My Memories of Elvis, Who Would Be 10,000 Years Old Today If He'd Lived

You know, 10,000 years old, playing Ring Around the Roses with Peter, Paul and Moses or whatever.

Dad was definitely an Elvis guy. He had most of the LPs, which are now in my possession, and they still sound great. Every Sunday, he’s play them on the enormous record player (same size as the couch almost) in the living room.

I don’t specifically remember what the favorites were, but he did love ALOHA FROM HAWAII, which I’m a little cool on. I’ll never forget when I grabbed his copy of NBC-TV SPECIAL and listened to it upstairs. It blew my mind, and I didn’t think it could get any better than that. At least, until I watched the video.

Today I put on ELVIS’ GOLDEN RECORDS and 50,000,000 ELVIS FANS CAN’T BE WRONG (so far). The Sun recordings are a titch overrated, I think, but still pack a wallop. I really love the late-‘60s stuff. I don’t think the man ever sung better.

I’m old enough to remember the day Elvis died. I was in downtown Florence, Alabama, in front of Anderson’s Bookland on Court Street waiting to be picked up — by whom, I can’t recall, I don’t think my mother was driving in 1977. I was reading the STAR WARS issue of CRACKED Mazagine, which not only satirized George Lucas’ Immortal Classic brilliantly, but also included some socko (or was it boffo?) jokes about The Fonz and President Carter.

I didn’t become an Elvis fan til much later on, though on this night I felt bad for the old man. He’d made the pilgrimage to the International Hotel in Las Vegas during (I think) the first Elvis residence there. And dragged two-year-old me to the show, and being a two-year-old, I cried and screamed the whole time. My sister still gives me shit for this.

But at least I can tell everyone I saw The King live in concert! And before the scarves and fat took over.

My favorite Elvis records (today, anyway) are “Jailhouse Rock” (the ’68 SPECIAL version is even better than the original), “Follow That Dream,” “Bosom of Abraham,” “Hurt,” and, lately, the aforementioned tune about being born about 10,000 years ago. Wonder why Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks didn’t sue?

Also, the weirdo budget compilation LP C’MON EVERYBODY, which is finally on streaming but with some of the tracks out of order.

The best Elvis movies are FLAMING STAR (a real director, for starters), KING CREOLE (mainly for that “You go to school!” scene), the reimagined version of THAT’S THE WAY IT IS, the extended version of the THIS IS ELVIS documentary (great soundtrack, too), FOLLOW THAT DREAM (amusing), KID GALAHAD (because Charles Bronson’s in it), and CHANGE OF HABIT ‘cos it’s so fucking insane.

Also, TRUE ROMANCE (1993) should count as an Elvis movie.

My favorite Elvis book is the one by Dave Marsh titled, simply, ELVIS. The appendix lists alone put it on top. There was a time not too long ago that I’d devour any and every book about Elvis Presley, including the one by the cousin that nobody had ever heard of.

Aside from the ’68 special, my favorite Elvis TV appearance was when he hosted NBC’S SATURDAY NIGHT during the first season, with musical guests Paul McCartney and John Lennon, who showed up at the studio unannounced a week after Lorne Michaels’ Beatles reunion offer. Classic episode, and I wonder why you can’t find it on DVD, Hulu, Peacock, etc.

One of the coolest things about Elvis was that he could apparently quote the movie ACROSS 110TH STREET in its entirety. If only he’d covered the Bobby Womack title song. Wonder if he sang it around Graceland?