My Affair with Elvis
I was born in August of 1957 when Elvis’s career was just a little over a year in the making. So growing up, Elvis was not a big part of my music scene although I remember loving Return to Sender, In the Ghetto and Suspicious Minds anytime I heard it on the radio. Being of the age, I was into David Cassidy, The Monkees, Bobby Sherman etc.
Like everybody else, I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when the news came on TV exactly 20 years later in August of 1977 that Elvis had died. Despite never having been a big fan, I sat down on my couch and cried. The world had lost an icon, that much I knew for sure.
So 30 years later, in January of 2007, when I heard that Elvis would have turned 72 years old that month had he lived, it was startling to me when something clicked somewhere in my brain and I felt my world shift. It was a whisper that simply said “Elvis”. I can’t explain it and I’ve now given up trying but ever since that day, Elvis has never been out of my thoughts. And so my quest began.
I had the 30 Greatest Hits CD only because I got it erroneously from a music club and had never broke the seal or played it but had never returned it either. I also had the 2 CD set Christmas Peace that I only ever played during the holiday season once in awhile. I quickly broke open the 30 Greatest Hits CD and ripped it to my computer and sync’d it to my mp3 player. Since that day, I have listened to nothing but Elvis. I simply can’t listen to anything else because nothing else compares. Listening to him sing gospel almost makes me believe again but listening to him sing anything brings me great peace of mind.
Elvis PerformsElvis recorded over 900 songs in his brief 24 year career and I now have more then half of those. Approximately 200 of these are on my favorites playlist which I listen to daily commuting back and forth to work and even work sometimes when I need to really buckle down and work. I stick an earphone in my left ear and I’m more productive then I am not listening to him.
I’ve read over a dozen books about his life and music and will be featuring my reviews, my book reports in essence, here on this blog. I have others on the nightstand waiting to be read and there’s a stack at amazon that are just waiting to be ordered. I never do anything half heartedly and I’ll probably die before I have every book written about him, every movie he ever did and every song Elvis ever recorded.
My affair with Elvis began full of lust, grief, bitterness and butterflies. For the first few months I almost couldn’t read the end of any of the books because they all ended the same. Tragically. I would put myself to sleep at night wondering what it would have been like to have known him, loved him, been loved by him, held by him. It was lust and grief, then grief and lust.
After 2 years, my relationship with him is somewhat calmer although I still get butterflies in my stomach whenever I hear his voice, or look at a picture of him or even just think about him, and I think about him a lot.
And whenever he says “Yeah baby” during a song, my head bows, my heart flips and my knees get weak. But I don’t cry so much anymore that he’s gone and I don’t despise the people who were around him so much anymore who did nothing to try to save him. Oh there are a couple of people I resent deeply for their part in his downfall and you’ll read more about these as I discuss the books but essentially the downfall was Elvis’s doing.
I have finally come to terms “somewhat” with the fact that Elvis’s life was exactly as it was meant to be and nothing anybody did was going to change the outcome. Bigger then life he was but inside, a shy naive southern boy with a huge heart who just wanted to be loved. He is the undisputed King of Rock and Roll and his musical influence changed the world as we knew it.
Elvis, we will meet again someday on that beautiful shore by the river of life. Meanwhile, I will love you forever and this site is dedicated to your legacy.
My very first video made for E – Just Pretend_Elvis Lives
Tags: Elvis, Elvis biography
July 6th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Hello. I think the article is really interesting. I am even interested in reading more. How soon will you update your blog?