I want to be like Elvis
find solace in a song
project myself in lurid capes
a wig and shades
and deep blue suedes.
Now that vinyl's back in town
i'll bring the record player down
spin the discs, hear the King
do the stance and everything
I want to be like Elvis now
i've waited for the New Messiah
but he's dragging his heels or so it feels
and it's Elvis that takes me higher and higher.
Thanks you Mark. It is hard to imagine now the impact of Elvis with his sexy pelvis antics on the public in the fifties, schoolboys and girls included, As well as simplifying music and radicalising the crooning technique for those used to Dickie Valentine and suchlike it had immense impact. But even the Lord can wreak havoc in such guise .
Thanks Emer hang on to that collection (or start a new one).
Stu. you make a salient point there - we all need people to look up to and I suppose to project our needs and desires onto, and en masse makes it valid. One to one as the poem suggests is really a bit sad for me. But aren't we all a bit sad anyway? Vive la Graceland. Sieg Heil or whatever. I remember playing for a Diwali celebration and the cabaret spot was an Indian Elvis. I wonder if he would have been pleased about all the imitators?
Colin: Thanks mate for the like. As you imply Elvis was steeped in that atmosphere and the sincerity came across for those of simple faith. A pity he was finally called while on the loo , but that's life I guess. I had no idea about his brother - it must have impacted on his family.
I saw the urban clip on the DA prog. That reminds me that he met up with Obama to talk about the future of the world, nothing serious but a great PR exercise for both and potentially gratifying. How many pinches of salt does it take when you consider the decimation waiting in the wings from military manoeuvring though ? It's much safer talking about major issues that don't involved mass destruction imposed to deal with other human threats.
Thanks all. Ray
<Deleted User> (13762)
Tue 13th Dec 2016 09:47
there's nothing left for me to say but to hit the Like button and wish you a Merry Presley Christmas Ray! An original vinyl pressing of Elvis' Christmas Album is in the post.
incidentally, religion did play an important part in his life and he recorded a good number of such songs - hard to ignore the gospel influence growing up in Mississippi. When I visited his birthplace in Tupelo I saw the Assembly of God church that had been relocated to the site - the church in which his family attended when he was a child.
https://elvispresleybirthplace.com/project/elvis-childhood-church
Elvis was also a twin but his brother was stillborn - not sure that has anything to do with this but somehow I feel it should.
I think David Attenborough standing atop the Shard delivering his Planet Earth 2 last episode speech on the future of our world might be hoping for the title of the New Messiah. Sorry Elvis / Ray.
guess I found something to say after all !! C?L
clever stuff ray. i wonder, in a thousand years time, just which one will be remembered as the 'king' keeping in mind that before the jesus story there were countless religious tales with exactly the same story. ra, the egyptian sun god, is a particularly similar myth.
Vinyl's back in town! Love it.???
One for the EP fans! I recall a young work associate from
Liverpool way back who was one and whilst I confess to
liking some of Mr Presley's songs ("The Girl of My Best Friend" was high on that list), I was already a huge fan
of Fats Domino, not to mention Little Richard and Jerry
Lee Lewis! That said, these lines do their job admirably
and those with their own memories spanning the years
will smile and nod as they read and remember.
And yes - the little dog at the phonograph was the HMV trademark...listening to "His Master's Voice", of course.
That's one I never heard before elP. An early one and quite raw in the backing - but so distinctive. I'm glad it sparked off a memory ! I loved to see the RCA dog and horn, I think that was HMV , not sure now.
Thanks a lot.
elPintor
Mon 12th Dec 2016 00:37
I used to sing this one as a lullaby to my one and only. My goodness, those sleepy eyes will always be a sight to remember..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8kQs91fj-w
Thanks for a good memory, Ray.
elP
Thanks Trevor - you're right , but ironically Elvis is larger than life itself and so the point is rather open to question I suppose. Just joking.
David, as always you have probed into the underbelly of my thoughts and I think Christmas is as close as most come to a warm furry sensation which is a bit like Elvis himself. I do like doing Elvis poems (what the hell is happening to me?). I think in the American view he attained the dizzy heights that the absent deity expected of his flock. After all, Graceland is a sort of shrine.
The indent was a sort of step into the higher realm (or the boot). Thanks, mate.
Ray
I have to say my first (rather irreverent) thought when I saw the title was "What, dead?"
That aside, a nice nostalgic piece, and the King was a pretty fair warbler.
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lynn hahn
Sat 31st Dec 2016 01:11
Nice! The king right
I was a stewardess for about 5 minutes (hated it) when I was 21. I got all the horrible flights EXCEPT I received a call for a morning flight. Had to go in early to be debriefed. Thought that was pretty weird. Turned out it was an Elvis charter! HA! Guess they thought we stews would start screaming when he walked in the plane. It was fun. We were all taken to his show in a limo and got to sit in the front row. I scored on that flight (: