On today’s date in 1977, the 42-year-old Elvis Presley went into hiding to escape the spotlight and live his life in peace. Well, either that or he died. Below is a roundup of some of the stories on the anniversary of his reported “death.”
– The Washington Post blog reprints an article from 1956 about the young Elvis.
– Events at Graceland are covered in several articles. Doug Stephan’s Good Day has a piece about the annual pilgrimage to Graceland. The Los Angeles Times also addresses the journey to Graceland (“Elvis…spurs fresh tears”) and notes some other Elvis anniversaries around the corner. Illustrating Elvis’s international appeal, AlJazeera also has a post about Graceland and the anniversary.
– In the memory category, Boomitude presents a couple of fun podcasts of Billy Bob Thornton discussing his memories of Elvis’s death (“If Elvis could be gone, boy, bad stuff can really happen, can’t it?”) and reviewing his favorite Elvis songs. A memory of a different sort is recalled in in the Orange County Register, where Patricia Bunin uses the anniversary to recount her first kiss, which was from Elvis.
– The Baltimore Sun uses the anniversary to ponder what books Elvis would be reading today. Taking the idea further, the International Business Times discusses “Five Stocks Elvis Might Have Enjoyed,” using his song titles for guidance. The same publication also has “10 Things You Might Not Have Known About the King.”
– The Oakland County Daily Tribune has a long feature story on an Elvis-themed party store.
– Politics seems to creep into everything these days, so here is the Huffington Post writing about Michelle Bachmann mistakenly wishing Elvis happy birthday on the day he died.
– In the song category, the Christian Science Monitor ranks his five greatest songs with “Hound Dog” and “If I Can Dream” in the top five. Blogness on the Edge of Town, consistent with its Bruce Springsteen focus, features a collection of Elvis Presley songs covered by Springsteen. The website also features an audio clip of Springsteen discussing his Presley memories.
– Every anniversary of Elvis’s death I try to re-read Lester Bangs’s beautiful essay from the Village Voice in 1977, “Where Were You When Elvis Died?” Check it out if you have never read it. “But I can guarantee you one thing: we will never again agree on anything as we agreed on Elvis.”
Finally, here is an obligatory great Elvis performance. Not long before Elvis died, he played the piano and sang after playing racquetball. The two songs — the last songs he would ever sing — were Willie Nelson’s “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” and “Unchained Melody.” Although Elvis was in bad shape toward the end of his life, we often forget that he could still belt out a song.
(Some Related Chimesfreedom Posts)
Happy birthday Elvis. That’s a beautiful song but the video is hard to look at.
Yeah, it is rough seeing him that way, especially knowing what would happen in a few months. But, despite that, you can see he could still enthrall an audience. You also still can tell it is the King from that voice and in a moment about half way through where he smiles. Thanks for the comment.