The King's 77th

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Happy birthday, Elvis!
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[TJDave]

Never understood the public's fascination with Elvis Presley. Mediocre talent at best.

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Never understood the public's fascination with Elvis Presley. Mediocre talent at best.
I don't believe that those were males screaming at his concerts. :)

To quote Mac Davis' song Hooked on Music, on why he (Mac Davis) decided to become a singer:

Well, I finally got some tickets to see Elvis live and hot,
And my girl friend almost jumped my bones goin' back to the parkin' lot.
I knew that it was not my great physique, good looks, and charm
That left that Texas teenybopper's nail prints in my arm.

[JustRalph]

Never understood the public's fascination with Elvis Presley. Mediocre talent at best.

50 Million Elvis Fans can't be wrong............ :lol:

I am a big Elvis fan. I have gravitated towards the 50's stuff. When you listen to some of that stuff.......and consider the time frame........some of the stuff he was breaking ground with........that had been done by many on Stax records and others around Memphis at the time..........it is very cool work.

Big time props to Scotty Moore, Bill Black, DJ Fontana and Hank Sugarfoot Garland for adding to it. Then being the first real world wide celebrity and cultivating that for another 20 years, was ground breaking also. Nobody else had done it.

Even in the early 70's before he went off the rails there was some good work. "Suspicious Minds" and "The wonder of you" were two examples of songs that were commercial hits but more for the writing and arrangement than the vocals. Take in the entire package of work (and it's huge) and nobody gets near it. Except maybe the Beatles.

[johnhannibalsmith]

...Even in the early 70's before he went off the rails there was some good work. ...

I'm an Elvis fan but not so much in the typical mold. Musically I really don't care too too much for his super popular earlier work, but have an appreciation for what it meant at that time. Some of his "big voice" covers later on I can listen to and never tire of it: "If I Can Dream", "My Way", even the operatic "Unchained Melody" - a lot of the stuff that people associate with his gaudy Vegas years is some of my favorite stuff.

[Grits]

Never understood the public's fascination with Elvis Presley. Mediocre talent at best.

:confused: Mediocre????? You really don't know a great deal about music or about musical talent do you? Or record sales, or sold out performances, or icons, or legends, or rock and roll, (the forerunner to pop music as we know it today) and WHO is solely responsible for it? The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame? How far singing gospel music in the church choir as a young child can take one who has a gifted voice? How many devoted fans this man has, still today? And finally, how an estate can be worth incredibly more today than it was in the year he died?

Sadly, I never saw Elvis in person. I had plans to see him in concert in August 1977, when he died.

Today, 35 years later, and a lot of recording artists later, I surely can recognize--GREATNESS--where music and entertainers, and most of all--SHOWMANSHIP--are visable. Elvis, still today, stands as the greatest legend in American music. Bar none.

All recording artists, all studio musicians, all music industry folks, collectively, anyone of them you could speak to, anyone connected with American music knows this--start with, say, Paul McCartney. Ask him first. Also, anyone that is able to sit up, eat, and breathe on his/her own knows this. In other words, anyone who is living knows what Elvis Presley has meant to music, not only in this country, but throughout the world.

I have a lot of artists whose music I love. And Elvis isn't at the top, but there's no doubt, I cared for his music a great deal and my respect for him is immense. I cannot imagine anyone not realizing what this man gave popular to music.

;)
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(Still don't know how to embed videos. And this guy, I should do him justice. Oh well .... PA, please, where are you?)

My favorite performance . . . . The American Trilogy. Elvis joined, together, Dixie and The Battle Hymn Of The Republic. In Hawaii, its one of his finest live performances ever, with J.D.Sumner And The Stamps, who traveled with him for years. They were his harmony--backup vocals.

The flute solo is haunting. Love this song, but then I would, being Southern.

Happy birthday, E.

[Grits]

JHS, If I Can Dream was a fantastic song!!! :ThmbUp:

[johnhannibalsmith]

:... In Hawaii, its one of his finest live performances ever, ...

Every time I drive to the track, I listen to Aloha from Hawaii during the drive. I gauge how well I'm making time by where I am in the CD. If I make it to the rest stop before "My Way", I'm in good shape. If I get to the track after "American Trilogy", I'm running behind.

[JustRalph]

Don't forget he was a Vet too.

Not special services either

http://a.abcnews.com/images/Entertainment/gty_army_elvis_jef_ss_110815_ssh.jpg

[Tom]

No matter his demise in the later years, his voice never failed him.
When he died, the waitresses in the Dairy Bar I was working at all fell apart - it was like nothing I had ever seen before - or since.

His 1968 live concert was really good.

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[Grits]

All of these are good!!! I've been at YouTube watching videos.:)

I have to realize that there are many, many of you here that are clueless about Elvis, but clueless or not--you NEED to know your roots, you need to know what this man gave to American music. And he did it long before the Beatles airplane landed in New York.

I love all music, so many different musical styles and artists. But Elvis, this man was in a class of one.

Tom, we had a Dairy Bar in our town, too!!! Same era.

JHS, Aloha from Hawaii was my favorite. It was history making. Broadcast by satellite all over the world. And in that year, such a thing was unheard of.

[lamboguy]

ELVIS was cool, my mom loved him, and as luck would have it, today would have been her birthday as well.

happy birthday for two wonderful people.

[PaceAdvantage]

Did I tell the story on here of the time Elvis gave me one of those "Pope blessing" waves he was fond of?

Happened on the Meadowbrook Parkway as my Mom and Dad stalked him after a show at the Nassau Coliseum and followed his limo for a bit (they used a decoy limo, but my Dad picked the right one)...no...we didn't go to the show...we just hung out in the area where he was supposed to come out after the show was over...lol

Anyway, I'm a little kid, and I'm in the back seat while we pull up alongside of his limo on the parkway, and Elvis has curtains on the side windows of the limo, but he pulls the curtain back, sees me, and gives me the patented two finger "Pope" wave...

Me being the shy bastard that I was, I ducked down in my seat immediately... :lol:

And that's my Elvis "Brush with greatness" story... :lol: :lol:

Oh, and if you don't know what the pope wave is, it's kind of a two finger thingy...like this:

http://www.catholicanchor.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Pope-blessing1.jpg

[Grits]

Thanks to you, Elvis, and the Pope . . . . . I can still laugh.:lol:

This was a good one.

[bigmack]

I think either Clambake or Girls! Girls! Girls! could be considered his finest film. :rolleyes:

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u70/macktime/90333.jpg

[PaceAdvantage]

Hmmm...could it be possible she hasn't noticed? Or has she not been on the board the last few days? :lol:

[Tom]

I check here everyday to see if she has seen it yet! :lol:

[JustRalph]

That's classic......it took me a minute to notice!
:lol:

[bigmack]

It was one of those 'bing-bang-boom' Photoshop yobs. Not much in the way of nuance but good enough for a quick snicker.

[Grits]

When we meet--its going to be brief--'cause I'm going to kill you with my bare hands.

Is this thing supposed to be a bikini? I look like a Southern white girl in high school wearing a cotton bra and big girl panties. :lol:


I think either Clambake or Girls! Girls! Girls! could be considered his finest film. :rolleyes:

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u70/macktime/90333.jpg