The Once and Future King

I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing the moment I heard that Elvis died. At the time, I wasn’t much of a fan, beyond what I’d heard on the radio – “Burning Love,” “Suspicious Minds,” and a few of the early tunes on oldies stations. But something must have resonated that day, because the moment sticks in my mind as clear as if it were yesterday – driving to work in the middle of the afternoon for the evening shift at McDonald’s, stopping to get gas on the way and the attendant coming out (this was right around the time you started having to pump your own gas, although they still cleaned the windows and checked the tires), saying “Man, did you hear? Elvis died!” It was a shock, even though I remember having seen a picture of him in a recent issue of Rolling Stone where he looked to be tipping the scales at close to 300. After getting home from work that night, I also remember The Tonight Show being delayed for a special on Elvis, and Dave Marsh, the great rock critic, talking about how he always expected that Elvis would be something he could share with his children – he wasn’t just important musically; he had become a part of the fabric of American life.

I didn’t run out and immediately buy the Elvis catalog (in fact, that year I would start to become obsessed with another Elvis – Elvis Costello), but over the years began to add bits and pieces to my collection, as well as view a lot of footage - in films like “This is Elvis” and the re-release of the famous 1968 comeback special - that made it clear that when Elvis was on his game, there was a reason he was called “the King.” Phil Spector was once quoted as saying that it was impossible to comprehend how good Elvis was, and when you saw him singing “One Night” during the comeback special, remembering at long last that it was supposed to be “one night of sin” instead of “one night with you,” utterly resplendent in black leather, surrounded by his true friends, the musicians, you could understand what he was talking about. It didn’t get any better than Elvis then, and it will never get any better than Elvis.

And yet, 29 years later, Elvis still has the ability to surprise. A couple of months ago I was sitting up late and Turner Classic Movies was showing “Elvis: That’s The Way It Is,” which was filmed just as he was embarking on his first post-comeback Vegas tour, in 1970. In other words, the beginning of the perfect saga of decline that would end seven years later, with his death. But in 1970 the rot had not yet set in, and it was evident as he was rehearsing with his band that the fire was hot, and that he couldn’t wait to get on stage. So there he was, ripping into “That’s All Right, Mama,” when suddenly out of nowhere came a quick couple of verses of something that sounded awfully familiar, and recognition finally kicked in - The Beatles’ “Get Back.”

Think about it – maybe it was just me, but I always thought the conventional wisdom was that Elvis detested The Beatles, didn’t respect them, yadda yadda yadda… Well, watch this scene, take a look at the look on Elvis’ face, and then tell me that Elvis didn’t enjoy what The Beatles were doing. There may have been an element of “let me show you boys from Liverpool how it’s done,” but it was still an amazing moment.

As Lester Bangs said, we will never again agree on anything as we did on Elvis. And as Neil Young sang on his last album, he was the king.