Long Live The King!

by Two Chums on August 16, 2022

The King of Rock and Roll that is. Today marks the 45th anniversary of the day the world said goodbye to Elvis. At the age of only 42, Elvis Presley had made an impact on the world that few will make in twice that many years. Thus all these years later he is still regarded and respected as one of the greatest musicians and performers of all time. Maybe even more importantly, at least to him, he is remembered as a good, decent, very generous man.

Elvis Aaron Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, on January 8, 1935 about 35 minutes after his identical twin brother was born. Sadly his twin was stillborn.

There were so many influences in his life as a child and teenager that contributed to the path he took and the success he achieved. As child he gained his musical inspiration in church and later went back to those roots often playing gospel music. His family lived for a time in a predominantly black neighborhood which exposed him to and created a love for R&B music. It was that influence of his black friends and neighbors that later greatly influenced his style of music and performance. One of his classmates in grade school was the younger brother of a young man, Mississippi Slim, who had a radio show that Elvis loved. Elvis loved guitar and would take his guitar to school everyday and play. His classmate would often take him to the radio station where, Mississippi Slim gave him instruction on how to use chords on his guitar. Then at age 12 Mississippi Slim arranged for Elvis to have two on-air performances. In the first performance he was paralyzed with stage fright, but the following week he succeeded in playing and singing and that was the beginning of his incredible, though all too short, contribution to the world of music.

When he was 13 he moved with his parents to Memphis, Tennessee. His music teacher that year informed him that he had no aptitude for singing. He brought his guitar to school the next day to prove her wrong but the teacher agreed with Elvis that she didn’t appreciate his kind of music.

By his junior year in high school he was spending a lot of his time on the now famous Beale Street in Memphis, the heart of the blues music scene. He was generally very shy but by his senior year he had taken to wearing the flashy clothes of some country stars and growing his sideburns and styling his hair with rose oil and Vaseline. That year he overcame his shyness and competed in a Minstrel show, singing and playing his guitar. He says that performance did wonders for his reputation, “I wasn’t popular in school…I failed music…only thing I ever failed. And then they entered me in this talent show…when I was onstage I heard people kind of rumbling and whispering and so forth, ’cause nobody knew I even sang. It was amazing how popular I became in school after that.” By the time he graduated from high school that June, he knew music was his future.

At one of his earliest performances the audience erupted with shrieking and unprecedented applause, nervous and confused as to why they were reacting to him that way, he left the stage and asked the manager “What did I do? What did I do?” The reply was, “I don’t know, but go back out there and do it again!”

And he did do it again and again and again for years, live on stage, as well as on TV and in films to the joy and delight of audiences the world over.

If you haven’t seen the recently released film “ELVIS” make it a point to go and see it. You won’t be sorry and what a lovely way to honor the life of this man who brought so much love, music and especially joy to so many. Elvis continues to delight us, people of all ages, even now 45 years after he left us.

We will leave you today with something he was known for saying to those who came to see him and hear him sing, “Until we meet again, may God bless you as he has blessed me.”