Discovered In Graceland - August 1977

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

On the 16th August, 1977, the world was rocked by the news of the death of Elvis Presley. I was still at primary school, but I remember going out and sitting on my favourite branch in one of our willow trees, and being quite sad about it. He was Elvis, and he'd died, and I knew he was real, even though he was in the movies that I'd loved, and it felt as though I knew-him-but-I-didn't-know-him, and I missed him. Ah, beginner's fandom...

Our MS and LC have vague connections with The King:

LC rather looked like young Elvis, in this photo from his Mojo days (well, but you know what I mean *g*)


and of course MS played the older Elvis, the last Elvis, to great acclaim, on stage in Are You Lonesome Tonight?


So what about the lads, what connection might they have had with Elvis? They would have noticed his death, surely - didn't we all? (Memories and thoughts below, please - what was it like in the UK when the news came out?) But would they have recognised a lyric if they'd heard one?

If you'd like to take part in August's challenge, then do comment below and you will be given one of Elvis's song lyrics as your prompt... it's then yours to do with what you will...

Thangyou very much.

*g*

Comments

[shooting2kill.livejournal.com]

Growing up in the fifties you'd would have to have been living in a cave not to have been influenced by Elvis and the whole rock scene which he spawned: Beatles, Stones, everything which followed in the next decade and I'm sure B & D would have recognised most Elvis lyrics - it's part of the DNA of that generation just as the Beatles were for people growing up in the sixties. And even though I think they would only have been around the age of 10 - 15 at the height of his popularity I don't think you ever quite lose your affection for your first and earliest pop memories so I'm sure they'd carry his lyrics into their young adult lives, too!

Great idea.

[shooting2kill.livejournal.com]

I feel a complete P***.....I came here via my friends page and I thought I was posting at your own journal! How embarassing and I shall herewith stop rambling.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Heee! Never stop rambling! Besides, it's dead interesting and completely relevant to the challenge!

So, when would you say was the height of his popularity - mid/late -1950s then? (If we assume the lads are the same age as LC/MS?) Was that how it was in the UK, was he very much more eclipsed by the Beatles later on? (*is almost-young (!) and slightly-foreign*) Much less so than in the US, probably?

And I guess it would depend partly if they were into that kind of music, as well...

[shooting2kill.livejournal.com]

Not *completely* sure on this as Elvis was a tiny bit before my record buying days and it was probably different in the States, but I'd say the height of his popularity was mid - to end of the fifties. Then on the turn of the next decade in the UK along came the Elvis copycats like Cliff Richard and The Searchers, Helen Shapiro who was the number 1 entertainer for a while, and *then* the Beatles dislodged all of those people in '62 (I think) with Love me Do and the rest, they say, is history. So in effect the solo singer phenomenon of someone like Elvis was eclipsed by bands/groups. I found a page somewhere which gave statistics of juke box playing times in those years - what records were played most by which bands, but I've lost it! Sorry. Right, to finish and answer your question, I'd say he was very much eclipsed by The Beatles because they broke the mould and broke into the American market as well, whereas The Searchers didn't manage that and remained a fairly English band - even though they came before The Beatles.

[myrebelcat.livejournal.com]

I'm finding your ramblings very interesting, actually!

I don't remember anything at all about when Elvis died - I was too young to notice, and my mom only listened to Jazz anyway.

I asked my husband, because he's older than me and his folks were big Elvis fans, but all he said was, "Yeah, I remember. I thought it was sad."

Very eloquent, that. :-p

[callistosh65.livejournal.com]

Rambling is gooood.*g* I'm with Rebel, I'm afraid in having no sharp memory of where I was or what I was doing, etc when Elvis died. I was 12 and into tartan and Abba probably..

Having said that, the challenge sounds intriguing. I can't promise anything of length since I'm kind of half on holiday and spending a lot of time out by the sea with no PC. But I'd love to give it a go, so give us a lyric then.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

If you get a chance to write that'd be great, if not - c'est la vie! Have a fab half-holiday, in either case!

Your lyric prompt is:

You shouldve heard those knocked out jailbirds sing.
(Jailhouse Rock)

[shooting2kill.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! I try not to ramble but it ain't easy after a couple(?) of glasses of wine.

And for most men that statement was very eloquent!

To be honest, I *was* old enough to remember the death of Elvis but I can't quite place it in my mind - what I was doing, where I was etc. Which is the opposite to the other famous deaths of my childhood and youth, like the two Kennedy brothers, Martin Luther King and John Lennon. I remember precisely (my) events surrounding those terrible times.

[myrebelcat.livejournal.com]

Fascinating... I remember where I was when the Challenger exploded, Tiannamen Square, and the Berlin Wall (coming down, not going up), which probably dates me. :-) But even though my daughter cried at the time, she can't remember September 11th now.

It's interesting how some events mark your generation - have to I wonder what they'll be for my kids.

[shooting2kill.livejournal.com]

I remember Tiannamen Square partly because I was working in a college at the time and in the next room to me was a very quiet, studious, Chinese PHd student who didn't seem to come out of his room for the next few weeks and we all felt a bit worried about him because when you did meet him in the corridor he just wouldn't speak much. I often wonder what happened to him.

[myrebelcat.livejournal.com]

I was babysitting a neighbour's kids. I put them to sleep and turned the TV and there was a shaky camera feed from some panicked reporter. I saw a tank, and this guy in a white shirt standing in front of it. It was very scary - it was the first time I'd ever seen anything like this unfolding live on TV.

And also because I never saw it coming - I thought it was all peace and love, democracy changing the world. I was pretty naive.