Discovered in a Livejournal

"I'm goin' to Graceland, Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee..." ;-) I have, actually - been there, I mean. I've got a picture of myself as a teenager, sitting in his pink jeep.

Pity I can't actually think of a reasonable way to get the guys down there. I was bouncing ideas off my husband and all he kept saying was, "They'd have no authority in the US. Cowley would never send them."

Grr... that's what I get for marrying a man in the public service. :-p

Never mind! I'll write some kind of story. Something to do with Americans, and Elvis, one way or another. What's my lyric?

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This is such an interesting post and question! I'll go away and think about it but I just wanted to say what a good idea and I love the photos!

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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.

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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.

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I've been to Graceland too - very cool it was! And I had a fried banana and peanut butter sandwich at Sun Studios... yum... *g*

'course there's no reason the lads would have to be working if they visited Graceland, you know... and no reason either that they'd have to be in America to do anything Elvis-ish - I'm fairly sure he was pretty well-known in the UK too, you know, and MS was in England when he played Elvis on stage... *g*

That said (!), your lyric is:

She said, drink, drink, drink
Oh, fiddle-de-dink
I can dance with a drink in my hand
(Bossa Nova, Baby)

*g*

*wanders off, humming and wiggling hips*

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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...

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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

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sc-fossil.livejournal.com

I'll take a prompt, please, and see if anything comes to mind.

Nice pic of LC, and I think MS sounded very much like Elvis when he did the play.

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krisserci5.livejournal.com

I was camping in the Sequoias at the time - it was the bear episode camp out, when we returned (my sis, and my boyfriend) we were met by his best friend with a black arm band on and openly crying. . . .

hit me with a lyric. . .

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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.

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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)

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Did you get to see MS playing Elvis then? Lucky thing!

Your lyric prompt is:

He lays down a beat
Like a ton of coal
He goes by the name of King Creole
(King Creole)

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"the bear episode camp out"? I have no idea what that was, although it doesn't sound good... (I was only little, and on the other side of the world...) Black armbands though - wow... I remember one of my classmates being in floods of tears, cos Elvis really had been her hero - I remember how much she'd talk about him too, and save posters and pictures of him and so on...

Right - your lyric is:

Well, since my baby left me,
I found a new place to dwell...
(Heartbreak Hotel)

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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.

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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.

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sc-fossil.livejournal.com

I wish I'd see him do Elvis! Nope, I've only heard some of the tracks. But if MS ever hits NYC again in a play, I'm there.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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krisserci5.livejournal.com

"the bear episode camp out"?

The National Park had signs posted that all food must be contained or hung. My boyfriend and I slept out under the stars and my sister slept in the tent. In the middle of the night my sis wakes up by yelling there was a bear in her tent. We replied that she was dreaming. She answered, that no there was a bear. So I got up and she was wrong, there were 2 bears in her tent. I threw a couple of rocks in their general direction and they grabbed her back pack and ambled off.

I asked what was in the backpack and she said some apples. She didn't think bears would smell a few apples. She wanted to go home. My boyfriend and I checked for additional food. Finding none we still slept outside. Saw a few deer and weren't worried about bears.

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probodie.livejournal.com

Oh I sooo remember the news headlines that day! I was up in Scotland camping with my mum, dad and brother. The tent (it's relevant, honest!) was one of those large ones with 2 individual bedrooms and a living area. Me and bro slept in one in sleeping bags and my parents in the other.

ANYWAY (she says) we got the paper and I saw the headlines and I went into our bedroom and sobbed and obsessed over the paper. I wanted to buy every paper I saw, but wasnt allowed to.

*sigh* It's funny what you remember isnt it?

Anyway, given my VERY poor track record at writing from prompts recently, it's entirely up to you whether you want to give me a prompt, given that I havent finished one this year!!! LOL

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Aww! It is funny what catches us, isn't it?! Oh, and speaking of headlines, and funny things to remember - I remember one of the girls in my class who'd been obsessed with Elvis being absolutely livid about one of the headlines: "Fat, fazed and forty-two"... Which sounds even more rotten now that I'm thinking about it again!

As for prompts - of course you get one! No big deal if you don't get a chance to fulfil it, but if you get all inspired, then yeay! So...

You aint never caught a rabbit
And you aint no friend of mine.
(Hound dog)

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Ah, no wonder I'd never heard of it! *g*

Oh dear... Bears can smell chocolate through the wrapper, lucky escape for your sister..!

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But if MS ever hits NYC again in a play, I'm there.
I'm still hoping I might catch him in his home country, since I actually live here too! No doubt he'll wait until I'm away to take to the boards again..! *sighs*

I've heard his tracks from the album too - he's pretty good! Sounds much more natural too, with his deeper voice, than on the single he released, I thought...

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asymphototropic.livejournal.com

I lived in Memphis for awhile, doing research at St Jude Children's Hospital. Never got around to visiting Graceland, but I earned my instructor stripe in Pasaryu Tae Kwon Do, where Elvis had his black belt. [Elvis had already left the building by the time I arrived.] Every year on his birthday and death day, the school was swamped with tourists on pilgrimage. Very strange to be working out and have strangers coming through on a tour.

I'll take a song, and try to come up with some ficcage, if you please. [still out in Cali. What are the due dates on this assignment?]

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Hello! Strange for them too perhaps - I suppose the more "devout" felt that you were working out in their shrine!

Post between 13th and 20th of the month for Discovered in 1977 challenges please - in this case 13-20 August!

And your lyric is...

It's now or never,
come hold me tight
Kiss me my darling,
be mine tonight
(It's Now or Never)

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So... could I please have a prompt, Other Mod? *g*

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empty-mirrors.livejournal.com

No sooner said, and all that rot.

You're losing interest in me and it's showin'
It ain't no big thing but it's growin'
The pain of heartbreak I've just started knowin'
Well, it ain't no big thing but it's growin'
(It Ain't No Big Thing)

Cor, but they don't write lyrics like that anymore, do they. *G*

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longstrt.livejournal.com

Never been to Graceland, but I can certainly remember growing up and listening to the Top 10 songs on the radio and Elvis' beautiful, "Can't Help Falling In Love" coming across the waves. Would love to join the Elvis' challenge with regards to Elvis and August.

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I thought so. What if they would be bodyguards for some British vips visiting the USA? Would they have at-least limited authorities to act?

I could think of some rivalry in support for the artists, Elvis vs. Beatles by example. I'd say Bodie is the elvis type though I'm sure Doyle also knows how to wriggle his hips in the right way.

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Excellent! And your lyric is...

Maybe I didnt treat you
Quite as good as I should have
Maybe I didnt love you
Quite as often as I could have
(Always On My Mind)

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Ups, I was just innocently commenting (and plotbunning) here. I'm sorry but there's no chance I get something done in the range of time. But I was thinking about art work (drawings) in a 70's style. I've started to work at these and can uplaod some of them I think in a few days.

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Ack - very belated reply, sorry!

Drawings would be lovely! If they're for this challenge, then please upload them between 13th and 20th August - but maybe you were planning to post them at

ci5hq or

the_safehouse, or somewhere instead? Either way I shall look forward to them!

And feel free to comment and plotbunny away any time... *g*

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I will!
I will post it in time for at-least any of the Discovered in 1977 challanges and in the the_safehouse,too.

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The pic of Lew is absolutely lovely!

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solosundance.livejournal.com

gwon then, give me a lyric and I'll have a go at twiiiiisting my discoveredinanewspaper story (although it means it might be plopping into your inbox in a day or two ....*g*)

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