G. I. Blues: Trailer for 1960s musical with Elvis Presley
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The 45th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death kicked off celebrations of Elvis Week earlier this month. The King of Rock and Roll was found dead at his home, Graceland, on August 16, 1977. Despite being dead for almost half a century, his music is still adored to this day by his fans – old and new. And some of his most famous fans are The Beatles.
John Lennon once said that, without Elvis, there would be “no Beatles”. This passion was felt throughout the Fab Four, particularly with Sir Paul McCartney.
Paul was quizzed about his love of music back in 1994. And the topic of Elvis inevitably came up.
He confessed that he had been listening to Elvis’ early work that summer.
“Haven’t heard [his music] for years, and I was blown away,” he confessed. “I suddenly realised the last time I listened to this thoroughly was before The Beatles, before all that happened to me, and it just stripped it all away. It was like I was a kid playing snooker again and listening.”
The experience left him in an intensely emotional state, he revealed.
Paul admitted: “It actually got me crying, pow. Really did it to me.”
He even gave a clue as to which song sent him over the edge.
“I could remember all the words,” he said, before launching into song. “‘Hold me close, hold me tight.'”
These lyrics are, of course, from Elvis’ 1956 single “I Want You, I Need You, I Love You”.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/wy35rS8A1FA
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This track in particular was one of Elvis’ earliest and most successful. It hit the airways in the summer of ’56 and reached number one in the Billboard Top Sellers chart.
In fact, it was one of the star’s three songs in the charts at the same time in 1956, alongside Heartbreak Hotel and My Baby Left Me.
But Paul did not remember only the good parts of Elvis’ life and legacy.
Paul explained that he didn’t like how things went with Elvis’ career in the later years.
“Elvis was the guy,” he said. “He ended up a complete plonker, unfortunately.”
Referencing Elvis’ relationship with Richard Nixon, the President of the United States at the time, he added: “He turned in the end, wanted to become a Federal drug marshal.”
Despite this, Paul added: “But I did love him in the early days, and yes, when we met him, that’s the period I remember. I don’t bother when you go into Vegas and the rhinestones and all that – it’s like he didn’t exist from then on for me.”
As Paul alluded to, The Beatles did meet Elvis in 1965 – but it didn’t go as they had all hoped.
After years of anticipation, the two groups met, but Elvis and the Fab Four seemed to lose their ability to speak.
Eventually, the King broke the ice in the only way he knew how.
Tony Barrow, The Beatles’ press officer at the time, recalled: “Elvis suddenly plugged the gap by calling for some guitars to be handed out to John, Paul and George, and a piano was hauled into view. Up to that point, the party really had been a bit lifeless and unexciting. But as soon as Presley and The Beatles began to play together, the atmosphere livened up.”
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