley allegedly 'stole' from Black singers (like 'Hound Dog'), were written by other people before Black singers recorded 'em. Maybe u guys know more about the backgrounds of some Presley hits (?)

Found a basically fair article (from a former Presley hater), on his insights & feelings about Presley's demonization..
http://clatl.com/cribnotes/archives/2012/08/20/why-i-stopped-hating-elvis-presley

 

The idea that Elvis stole or was mostly influenced by black music and tried to mimic it is just another Jewish media lie. Did he hang out with blacks? No, never seen any footage of Elvis hanging out with any blacks. Because a very small percent of the songs he recorded were previously recorded by blacks means nothing. It's the law of averages. Elvis re-did every song. He wasn't a great song writer nor a great musician. He was a performer who didn't care for blacks.

Yeah, I'm sure he stole from that musical treasure chest of Africa. If anything black music was influenced by whites. They went from banging pieces of wood and chanting indecipherable noises to actually singing songs with words that also were accompanied by magical things called musical instruments. And now with rap music they have went back to making indecipherable noises. The circle of life.

But yeah, I give them credit for gangsta rap. Good job, Africans!

 

Sunday Herald - 28 March 2004
After Elvis … the Scottish roots of soul and gospel
By Torcuil Crichton

LIKE every epiphany the truth came down to Willie Ruff when he was looking the other way. The 72-year-old jazzman turned up at a church in his native Alabama hoping for one of their fine catfish dinners after the sermon when he came across the first clue that black gospel music has its roots in the Gaelic psalms of presbyterian Scotland.

He is now convinced the Gaelic style of precenting psalms – in which a lead singer recites a line for the congregation to repeat – was taken to the US by Scots emigrees and adapted into the call and response techniques used by gospel and soul singers such as Aretha Franklin and Al Green.

“The singing I heard in that church is what my people took from the Gaelic cultural traditions they collided with at the time of slavery,’’ said Ruff. ‘‘It has flavoured everything else that came out of the artistic soul of American blacks. This is the real roots stuff here.â€

His discovery is yet more evidence of the cultural debt America owes Scotland, coming just days after claims that Elvis Presley’s family roots can be traced to Peterhead.

Ruff certainly has the musical pedigree to suggest he knows what he’s talking about. He has been a jazz player for 50 years, performing with the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington and Miles Davies. He is also a professor of music at Yale University.

He made his discovery by accident. “Word had spread around our neighbourhood that the best catfish dinner was sold every third Sunday at this black Congregational church in my native Alabama so I went along to pick up some dinner. I was early so I listened to the sermon while the dinner was being cooked,†said Ruff.

“All of a sudden there sprang up this lined-out hymn singing I’d grown up with as a Baptist. I asked: “How is it these black Presbyterians have stolen our baptist hymns?â€. They said: “Are you crazy? Everybody from the time of slavery had this style of singing.â€

After some research Ruff discovered that the form of psalm singing did not survive among US Presbyterians or in England. “People said if I wanted to hear white Presby terians sing this way I‘d have to go to Scotland and the Presbyterians in the Free Church. It was rumoured they sang this way in their native Gaelic.â€

After a chance meeting with a Hebridean piper, Ruff headed to Lewis, where he felt his music had come home. ‘‘This is the root of black musical expression in the US,†he said.

“All during the time that I played with Dizzy Gillespie he insisted we go to Scotland,†said Ruff. “Gillespie, with his profoundly Scottish name, said his great-grandparents talked about people in the Cape Fear region who spoke only Gaelic. Here was a place where black West Africans with their own language arrived in America and the first language they encountered was Gaelic.â€

Black Americans, he says, are delighted with his thesis even though it could have implications for the Afro-American view of American culture.

“This was not written into American history. We have connections wider than this little world but sometimes we have no idea about the people whose names and blood we share,†said Ruff.

“What is fabulously exciting is that black people who hear this story are called Cameron, Fraser, MacLean, Mitchell, and Armstrong. The same names as the passenger lists in the Carolina state archives of the Highlanders who came from the Hebrides into our world.’’

Since seeing the light in the southern states of America Ruff has crossed the Atlantic to the Hebrides twice in his quest to make connections between Presbyterian Gaels and black America’s musical inheritance.

He was invited to the recording of a 12-track CD of Gaelic psalm singing by a group of Congregationalists from the island of Lewis.

As the form of worship becomes rarer, interest in Gaelic psalm singing is growing quickly. A representative congregation of Lewis singers has just returned from Paris where their singing was the sensation of the annual Festival de’ Imaginaire at the Maison des Cultures du Monde – the Institute of World Cultures.

Ruff was impressed by what he heard. “I witnessed a two-day marathon recording of psalm singing,†he said. “I was there but I was also back in Alabama. The only difference was the Gaelic language.’’

Ruff will be at the Celtic Film Festival in Dundee on Thursday to talk about the links between the Gaelic psalms and black southern gospel.

http://www.elvicities.com/~presleyinthepres/2001_2004/2004/200403e.html

 

Elvis was at his best singing the old hymns & Southern Gospel. His singing voice was amongst the greatest ever (without question). That voice wasn't "stolen" or borrowed from anyone...just God given talent.

 

The idea that Elvis, or other whites "stole" music from blacks is a lie. It was made up to denigrate white people and promote the narrative that whites are evil oppressors and blacks are noble victims.

White people invented the blues. For example, Greensleeves is a blues song from Britain, circa the late 1500s.

White people invented rock and roll. The first recorded rock song is Move It On Over by Hank Williams, recorded in 1947. It's the template for rock songs such as Rock Around the Clock, Good Golly Miss Molly and Roll Over Beethoven.

The term rock and roll was invented by white people. It is slang for getting something going and derives from the movement of trains.

Jazz was invented by white people. The first recorded jazz song was Livery Stable Blues by the Dixieland Jass Band.

Whites even invented rap, whether it's a good thing or bad thing. Kinesiska Muren was a rap song recorded by Evert Taube. In 1927!

If anyone stole anything from anyone, it's blacks who stole from whites.

 

One of Elvis's best...

 

I have been wanting to say this for a long time. If whites stole black music then blacks stole the NBA from whites. We invented it for God's sake.

 

...and football, baseball, boxing, etc.

 

In Elvis's day, singers didn't write songs. Composers wrote songs for them. The music business was compartmentalized with very little overlap. The Beatles are given credit for really changing how songs got to the public and they deserve that credit.

Michael Jackson is a composite of all the talent in Motown. He was groomed by Motown to be a megastar. He had multiple songwriters which gave him most of his hits. He did dabble in songwriting but doesn't really deserve to be called a 'songwriter'. He didn't play an instrument and had many producers cleaning up his songs to make them perfect. Bruce Swedien, one of the most talented sound engineers ever, worked on his albums throughout his career. Quincy Jones produced his albums and people like Rod Temperton wrote his songs. I don't know if his dance moves were original but I heard he saw a street dancer doing the moonwalk.

Back to Elvis,

The book 'Elvis, What Happened?' is a real eye opener. When Elvis's generosity caught up with him and he was going broke, he had to fire most of his posse. They wrote the book to earn money. If you choose to believe what they say, then Elvis was in a lot worse shape then the public knew. His bodyguards, who were with Elvis since High School, had his doctor replace at least 50% of his meds with sugar pills. Elvis was taking lethal doses of meds long before he actually died from them.

His posse tried an 'intervention' with him where his family pleaded with him to get off the meds. According to his most trusted bodyguard, after several hours of talking with Elvis, Elvis finally pulled him aside and privately said to him, "I need 'em man, I need 'em.

The turning point in Elvis's life was when his mom died. Until then, he was a humble, respectful, and by today's standards, a quiet star. It was not unusual for a famous woman to meet him and expect an arrogant, conceited jerk. When they found a humble, even shy, man of his looks, voice and talent, every one of them had their panties off. His Southern charm pulled them all. And it wasn't an act, it was real. Ed Sullivan even felt compelled to come to his defense. Elvis was being skewered by the press and many older people because of his dancing on stage. Ed took time after Elvis's 2nd time on his show to tell America that Elvis was a decent young man.

That all changed when his mom died. According to his bodyguards, Elvis lost all his motivation to keep in check. He let himself go in every way possible.

There is a great video available called 'Elvis in 56'. It takes a look at his career in 1956, the year before he went into the army with lots of rare footage. Every Elvis fan should have it in their collection.

 

As a kid I had a couple of his 45's...as a younger kid I had "Hound Dog" and then a few years later I bought his "Moody Blues" 45 from 1977, shortly before his death.

I still remember where I was when I heard of his death on the AM radio station that my mom used to listen to when we were out-and-about in the family station wagon. Today, I'm more of a fan of his 1970's work and was on a nostalgia kick of him about a year ago and bookmarked a bunch of YouTube videos of my favorites of his. I've always been drawn to the more melancholy stuff, regardless of artist. Some of my favorites of his are:

"Memories", which has a great Chorus. A bit of trivia...it was written by Mac Davis, who played the Quarterback in 1979's "North Dallas Forty".


"Green Green Grass of Home"


"Separate Ways"


"Kentucky Rain"


"Early Morning Rain"


"My Way".


Here's some somber footage of his funeral procession...with him singing a Dixie medley in the background...perhaps the final nail in the coffin of America 1.0:


Then to think of the so-called musical "artists" of today makes life look like a bad joke.

As for Mac Davis, here he is singing the song he wrote, "Memories", during Prime Time TV in late '77.


Yes, this type of stuff was actually on Prime Time TV back then...innocent lyrics and all. Compare that to what's on Prime Time TV these days. Glad I got to experience this kind of stuff as a kid, but it makes it difficult to relate to they way things are today.

 

Kinda hurts to hear some of those recordings today. Won't get easier as we start to lose those we knew at that time.

 

Which I've seen on TV a couple of times, and the novel it's based on by deceased ex-Cowboy Pete Gent is great too.

I believe Davis also wrote "In the Ghetto", as well as Gallery's "I Believe in Music".

And in the '70s before making ND40, he had a string of his own hits ("Baby Don't Get Hooked on Me", "One Hell of a Woman", "Stop and Smell the Roses").

John

 

And his dad was too feebleminded to actively discourage him, I guess.

John

 

"Kentucky Rain" was written by the late Eddie Rabbit...who also wrote "Pure Love" for the great Ronnie Milsap & sang many hits as well.