The King Is Dead. Long Live The King

Today I went to the Graceland Presents Elvis exhibition. Most of the following thoughts I wrote down while in the exhibit, though some of the facts and figures were gathered as I typed this up.

I used to be a big Elvis fan. I remember hearing of his official death (unofficially he went into hiding) on 16 August 1977. I have the road across the Johnsonville train tracks in Wellington as the picture in my head of when I heard the news. Perhaps we heard it on the car radio – though I don’t know if we actually had one – or it may have been my older brother telling me.

For many years I was a big fan. We had a double LP of his greatest hits that used to get a great deal of air play. Then I became a fan. If anyone asked what music I liked, I’d always put Elvis right up there; however, for many years, I would have claimed to have been a fan, but didn’t really listen to his music.

As time went on I started to question even if I was a fan at all. Several years after his death I read the book by three of Elvis’ former body guards – Elvis: what happened? It was released two weeks before Elvis’ death. It was a ‘tell all’ of a very different side to the public persona. An interesting quote from Elvis up on the wall at today’s exhibition was -

“The image is one thing and the human being is another. It’s very hard to live up to the image.”

Although I may be taking it out of context, it was the only part of the exhibition that gave any hint of anything but the carefully groomed portrayal of Elvis. More on this later. Elvis' people had even trademarked his signature.

If I’m going to be a ‘big’ fan of someone nowadays then I have to like the art and respect the person behind the art. I like the art of some singers – John Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, The Pogues, Paul Simon to name a few, but I’m not a big fan.

I am a big fan of Bono from U2 and Johnny Cash. I like both the music and the persons. I think I have almost every album – minus compilations – that U2 have produced and I have about 75 of Johnny Cash’s 96 albums.

They had on display some of the other musicians Elvis like to listen to. Look below for no surprise!

 

The main thought I had as I walked around the exhibition was that I felt sorry for the guy. Life under a microscope. A poor boy raised in a family focussed start and the thrust into super-stardom. How would anyone cope with this?

A quote from a website – definitely not in the exhibition – was:

Larry Geller became Presley's hairdresser in 1964. Unlike others in the Memphis Mafia, he was interested in spiritual questions and recalls how, from their first conversation, Presley revealed his secret thoughts and anxieties: "I mean there has to be a purpose ... there's got to be a reason ... why I was chosen to be Elvis Presley. ... I swear to God, no one knows how lonely I get. And how empty I really feel."

   

In the exhibits were things you’d expect to see - once he got famous people would hang on to things – I have a serviette that my mother wiped on her hand immediately after shaking hands with the, then, prime minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark. For those of you who voted National I should point out that she was preserving the ‘essence’ of the meeting, not trying to wipe the filth of a stinking, pinko, commie from her pores!

I have also shaken the hand that has shaken the hand that has shaken Johnny Cash’s hand.

Back to the exhibition. Some of the stuff made you ask, “Why would anyone have held onto that for so many years before Elvis actually became famous?” …with the exception of his mum!

I sat down to think – How could he be himself?

Back to the image the exhibition was portraying. They had six of his Las Vegas ‘jump suits’ on display. The latest there was one from 1974. There is no way he would have fitted into any of them by 1977. (Upon arriving home I watched some 1977 concert footage. He was very over weight and stumbling through his words – probably in a drug induced haze, which was not uncommon by that stage.)

Probably his most iconic outfit - the 1968 come back black leather suit

I have just found out there is a 25 minute ‘concert’ we can go to in eight minutes time – it’s on a huge screen. I’m sitting in the front row. I’m getting ready to scream! I hope he throws me a scarf, or at least sweats on me. I’m going to throw him my undies…or is that for Tom Jones concerts? There are still photos popping up on the screen before the concert videos start.

I have seen photos of screaming fans in the exhibition and there is a video clip of an interview with Elvis asking about being mobbed by fans. As 200 of us sit waiting for The King to arrive ‘on stage’ there is a strange silence…as it has been throughout the entire exhibition.

Those side burns. What was he thinking?

We watched the concert footage starting from his first television appearance and going right through to about 1973 or ’74. None of the unflattering later footage was shown.

At the end of the ‘concert’ a number clapped. Why? He’s dead!

That may be the first time I’ve admitted it in those words. I often describe August 16, 1977 as ‘the day Elvis went into hiding’. I had known it for a long time, but by the end of the exhibition I was finally able to say it out loud – the person beside me looked at me strangely when I did it – Elvis is no longer my king.

The King is dead. Long live The King