Remembering Elvis | Page 2 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

To answer some of the “intelligent” statements on here. I’m constantly defending both Elvis and the Beatles (favorite singer/favorite band) whenever someone tries to take shots at them at school or other places but I find it weird when I’m having to come in between these two acts who I both love.

Songwriting is apart of writing more than it is of music. It is not that hard to write lyrics, ‘Come Together ‘ being a prime example of this, Kanye West being another prime example of this. Elvis possessed creativity from arranging the beats to changing an entire song entirely that I have not seen even in the Beatles. Have you ever heard the original That’s All Right Mama and compared it to what Elvis did at Sun Studios? Or What he did for Blue Moon of Kentucky? Another comparison would be Tony Joe White’s ‘Polk Salad Annie’ and Elvis’ hyper version of it. You cannot dismiss such creativity and focus on lyric-writing. Elvis might not have written his own songs but his interpretations of songs and the way he arranges the beats to it were unmatched. Not to mention the most important thing, his live performances were better than the studio versions of his songs, something very hard to come by.

Judging Elvis by his songwriting skills is like judging the Beatles by their inability to dance or move to the beats of their song and put on a good show for people. Dancing is more apart of movement than music, songwriting is more apart of writing than music. Judge a musician by their MUSIC.

Adele is overweight, not attractive at all, barely moves in her music videos, doesn’t give any kind of show for her concerts, has writers write songs for her, yet her vocals are amazing and she’s definitely the best thing in music right now because of her music. Of course dancing and good looks help your music and songwriting definitely gives fans a feeling of being ‘genuine’ to the song but the bottom line is the music.

I do agree strongly however with the feelings of Elvis’ post-army years though. Something changed in him when coming back from the army, you could tell right away something was very different from that post-army interview. He became this controlled and partly brainwashed person which only became worse as he spent his next 9 years in Hollywood having sex with Hollywood starlets and taking his uppers to work on his sometimes hard to watch musical movies. Even the movies changed, the movies before the army possessed a certain flare to it. I don’t buy into his 68′ special either. I was never a fan of that special, it was nothing new. Just Elvis doing songs he sang a long time ago, the only reason it was the most watched program of 1968 was because it had his name attached to it and it wasn’t even a comeback, he still had 4 movie contracts to honor, his real comeback was in 1970.

But I think you guys are not giving proper credit to the later years (1970-77) which, looking back at it from now, turned him into a twice-icon and put him on a pedestal unmatched even today. Suspicious Minds, The Wonder of You, In The Ghetto, Walk a Mile, Polk Salad Annie, Always on My Mind, What Now My Love, American Trilogy, Unchained Melody, plus the ‘Aloha From Hawaii’ concert which remains the most watched television event ever, etc. put a spin on him that gave him a diversity as a musician that I don’t think anyone will come to have again. This is a man who was producing the best vocal music out there all while self destructing and losing his life slowly while everyone else watches. If anyone wonders why Elvis fans are so fanatic it’s because of this period. 

Being an Elvis fan, this is why I think he became and still is the best singer of all time, it’s because he gives you diversity in his music. On top of having an arsenal of songs, he also has a huge diversity in them. The 50’s gives you wild, free, sometimes dangerous music. The 60’s movie soundtracks gives you pop melodies and breezy car music, the 70’s gives you dramatic, powerful pieces. Also he gives you all kinds of genres from rock, pop, ballads, gospel, country, etc. He is the most diverse singer ever whose music ranges from young rocker to mid-aged opera singer. Who else can be remembered as Mr. Cool rockin’ a gold jacket dancing his way to controversy in America all the way to God -looking white diamond suited man singing as if apart of an opera in Venice?

There’s a reason John Lennon was obsessed with Elvis even wearing a diamond ‘Elvis’ name tag on his suit for the 72′ Grammy Awards and constantly wearing Elvis accessories on his shirts. There’s also a reason why Graceland is second only to the White House in terms of visitors per year.

“Long live ze’ king” – John (notice the pin on his shirt, occupation G.I. Bluessss)

Expert Textpert said
I’m also a big Elvis/Beatles/John Lennon fan.  Thanks for your post.  I agree that the 70’s period is very good.  I especially love “From Elvis Presley Boulevard” and “Moody Blue.”  They have some of my favorite tracks.

I can’t wait for the “Elvis At Stax” set to come out at the beginning of August.

I’ve been collecting Elvis’s music for the past year but actually have yet to delve into his concert videos or films.  Do you have any recommendations on those?

Always like assisting people in Elvis. Although his best concerts were definitely the insane 50’s concert where he’s moving in every direction with his gold suit, little recordings remain of those and the ones around are silent with music added to them. But the 70’s has its fair share of good concert songs.

This is a good song, ‘Walk a Mile’, very deep and inspirational

Then there’s ‘What Now’ part of the Aloha From Hawaii satellite concert. His finale at 2:30 has to definitely be one of the greatest moments in Elvis’ singing career in my personal opinion.

Polk Salad Annie is definitely something that appeals more to our time and my generation (teens, 20’s) which is probably why it’s in my top 3 of Elvis’ songs yet it charted no real success for him back in the 70’s. Funny how music appeals changes with time.

There’s so many to choose from, the man spawned 114 top 40 hits, it depends on what you’re looking for (genre/feeling), hope I’ve been of help ExpertTexpert

hope you like it

On the evening of August the 27th, 1965, Elvis Presley and the Beatles, the music world’s biggest stars, met for the first and only time.
Since it had been agreed upon that no press would be involved and that no pictures or recordings would be taken of that which would happen, here is our rendition of what probably happened during the party, including the music that was played.

who knows annadog? that took a lot of time and was our first experience in the stop motion technique. never say never anyway… I’m glad you like it