My Elvis Presley Blog

Author: June Juanico

Introduction by: Peter Guralnick

Refer to Previous Post: Elvis’s Women: June Juanico

The introduction is written by Peter Guralnick, the author of what is probably the best autobiography of Elvis in my opinion, Last Train to Memphis and Careless Love.  These were the first two books I read about Elvis and so far, after a dozen or so later, remain better documentary evidence of Elvis then anything else I’ve read.  Peter states in his introduction that June, in contrast to all the others, has written this book herself.  It’s a good point and one I appreciate.  Every other book I’ve read with the “My Life with Elvis” theme has had a ghost writer, someone to write prettily and advise about enhancing one’s role in the life of the King of Rock & Roll.

June’s book was a long time in coming considering that June was Elvis’s girlfriend from June of 1955 through to March of 1957.  Published in 1997, 40 years after breaking up with Elvis, this is June’s story of what it was like dating Elvis just before his life took off into the Hollywood fast lane. It took her 20 years after Elvis had passed away to write it so it’s obvious to me at least, that June was reluctant to share her affair with Elvis with the world.  Yet eventually I think we all give in to the lure of the big bucks rolling in if we’ve got any kind of book in us.  And she certainly had that.

The book provides us practically a day by day account from the beginning to the end of the affair.  I have trouble with the affair word since they never slept together.  I always considered a “love affair” meant lovemaking but as I’ve learned lately, Elvis’s idea of lovemaking may have been a quite a bit different then mine so for the purposes of this review, we’ll call it an affair. 

As detailed in my previous post about June, her and Elvis met when he was performing at the Slavonian Lodge in Biloxi, Mississippi where June was born and raised.  He apparently eyed her up as she was leaving the restroom and almost instantly asked her for a date.  After the show, according to June, they spent the entire evening together parked in the car and talking.  Elvis completely spilled his guts out to her about all his problems, hopes, dreams and so on and then at sun up, took her home and laid a great big romantic kiss on her. And then he left the next day to continue his tour.

The story is mostly about the summer vacation Elvis spent in Biloxi and I believe Elvis probably enjoyed the best summer of his life with June in Biloxi just before he went to Hollywood to film Love Me Tender.  He was still able to maintain some privacy at this time and the account June gives indicates they had a perfectly normal summer love affair doing lots of summer like activities. From there, we’re told about how June accompanied Elvis on his Florida tour and the breakneck pace set by Colonel Parker that Elvis had to follow but for which no normal person could reasonably keep up to.   

Then Love Me Tender happened as did Debra Paget and things with June took a chilling turn with June breaking it off finally after becoming engaged to another man.  Dropped him like a hot potato, she did.  When June met him on the train he was taking back to Memphis to dump him, he did not pursue her to argue with her or plead for her not to leave him.  Since at this point he had fallen head over heals in love with Debra Paget (See Love Me Tender review) and had been introduced to the Hollywood lifestyle, I’m sure June looked small town and plain to Elvis after that. I know that sounds uncharitable but I’ll bet it’s true. 

This book was okay for me. I had no trouble sticking with it even though I sometimes found the dialogue between Elvis and June annoying with too many “Baby’s” (Elvis) and “Elvis Presley’s” (June).  I also think June overstretches herself in her portrayal of how important she was to Elvis. About how the book The Prophet, which she did give him, was the one he was reading when he died, (that’s not substantiated anywhere) and that this same book still sits on his bedside table at Graceland. (Maybe but it’s not the one she gave him because Priscilla burned that one).  I found I was rolling my eyes frequently while reading this book mainly due to the cheesy dialogue and the inflated importance she makes herself out to be to Elvis. She was certainly important to him when they were together but out of sight, out of mind was a real problem with Elvis.

Having said that, it was obvious to me throughout the book that June really did and probably still does love Elvis.  I also want to add that it was very enlightening to hear what Elvis was like before his gigantic ego kicked into overdrive and he became convinced of his own superstardom. There are personal photographs too of Elvis and June (and families) that are never seen before. June certainly doesn’t write anything negative about Elvis which is quite refreshing but she also doesn’t gloss over the more needy aspects of his character. It was a much more innocent time then and maybe some of the way June writes reflects that even though it comes off somewhat corny now.  Certainly the Elvis that June dated and loved was a whole lot more innocent during this period then in the days after he met Hollywood.

All in all, a worthwhile read if you are an Elvis fan.  

Today when I arrived at work I had three new books waiting for me.  Elvis and Me, the Priscilla biography that I had at one time swore I would never read, Child Bride by Suzanne Finstad who apparently puts Priscilla in a pretty bad light, (I already have Priscilla in a pretty bad light so no big leap there) and Elvis, In the Twilight of Memory by June Juanico. 

I needed these books to continue my evolving series on the Women in Elvis’s Life and so my reading time over the next few weeks will be pretty much involved in finishing these three books.  I had finished the June Juanico portion of the series but may have to update or edit it after I’ve read her book.  I’ll read that one first. 

I’ve been trying to get through The Colonel by Alanna Nash but am really struggling  with it.  Since I completely despise this man it’s very hard for me to continue to read about his crooked and near criminal activities. I haven’t even got to the part where he takes over and destroys Elvis’s career.  I will finish it though as I always finish my Elvis books.  The good, bad and the ugly ones.  This is one of the ugly ones so it will take some time for me to finish. It’s on hold now for a bit until I finish the ones mentioned above.  I also have several others on order so it may be awhile before I get back to The Colonel.  Maybe by then my hate for him will have lost some of it’s edge.  

If you haven’t already, check out my books section where you can see which books I’ve already purchased and read.  If you’re interested at all in reading about Elvis I strongly recommend The Last Train to Memphis and Elvis and Gladys.  Both of those books will give you such a complete picture of who Elvis really was.

Until next time… 

By Ernst Jorgensen, Foreword by Peter Guralnick

Elvis Presley - A Life in Music

This book is essentially my Elvis bible. My copy looks slightly travel weary with pieces of paper, paperclips, and bookmarks stuck in various points and some corners bent up from being in my purse a lot of the time. While listening to the over 400 favorite songs by Elvis on my music player, I sometimes need to refer to this book to remind myself where he was, who were the musicians and back up singers playing with him, what was his state of mind and all the other hundreds of little details that go into knowing as intimately as possible what it was like to be in the studio with Elvis on any given day.

And let there no mistake about it, Elvis was a genius when it came to knowing what he wanted in the studio and getting it. Most people don’t know that Elvis produced nearly every song he recorded.  He did the arrangments and he decided who did what on every song.

This book gives us details of the frustration Elvis had with all the really crappy tunes that came his way thanks to Tom Parker’s influence. You must understand that the sham that was Parker was a formula kind of flim flam man who felt that if something worked and made a lot money, then everything after that should be pretty much the same. Just look at Elvis’s movie career and tell me I’m wrong. But Elvis was anything but formula and if you know his music, you know that he could and would sing anything that he felt like singing. Thankfully, a lot of the recordings that were never released because they didn’t meet the “Parker formula” have been released in later years and Elvis fans worldwide are being given a chance to hear what Elvis really could do with a microphone and tape machine.

On the other hand, we also get to feel what it must have been like to be in the presence of genius. Elvis could nail a song with one take and would memorize words to songs after only one reading. In contrast, he could also take all night to get a song  just the way he wanted it to sound. He was enormously patient with the studio musicians and back up singers seldom losing his temper because somebody wasn’t getting it right. Elvis was never a diva, he just wanted to sing a great song.  In this book you almost get the feeling that you’re there during the rehearsals.

Another little known fact is that although Elvis was often seen with a guitar, it was the piano that he was really proficient at playing and many of his recordings include him on the piano, not the guitar.  The guitar was used as a prop in his earlier years but notice that once he hit Vegas and was doing the big concerts, you rarely saw him with a guitar.

In this book, we also learn a lot more about the players in Elvis’s life who helped him make his way up from a no name Memphis boy who sang at the fairgrounds once a awhile to the international household name he eventually became. From Sam Phillips at Sun Studios to Steve Sholes at RCA, everybody who had a hand in Elvis recording career is introduced to us in this book.  Love them or hate them, they were instrumental in helping Elvis become the icon he is and this book shows them all without bias.

Even though it’s obvious the author loves Elvis and his music, there is no sugarcoating things trying to make Elvis look like anything but a regular human being. If Elvis was in a crappy mood, late for the session or just being difficult, the author brings that to the story. If he had a cold or was otherwise sick, you’ll know it and once you do, you will actually listen closer and hear the music differently. Because now you can hear Elvis sniffle or wheeze slightly while taking a breath. As an example, listen again closer to Tomorrow Never Comes.  He’s actually very congested and you can hear it him snort or sniffle 2 or 3 times. Miraculously, his voice never falters.  These small nuggets of information somehow bring Elvis back to life for the true Elvis music fan. We are reminded of what Elvis was really about when you banish all the bad press that overshadowed his career after his death. It was the music.

Between the covers of this book, there is more factual information about Elvis’s music and recordings then can be found anywhere else, including complete recording information and session data keys on every song Elvis recorded, both in the studios and at home.

If you love the music of Elvis, old fan or new, you absolutely must have this book.

What Others Said:
“A comprehensive, insightful, and absorbing account of Presley’s recording career…focuses the reader on the one thing that truly matters in the Presley saga – the music – and it belongs on every rock fan’s bookshelf.” BILLBOARD

“Even for important pop artists…there are only one or two books that actually matter. And for Elvis Presley, there has been only one book of real consequence, Peter Guralnick’s brilliant biography, Last Train to Memphis. Now, there are two.” THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE

“Of the hundreds of books written about Elvis Presley, only a handful are worthy of a music library. Elvis Presley; A Life in Music…is one of the few…We gain insight into Elvis the artist, of course, but also get a new perspective on Elvis the man. The book, beautifully illustrated with great photos, is a must for the Elvisphile.” THE WASHINGTON POST

“Far and away the most detailed guide to Elvis’s recordings and one of the small handful of indispensable books about Presley.” BOSTON HERALD

“This is a gloriously obsessive book that revels in endlessly fascinating detail and returns the focus to where it should have been all along: the music.” COLIN ESCOTT, AUTHOR OF GOOD ROCKIN’ TONIGHT AND HANK WILLIAMS: THE BIOGRAPHY