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Elvis was a searcher.
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It's a part of him that never left.
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00:00:38,956 --> 00:00:44,044
The following program is brought
to you in living color on nbc.
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00:00:45,003 --> 00:00:50,175
Singer presents Elvis, starring
Elvis Presley in his first TV special.
5
00:00:50,259 --> 00:00:54,388
His first personal performance on TV
in nearly 10 years.
6
00:01:40,851 --> 00:01:44,855
In '68, he was a nervous wreck.
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00:01:47,566 --> 00:01:51,278
Nervous because he didn't know
if his audience was going to accept him.
8
00:01:51,361 --> 00:01:54,531
People had not seen him
perform in so long.
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00:01:55,782 --> 00:01:58,952
Felt like his record career
was over as well.
10
00:01:59,494 --> 00:02:01,622
It was intense.
11
00:02:02,414 --> 00:02:06,543
The '68 special, it was either
the beginning or the end of his career.
12
00:02:07,502 --> 00:02:09,379
You know, god bless him.
13
00:02:09,463 --> 00:02:11,506
He was a light for all of us.
14
00:02:11,590 --> 00:02:15,719
We all owe him
for going first into battle.
15
00:02:17,387 --> 00:02:22,976
He had no road map. And he forged
a path of what to do and what not to do.
16
00:02:23,060 --> 00:02:26,521
We shouldn't make the mistake
of writing off a great artist...
17
00:02:26,605 --> 00:02:29,232
By all the clatter that came later.
18
00:02:29,316 --> 00:02:33,195
We should dwell in what he did
that was so beautiful and everlasting...
19
00:02:33,278 --> 00:02:36,031
Which was that great, great music.
20
00:04:05,370 --> 00:04:10,292
Elvis always remembered
what it was like to have nothing.
21
00:04:10,876 --> 00:04:14,838
And to have no respect,
to be looked down upon.
22
00:04:14,921 --> 00:04:19,259
Elvis never forgot
the experience of being in poverty, ever.
23
00:04:19,342 --> 00:04:21,553
It stuck with him all his life.
24
00:04:28,435 --> 00:04:31,480
When I look at photos of Elvis
when he was young...
25
00:04:31,563 --> 00:04:33,732
I see that little boy in him...
26
00:04:33,815 --> 00:04:37,235
That playfulness,
the curiosity in his eyes.
27
00:04:37,861 --> 00:04:42,324
But I also see how he felt
responsibility for his mother.
28
00:04:46,870 --> 00:04:53,585
Elvis was born in a shotgun house. The
poorest of the poor lived in those houses.
29
00:04:53,919 --> 00:04:57,756
His twin brother did not survive birth.
30
00:04:57,839 --> 00:05:01,426
It's said that his mother
would tell him that if he sang...
31
00:05:01,510 --> 00:05:06,640
When the moon was full at night,
his twin brother could hear him.
32
00:05:07,349 --> 00:05:10,936
Gladys was a doting mother,
but she could be firm as well...
33
00:05:11,019 --> 00:05:12,896
Always very protective of him.
34
00:05:12,979 --> 00:05:15,148
He was her only child.
35
00:05:15,482 --> 00:05:16,900
She lived for him.
36
00:05:16,983 --> 00:05:19,611
And he lived for her.
37
00:05:23,573 --> 00:05:26,326
When Elvis was 3 years old, in 1938...
38
00:05:26,618 --> 00:05:30,247
His father was sentenced to
three years in prison for forging a check.
39
00:05:30,747 --> 00:05:33,208
The check was to buy food
to put on the table.
40
00:05:34,501 --> 00:05:37,045
Gladys would take him
to see his father.
41
00:05:37,128 --> 00:05:39,214
Vernon was so embarrassed.
42
00:05:39,297 --> 00:05:41,842
Thankfully, he doesn't have
to spend the three years.
43
00:05:41,925 --> 00:05:43,468
He only spends six months in prison.
44
00:05:43,552 --> 00:05:49,599
But what it does is it starts
a pattern of Vernon being away...
45
00:05:49,683 --> 00:05:54,187
And Elvis and Gladys
being left to their own devices.
46
00:05:54,271 --> 00:05:57,440
They move around
and live in boardinghouses.
47
00:06:01,403 --> 00:06:04,030
This was the end of the depression.
48
00:06:04,114 --> 00:06:08,034
Vernon, after that experience
at parchman prison...
49
00:06:08,118 --> 00:06:11,663
He had a hard time finding jobs.
50
00:06:16,251 --> 00:06:20,171
Elvis told me that his father
really lost his spirit.
51
00:06:20,672 --> 00:06:24,843
And his mother had to work
really hard during that time.
52
00:06:33,059 --> 00:06:37,314
Ready here, with a slate. Eight-oh-two.
53
00:06:44,237 --> 00:06:48,700
Where I first got the phone call
to get involved with Elvis...
54
00:06:50,493 --> 00:06:55,999
My partner at the time, bones howe,
who was a successful record producer...
55
00:06:56,082 --> 00:06:59,586
Was really flabbergasted
when I said, "no."
56
00:06:59,669 --> 00:07:02,547
He came over to me
right after I hung up the phone and said:
57
00:07:02,631 --> 00:07:04,966
"Steve, I engineered
an Elvis Presley album.
58
00:07:05,050 --> 00:07:09,387
I know Elvis Presley, and I think
you guys would hit it off great."
59
00:07:17,604 --> 00:07:21,566
Elvis was a guy who sang from his gut.
60
00:07:21,858 --> 00:07:25,862
This is something you're born with,
that commitment to the music.
61
00:07:28,490 --> 00:07:33,828
The one thing I remembered, that stuck
with me all these years, was binder said:
62
00:07:33,912 --> 00:07:38,249
"People need to see him
the way he really is."
63
00:07:38,541 --> 00:07:42,087
He had to dig back
to find his real self...
64
00:07:42,170 --> 00:07:46,216
And it was like
looking back into the past.
65
00:08:10,448 --> 00:08:15,662
Vernon and Gladys heard this loud roar,
half in their sleep.
66
00:08:15,745 --> 00:08:18,957
They picked Elvis up, thought
they were putting him out a window...
67
00:08:19,040 --> 00:08:21,960
To get him away from the train
that was coming.
68
00:08:22,043 --> 00:08:25,797
Threw him right into a wall,
and he bounced off and fell on the floor.
69
00:08:26,297 --> 00:08:28,425
His crying woke them up.
70
00:08:28,508 --> 00:08:33,722
They saw that it was no train. It was
a tornado that went through tupelo.
71
00:08:36,516 --> 00:08:42,397
Southern religion reminds its believers
that we're here for a short time.
72
00:08:43,940 --> 00:08:50,155
If you lost your life or you were spared,
it was because of divine Providence.
73
00:08:50,238 --> 00:08:53,491
The loss of life,
the destruction of property...
74
00:08:53,575 --> 00:08:57,662
It was a reminder
of the fragility of life.
75
00:08:59,372 --> 00:09:02,250
Going to church,
hearing gospel music...
76
00:09:02,333 --> 00:09:06,254
Being a part of people getting
in touch, moving with the music...
77
00:09:06,337 --> 00:09:07,964
Getting lost in the music...
78
00:09:14,387 --> 00:09:16,556
If you lived in a rural area...
79
00:09:16,639 --> 00:09:19,642
There wasn't much else
but the music and the church.
80
00:09:19,726 --> 00:09:24,522
It wasn't like you'd be there, sitting,
crossing your legs, relaxing.
81
00:09:24,606 --> 00:09:27,233
You get very involved
and very energetic.
82
00:09:27,525 --> 00:09:31,321
It's as much of feeling
as it is of hearing.
83
00:09:31,905 --> 00:09:33,656
I've always liked music.
84
00:09:33,740 --> 00:09:36,451
My mother and dad both loved to sing.
85
00:09:36,659 --> 00:09:40,121
They tell me when I was about 3 or 4,
I got away from them in church...
86
00:09:40,205 --> 00:09:42,999
Walked up in front of the choir
and started beating time.
87
00:09:54,803 --> 00:09:57,097
The hymns were more than religious...
88
00:09:57,180 --> 00:10:00,558
They were fundamental
building blocks of music.
89
00:10:01,518 --> 00:10:07,565
Rhythmic, hard-hitting, you had
the foundation of rock 'n' roll bands...
90
00:10:07,649 --> 00:10:09,943
Playing in churches.
91
00:10:27,418 --> 00:10:33,049
People came to be excited
and taken out of their daily experience.
92
00:10:36,177 --> 00:10:39,097
Elvis was like huck Finn, exploring.
93
00:10:39,180 --> 00:10:42,559
At night he would slip
into black churches.
94
00:10:42,642 --> 00:10:47,814
He would listen to gospel music
and to the sermons.
95
00:10:52,652 --> 00:10:57,824
Gladys would let him pursue the music
that he could surround himself with.
96
00:10:58,241 --> 00:11:01,077
Elvis was very different.
97
00:11:01,161 --> 00:11:03,371
Color lines were rarely crossed.
98
00:11:03,454 --> 00:11:08,710
You just didn't find white people
that tuned into black music...
99
00:11:08,793 --> 00:11:13,131
And stayed there,
and found it interesting, and studied it.
100
00:11:14,966 --> 00:11:18,344
When the country
was into racism and segregation...
101
00:11:18,636 --> 00:11:22,182
Here was a young kid. He was not
afraid to go and be exposed to it...
102
00:11:22,265 --> 00:11:25,059
So he could learn even more about it.
103
00:11:25,143 --> 00:11:27,520
He was doing what he enjoyed doing.
104
00:11:28,062 --> 00:11:33,151
I don't think it was conscious,
but he absorbed everything that he saw.
105
00:11:34,485 --> 00:11:37,113
He would seek out people
in his neighborhood...
106
00:11:37,197 --> 00:11:41,743
Who could play music or had records,
or had a radio.
107
00:11:45,079 --> 00:11:47,540
You could turn a dial
and hear gospel.
108
00:11:49,209 --> 00:11:51,586
Turn a dial and hear country.
109
00:11:51,669 --> 00:11:56,841
Turn a dial and hear blues, turn the dial
and hear Sunday-night preachers.
110
00:11:57,300 --> 00:12:01,346
It was all just there in the southern
atmosphere he grew up in.
111
00:12:52,855 --> 00:12:55,191
I always felt that someday,
somehow...
112
00:12:55,275 --> 00:12:58,569
Something would happen
to change everything for me.
113
00:12:59,237 --> 00:13:02,282
And I'd daydream
about how it would be.
114
00:13:06,786 --> 00:13:08,746
Once he moved to Memphis...
115
00:13:08,830 --> 00:13:12,917
Everything started opening up for him.
He was 13.
116
00:13:18,965 --> 00:13:22,302
As bb. King once said,
when he moved to Memphis...
117
00:13:22,385 --> 00:13:26,431
It was like moving to Paris.
It was a different culture.
118
00:13:26,514 --> 00:13:31,185
And a sense in which things
were connected and happening...
119
00:13:31,269 --> 00:13:35,898
That someone like Elvis
could not even imagine in tupelo.
120
00:13:36,524 --> 00:13:41,070
The wealth, the affluence,
the scale of buildings...
121
00:13:41,154 --> 00:13:44,282
The power of that river flowing by.
122
00:13:45,700 --> 00:13:51,039
Memphis is a very diverse city. Not an
integrated city, but a very diverse city.
123
00:13:51,122 --> 00:13:55,501
So you had a lot of people
moving there after the war.
124
00:13:57,712 --> 00:14:03,009
It was really the hub for people from
that southern cotton-plantation area...
125
00:14:03,092 --> 00:14:07,764
To either stay or use it as
a stepping stone to go somewhere else.
126
00:14:07,847 --> 00:14:10,141
Like many southern families...
127
00:14:10,224 --> 00:14:15,355
The Presleys moved to the big city
seeking a little better opportunity.
128
00:14:16,522 --> 00:14:21,152
Memphis developed
a very vibrant entertainment district.
129
00:14:21,235 --> 00:14:25,656
Because people brought with them
their music, their culture.
130
00:14:27,992 --> 00:14:32,163
You've got that spill there
of the blues, of gospel...
131
00:14:32,705 --> 00:14:34,957
Pop music, country music.
132
00:14:35,249 --> 00:14:38,419
All those things,
they cross over each other.
133
00:14:39,170 --> 00:14:43,466
And radio definitely had to play
a big role in his influences.
134
00:14:43,549 --> 00:14:46,677
Because I don't think
he was carrying the kind of dough...
135
00:14:46,761 --> 00:14:49,097
To have an enormous record collection.
136
00:14:51,682 --> 00:14:55,103
Wdia was a 50,000-watt
African American radio station...
137
00:14:55,395 --> 00:14:59,023
That artists like Bobby "blue" bland
were being played.
138
00:14:59,107 --> 00:15:00,775
The emphasis was black music.
139
00:15:00,858 --> 00:15:04,320
Black music was just beginning
to take root in our area...
140
00:15:04,404 --> 00:15:08,408
And there's no doubt in my mind
that Elvis Presley listened to wdia.
141
00:15:08,491 --> 00:15:13,496
It's a real pleasure to invite you
to keep your radio dial turned to 1070.
142
00:15:13,579 --> 00:15:14,664
That means wdia.
143
00:15:14,747 --> 00:15:18,501
That's 50,000 watts of powerful
entertainment for your pleasure.
144
00:15:19,752 --> 00:15:22,255
We were both
just above the poverty level.
145
00:15:22,338 --> 00:15:24,799
I lived in one housing project.
146
00:15:24,882 --> 00:15:27,844
He lived in lauderdale courts,
about three or four miles away.
147
00:15:27,927 --> 00:15:29,929
We grew up the hard way.
148
00:15:31,639 --> 00:15:35,435
The apartment in lauderdale courts
that the Presleys moved into...
149
00:15:35,518 --> 00:15:39,397
Was part of the early
new deal housing program.
150
00:15:39,480 --> 00:15:43,484
It was affordable, but it was bigger
than anything they were used to.
151
00:15:47,613 --> 00:15:51,159
They gave him everything.
They let him sleep in the big bedroom.
152
00:15:51,242 --> 00:15:53,453
They saved what little money
they had...
153
00:15:53,536 --> 00:15:56,456
So that he could buy a guitar,
buy a record player.
154
00:15:56,539 --> 00:16:00,543
And they gave him that same sort
of independence to go out in the city...
155
00:16:00,626 --> 00:16:02,503
And be exposed to other musics.
156
00:16:09,719 --> 00:16:11,846
He loved the bright lights.
157
00:16:12,138 --> 00:16:15,808
He loved the music in the city.
He loved hearing people on the street.
158
00:16:15,892 --> 00:16:19,479
He loved listening to music
coming from the bars.
159
00:16:19,854 --> 00:16:21,522
And he'd study them.
160
00:16:21,606 --> 00:16:26,068
Elvis was a student. As a kid, I would
go to the flamingo room myself...
161
00:16:26,360 --> 00:16:28,946
And Elvis would hang
at the flamingo room.
162
00:16:29,030 --> 00:16:31,949
When you realize that Elvis knew
where beale street was...
163
00:16:32,033 --> 00:16:36,078
And knew what that all meant,
you could sense that he was different.
164
00:16:37,914 --> 00:16:40,583
Walk in the flamingo room
on a Saturday or Friday night...
165
00:16:40,875 --> 00:16:45,505
You're in another world. It's like
mardi gras except the music is soulful.
166
00:16:47,381 --> 00:16:51,260
There was so much color,
and clothing and dress and vibe...
167
00:16:51,344 --> 00:16:54,388
And the music
was tremendously upbeat.
168
00:16:56,641 --> 00:17:01,395
You're not seeing that for one night,
you're seeing that every time you go.
169
00:17:01,479 --> 00:17:04,023
Beale street was
the black man's haven.
170
00:17:04,899 --> 00:17:08,110
When he'd come here,
everything lit up.
171
00:17:08,194 --> 00:17:11,864
Lit up like a slot machine.
Everything was fired up.
172
00:17:11,948 --> 00:17:13,991
Beale street was the place.
173
00:17:14,534 --> 00:17:16,369
You'd go out on your weekend night.
174
00:17:16,452 --> 00:17:19,747
You were an African American
at that time, making small wages...
175
00:17:19,830 --> 00:17:22,959
You were in a prejudiced time,
you had to have an escape.
176
00:17:23,376 --> 00:17:25,878
The legitimacy of
the flamingo room experience...
177
00:17:25,962 --> 00:17:27,755
And the beale street experience...
178
00:17:27,838 --> 00:17:31,926
Was something that took your mind
totally away from those things.
179
00:17:32,218 --> 00:17:35,596
But if you had the right kind of
personality and spirit about you...
180
00:17:35,680 --> 00:17:38,975
Regardless of who you were,
you could come and check out the music.
181
00:17:42,103 --> 00:17:46,524
Bb. King, Rufus Thomas,
Johnny ace, Bobby "blue" bland...
182
00:17:46,607 --> 00:17:50,486
These giants were playing
neighborhood joints.
183
00:17:50,778 --> 00:17:55,533
Looking at that, you'd see how powerful
it would be connecting to an audience.
184
00:18:14,885 --> 00:18:17,471
If you're a young kid,
a black kid or a white kid...
185
00:18:17,555 --> 00:18:19,890
You were not analytical about it.
186
00:18:20,433 --> 00:18:24,437
But you knew the differences
between feeling and not feeling.
187
00:18:24,520 --> 00:18:26,731
And you heard it, and you felt it.
188
00:18:28,941 --> 00:18:32,695
Elvis, he would park his truck
in the alley behind the club.
189
00:18:32,778 --> 00:18:35,781
And he used to come around
to the back of this place...
190
00:18:35,865 --> 00:18:38,909
And he would watch me play
the old upright piano.
191
00:18:38,993 --> 00:18:42,913
When you see him standing, he be doing
his legs when he'd be playing guitar...
192
00:18:42,997 --> 00:18:46,375
All this came from back in those days
when we used to do it.
193
00:19:00,973 --> 00:19:02,975
Elvis picked up everything.
194
00:19:03,059 --> 00:19:06,979
He was the most eclectic human being
I have been around.
195
00:19:07,063 --> 00:19:09,649
He would pick up something
from another singer...
196
00:19:09,732 --> 00:19:13,069
Or he would pick up something
from a guy walking and say:
197
00:19:13,152 --> 00:19:16,822
"Jerry, look at that walk.
I'm gonna use that walk."
198
00:19:16,906 --> 00:19:21,160
He's looking around
for pockets of expression...
199
00:19:21,452 --> 00:19:24,955
And putting together
his version of himself...
200
00:19:25,039 --> 00:19:29,377
Based on these highly expressive
models that are often quite different:
201
00:19:29,460 --> 00:19:34,757
The Dean Martins of the world,
the Mario lanzas, the black church.
202
00:19:35,466 --> 00:19:38,302
At this point, Elvis and his parents
are going...
203
00:19:38,386 --> 00:19:39,970
To a lot of gospel services...
204
00:19:40,262 --> 00:19:45,518
Musical events around the town
in Memphis, both black and white.
205
00:19:50,690 --> 00:19:54,610
Quartets were the alter ego of
the Christian people back in those days.
206
00:19:56,821 --> 00:20:02,410
Because they wore tight, cool suits,
had slicked-back hair and sideburns.
207
00:20:06,205 --> 00:20:09,208
We looked at those people
like they were our pop stars...
208
00:20:09,291 --> 00:20:11,168
Which is what Elvis wanted to do.
209
00:20:11,252 --> 00:20:13,379
He wanted to be
in the blackwood brothers.
210
00:20:13,462 --> 00:20:16,924
Elvis, he longed to be
a great gospel singer.
211
00:20:17,007 --> 00:20:21,387
I think he wanted to be in a gospel group.
He would've been a great tenor.
212
00:20:26,142 --> 00:20:30,688
Those pentecostal preachers were
pretty dynamic individuals, you know.
213
00:20:30,771 --> 00:20:34,734
Back and forth across the stage,
shouting, raising their hands...
214
00:20:34,817 --> 00:20:37,319
Being very theatrical.
215
00:20:59,383 --> 00:21:02,136
"Front man" is something
that was derived from...
216
00:21:02,219 --> 00:21:04,555
A preacher fronting
the choir in church.
217
00:21:04,638 --> 00:21:08,267
So whether you're James brown
or Elvis or anyone...
218
00:21:08,350 --> 00:21:13,481
Your position basically
is always proto-religious, you know?
219
00:21:13,856 --> 00:21:15,608
Those are its roots.
220
00:21:36,796 --> 00:21:40,674
Elvis always was seeking a way...
221
00:21:40,758 --> 00:21:44,512
To manifest his musical interest
in some way.
222
00:21:44,595 --> 00:21:47,473
I went to humes high school
in Memphis.
223
00:21:47,556 --> 00:21:49,266
I was taking music. I flunked music.
224
00:21:49,350 --> 00:21:54,355
Just flat. Phew.
F, only thing I ever failed.
225
00:21:54,855 --> 00:22:00,194
They had a little talent show every year.
People sang, danced, whatever.
226
00:22:00,736 --> 00:22:02,571
They entered me in this talent show.
227
00:22:02,655 --> 00:22:06,367
When I came on-stage, I heard people
rumbling and whispering and so forth.
228
00:22:06,450 --> 00:22:08,536
Because nobody knew
I even sang, really.
229
00:22:08,619 --> 00:22:11,705
I had a little four-piece band.
I was playing the trumpet.
230
00:22:11,789 --> 00:22:15,876
Elvis had a guitar.
He got up and sang "old shep"...
231
00:22:15,960 --> 00:22:20,339
Red foley's sad song
about his old dog that died.
232
00:22:36,146 --> 00:22:40,025
I think that's the moment
where the school sort of throws down...
233
00:22:40,109 --> 00:22:43,445
And goes,
"that's what this weird kid's about."
234
00:22:44,655 --> 00:22:47,116
The moment that applause
broke through...
235
00:22:47,199 --> 00:22:52,288
That's probably the first
real validation that he's had.
236
00:22:53,163 --> 00:22:57,418
Singing that tearjerker, he put emotion
into it, sang the heck out of it.
237
00:22:57,710 --> 00:22:59,420
And he won first place.
238
00:22:59,503 --> 00:23:02,339
And my little band didn't do shit.
239
00:23:03,465 --> 00:23:06,552
That's a big step for a young man.
240
00:23:06,635 --> 00:23:10,014
At that moment, he had to see
the power of the material.
241
00:23:10,097 --> 00:23:16,562
He had to go, "this is what I am.
This is what I am going to do."
242
00:23:16,937 --> 00:23:23,193
It was amazing how popular
I became in school after that.
243
00:23:35,122 --> 00:23:37,625
During the time I was working
for the electric company...
244
00:23:37,708 --> 00:23:39,752
I was in doubt
whether! Would make it.
245
00:23:39,835 --> 00:23:42,254
You have to keep your mind
on what you're doing.
246
00:23:42,630 --> 00:23:46,967
When he wasn't driving the truck,
he'd help the electricians pull wire...
247
00:23:47,051 --> 00:23:49,094
Or whatever.
248
00:23:49,178 --> 00:23:54,350
He had long hair. It was thick
and looked like it was pasted down.
249
00:23:54,433 --> 00:23:56,518
We all laughed at him about that.
250
00:23:56,602 --> 00:24:00,564
Me, I always thought I looked
a little more mature or something.
251
00:24:00,648 --> 00:24:04,193
He just said what he wanted to do
is to get in some kind of business...
252
00:24:04,276 --> 00:24:06,612
Where he could make
his mother a living...
253
00:24:06,695 --> 00:24:10,115
Where she would not have to struggle
for it anymore.
254
00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:18,207
At that time, the prisonaires recorded
their hit "walkin' in the rain."
255
00:24:18,290 --> 00:24:21,669
The prisonaires were a group
Sam Phillips was recording.
256
00:24:21,752 --> 00:24:24,713
Sam Phillips grew to be
one of the most famous...
257
00:24:24,797 --> 00:24:27,091
And celebrated record producers
of all time.
258
00:24:27,174 --> 00:24:29,468
But, at first, he started his own label.
259
00:24:29,843 --> 00:24:34,890
The prisonaires, they were brought out
with handcuffs into sun records...
260
00:24:34,974 --> 00:24:36,100
To record.
261
00:24:37,393 --> 00:24:42,773
To even conceive of that as a source
for great music people should hear...
262
00:24:42,856 --> 00:24:48,320
There's just a democratization of art,
of the possibilities for art.
263
00:24:55,536 --> 00:24:58,247
What happened in Memphis
at that time...
264
00:24:58,330 --> 00:25:01,041
Was a convergence of forces...
265
00:25:01,542 --> 00:25:07,047
The emergence of radio,
DJs and artists.
266
00:25:08,298 --> 00:25:11,176
And then you add to that concoction...
267
00:25:11,260 --> 00:25:15,806
The genius of producers
like Sam Phillips.
268
00:25:15,889 --> 00:25:18,684
There wasn't much in the way of...
269
00:25:18,976 --> 00:25:22,688
Rhythm and blues,
black-music recording infrastructure.
270
00:25:22,771 --> 00:25:26,942
It was very much a do-it-yourself,
mom-and-pop business.
271
00:25:27,026 --> 00:25:29,695
Sam Phillips loved the blues.
272
00:25:29,778 --> 00:25:32,740
And he was interested in recording...
273
00:25:32,823 --> 00:25:36,201
As many blues performers
as he could.
274
00:25:36,493 --> 00:25:41,206
Elvis was aware of what
Sam had recorded at sun studios:
275
00:25:41,290 --> 00:25:45,127
Rufus Thomas, ike Turner,
the prisonaires.
276
00:25:45,419 --> 00:25:49,214
I really believed Sam Phillips,
for a long time...
277
00:25:49,298 --> 00:25:52,760
Had the idea of finding
a white singer...
278
00:25:52,843 --> 00:25:57,222
That could bring black music
into the white mainstream.
279
00:25:57,306 --> 00:26:01,560
For a lot of noble reasons,
not just commercial.
280
00:26:02,644 --> 00:26:07,983
Everybody thinks that Sam was looking
for a white boy to do black music.
281
00:26:08,067 --> 00:26:11,070
But Elvis was looking for Sam Phillips.
282
00:26:11,904 --> 00:26:14,823
I'd seen him go by
in his crown electric truck...
283
00:26:14,907 --> 00:26:18,202
A number of times,
because we had an open storefront.
284
00:26:18,285 --> 00:26:21,997
He'd go by and go back,
and go by and go back.
285
00:26:22,498 --> 00:26:27,086
This guy would not come in the studio
and ask me to audition him for nothing.
286
00:26:27,169 --> 00:26:29,129
Elvis had never been in a studio.
287
00:26:29,588 --> 00:26:32,800
There was a newspaper story about how
you could get lucky at sun records.
288
00:26:32,883 --> 00:26:35,344
Elvis just went for it.
289
00:26:35,636 --> 00:26:38,722
See, I worked five days a week,
Monday through Friday.
290
00:26:38,806 --> 00:26:42,893
And on Saturday, well,
I called this recording company up.
291
00:26:42,976 --> 00:26:45,646
I asked them,
could they make me a little record?
292
00:26:58,283 --> 00:27:02,913
Elvis went in to do what he thought
he should do to get a record deal.
293
00:27:02,996 --> 00:27:08,043
He had this beautiful voice, high voice,
singing slow love songs...
294
00:27:08,127 --> 00:27:09,503
."Bahads.
295
00:27:09,586 --> 00:27:13,215
And he sang Dean Martin.
He sang ink spots...
296
00:27:13,298 --> 00:27:16,385
Black but white-accepted music.
297
00:27:16,468 --> 00:27:18,929
There was nothing
that was exciting Sam.
298
00:27:19,012 --> 00:27:22,808
I didn't want that.
It had to have a feel.
299
00:27:23,267 --> 00:27:25,936
I did have the feeling that this guy...
300
00:27:26,019 --> 00:27:29,398
Had something in the raw
that we could do something with...
301
00:27:29,481 --> 00:27:32,192
If we knew what the hell
we were doing.
302
00:27:32,276 --> 00:27:36,196
Brought in Scotty Moore. He was working
at his brother's dry-cleaning plant.
303
00:27:36,280 --> 00:27:41,285
And Scotty played the guitar
and was not afraid to experiment.
304
00:27:41,577 --> 00:27:43,996
Bill black, I knew,
could play a good slap bass.
305
00:27:44,079 --> 00:27:47,457
Black was working in an appliance store,
repairing appliances.
306
00:27:47,541 --> 00:27:50,169
And I said, "go and woodshed, boys."
307
00:27:50,252 --> 00:27:53,797
Sam said, "all I need
is just a little background noise.
308
00:27:53,881 --> 00:27:57,509
Don't worry about arrangements.
I don't need the whole band...
309
00:27:57,593 --> 00:27:59,219
Just a little rhythm stuff."
310
00:27:59,303 --> 00:28:01,305
I knew Sam was looking
for something...
311
00:28:01,388 --> 00:28:03,891
But he couldn't tell you
what he was looking for.
312
00:28:04,683 --> 00:28:09,062
This day we had wound up,
just about ready to give up...
313
00:28:09,146 --> 00:28:11,982
On having any success on a session.
314
00:28:12,065 --> 00:28:14,818
About ready to bag up
the instruments and go home.
315
00:28:15,152 --> 00:28:19,948
I knew sun records had to make it
on something out of the ordinary...
316
00:28:20,032 --> 00:28:21,950
Or we may as well forget it.
317
00:28:22,284 --> 00:28:25,370
Things aren't going well.
Elvis is nervous.
318
00:28:25,662 --> 00:28:30,459
We've been there two, three hours.
It's late. We're getting tired.
319
00:28:30,542 --> 00:28:33,045
We stopped and had a coke
or something.
320
00:28:33,128 --> 00:28:37,174
Elvis was just about a year
out of high school, 19 years old.
321
00:28:38,383 --> 00:28:40,969
He wanted to please Sam.
322
00:28:41,053 --> 00:28:43,555
And he knew...
323
00:28:43,639 --> 00:28:46,266
He had to prove himself.
324
00:28:47,017 --> 00:28:51,730
It was in that moment
that the world changed.
325
00:28:59,321 --> 00:29:01,657
Elvis sets his coke down,
picks up the guitar...
326
00:29:01,740 --> 00:29:06,078
Starts just frailing fire out of it,
just beating this rhythm thing.
327
00:29:06,161 --> 00:29:09,248
Bill picked his bass,
started slapping, playing along with him.
328
00:29:09,331 --> 00:29:12,042
Just all rhythm.
Guitar was leaning up on the amp.
329
00:29:12,125 --> 00:29:15,087
I picked it up
and started vamping along with him.
330
00:29:27,015 --> 00:29:31,061
Although Elvis knew a lot of blues,
country and pop...
331
00:29:31,687 --> 00:29:36,191
It shocked me because here is
a classic blues number.
332
00:29:36,483 --> 00:29:41,947
And here is a white cat not imitating
or mimicking or anything...
333
00:29:42,030 --> 00:29:46,034
But just putting his feel into it.
334
00:29:46,576 --> 00:29:48,620
Blew me away.
335
00:29:49,454 --> 00:29:53,917
You hear performers in the thrall
of the beauty of invention...
336
00:29:54,001 --> 00:29:56,628
Not knowing quite
where they're going to go...
337
00:29:56,712 --> 00:29:58,672
Not knowing exactly what
they're doing.
338
00:30:02,426 --> 00:30:07,139
Just discovering and doing it
literally, as the music is being played.
339
00:30:07,222 --> 00:30:08,765
You're out on the frontier...
340
00:30:08,849 --> 00:30:12,185
And it's a very pristine
and exciting place to be.
341
00:30:35,334 --> 00:30:36,418
One more time, baby.
342
00:30:47,262 --> 00:30:48,680
Yeah, baby.
343
00:31:16,041 --> 00:31:17,042
Here we go, baby.
344
00:31:40,273 --> 00:31:43,985
We knew it was a little different.
We didn't know what it was.
345
00:31:44,069 --> 00:31:45,529
There was no mention...
346
00:31:45,612 --> 00:31:48,615
Of where to get this out or anything,
because we didn't know.
347
00:31:59,918 --> 00:32:05,132
Good to see you so full of excitement.
Got Kennedy by this hospital, ward 24-e.
348
00:32:05,215 --> 00:32:07,551
Fixing to bring you the hottest thing.
349
00:32:07,634 --> 00:32:10,178
Red, hot and blue
coming to you through whbq...
350
00:32:10,262 --> 00:32:12,973
In Memphis. It's Friday night.
Tomorrow is payday...
351
00:32:13,056 --> 00:32:15,183
And bath day. That's a good deal.
352
00:32:15,267 --> 00:32:18,478
Growing up in Memphis,
I'd been listening to Dewey Phillips...
353
00:32:18,562 --> 00:32:22,357
And his red, hot and blue show
before Elvis came on.
354
00:32:22,441 --> 00:32:25,360
He was the number-one jock
in Memphis.
355
00:32:26,611 --> 00:32:30,782
When Elvis was played,
it was just different.
356
00:32:30,866 --> 00:32:34,035
It wasn't really rhythm and blues,
it wasn't country.
357
00:32:34,661 --> 00:32:37,581
Dewey started playing it
and phones was ringing off the wall.
358
00:32:38,206 --> 00:32:40,917
They dug Elvis
out of the movie he was at...
359
00:32:41,001 --> 00:32:44,337
And told him Dewey
wanted to talk to him on the radio.
360
00:32:44,754 --> 00:32:47,090
He came on, did the interview.
361
00:32:47,174 --> 00:32:49,509
He was nervous, and he stuttered.
362
00:32:50,677 --> 00:32:54,890
"That's all right, mama"
was a hit in Memphis overnight.
363
00:32:54,973 --> 00:32:56,349
It was quite phenomenal...
364
00:32:56,433 --> 00:32:59,352
Getting that kind of response
off a local radio station.
365
00:32:59,436 --> 00:33:02,772
Dewey played it on the airjust once
and Sam got a hold of us.
366
00:33:02,856 --> 00:33:05,901
"We gotta have another side
of this record."
367
00:33:05,984 --> 00:33:09,779
I said, "do you know anything else
that's as wild as that?"
368
00:33:53,990 --> 00:33:58,286
That one record summed up his roots.
369
00:33:58,954 --> 00:34:03,917
The very best of both black blues
and white bluegrass.
370
00:34:06,127 --> 00:34:11,049
He knew the blues.
He knew Arthur crudup, bill Monroe.
371
00:34:11,132 --> 00:34:15,136
He knew that stuff by memory.
372
00:34:17,347 --> 00:34:19,474
The elements there that came together...
373
00:34:19,558 --> 00:34:22,852
Were things that I had prayed for
solong.
374
00:34:22,936 --> 00:34:27,482
To record a black, lowdown,
almost gut-bucket blues...
375
00:34:27,566 --> 00:34:31,820
And turn around and put a classic,
classic bluegrass number...
376
00:34:31,903 --> 00:34:33,863
"Blue moon of Kentucky,"
on the other side.
377
00:34:35,448 --> 00:34:37,576
It didn't have to have a color.
378
00:34:37,659 --> 00:34:39,202
It didn't need a color.
379
00:34:39,869 --> 00:34:43,790
I don't know if Elvis was looking
at it all in that noble a light.
380
00:34:43,873 --> 00:34:45,584
It was just music he liked.
381
00:34:49,421 --> 00:34:53,049
On "blue moon of Kentucky,"
he has got this entirely original take...
382
00:34:53,133 --> 00:34:54,551
On the bluegrass.
383
00:34:54,634 --> 00:34:58,763
And it transforms into what would
later be called "rock 'n' roll."
384
00:35:04,436 --> 00:35:05,520
Fine, man.
385
00:35:05,604 --> 00:35:07,731
Hell, that's different.
That's a pop song now.
386
00:35:10,233 --> 00:35:13,903
There's no one that
creates music in a vacuum.
387
00:35:13,987 --> 00:35:18,366
We're all influenced by what
we've heard and what has come before.
388
00:35:18,450 --> 00:35:21,786
But, occasionally,
you have those crossroads moments...
389
00:35:21,870 --> 00:35:24,623
When something
completely new is born.
390
00:35:25,832 --> 00:35:28,877
It was a beautiful thing. It was high art.
391
00:35:28,960 --> 00:35:31,713
In the greatest degree, this is Picasso.
392
00:35:31,796 --> 00:35:34,883
I mean, this is really
taking your influences...
393
00:35:34,966 --> 00:35:39,929
And going somewhere with them,
to a place that's new.
394
00:35:40,388 --> 00:35:44,934
Now Elvis had a hit record,
and he was touring every night.
395
00:35:45,018 --> 00:35:46,978
Each night a different place.
396
00:35:47,062 --> 00:35:49,481
The basic mistake people make
about Elvis...
397
00:35:49,564 --> 00:35:53,318
Was that he got lucky.
No, he didn't get lucky.
398
00:35:54,319 --> 00:35:57,989
He worked hard, and he created
the music with great musicians.
399
00:35:58,573 --> 00:36:02,077
He had a drive that motivated him,
and it was there from day one.
400
00:36:12,420 --> 00:36:17,342
The order of the day, whether it was
slim Whitman, Jim Reeves or Elvis...
401
00:36:17,967 --> 00:36:21,012
If they wanted to survive,
they had to hit the road.
402
00:36:21,680 --> 00:36:24,349
It's an old-fashioned experience,
in the sense that...
403
00:36:24,432 --> 00:36:26,976
He was part of a touring band.
404
00:36:27,268 --> 00:36:30,480
Night after night,
he was putting on his act.
405
00:36:31,523 --> 00:36:34,359
There's something that happens
through extensive touring...
406
00:36:34,442 --> 00:36:36,528
That you can't get anywhere else.
407
00:36:36,611 --> 00:36:39,114
You look back at the calendar
of his dates...
408
00:36:39,197 --> 00:36:42,367
And he's literally playing dates
every night.
409
00:36:42,450 --> 00:36:46,204
The circuit that they're working
is probably one of the most thankless...
410
00:36:46,413 --> 00:36:50,333
And low-paying, just grind of a circuit
that you could imagine.
411
00:36:51,668 --> 00:36:54,713
There's a depth of craft that's attained
through simply...
412
00:36:54,796 --> 00:36:57,132
Constantly doing it
night after night...
413
00:36:57,215 --> 00:37:00,677
Having to satisfy
all different types of audiences.
414
00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:04,556
You have the stereotype
of the bass being tied on top of the car.
415
00:37:04,639 --> 00:37:06,933
That was true. They really did that.
416
00:37:07,809 --> 00:37:09,811
Where did you pick up your style?
417
00:37:09,894 --> 00:37:12,772
My first appearance
afterl started recording...
418
00:37:12,856 --> 00:37:14,816
I was on a show
and I was scared stiff.
419
00:37:14,899 --> 00:37:17,861
I came out.
I was doing a fast-type tune.
420
00:37:17,944 --> 00:37:20,989
Everybody was hollering.
Didn't know what they were hollering at.
421
00:37:21,072 --> 00:37:23,241
Everybody was screaming.
I came off-stage.
422
00:37:23,324 --> 00:37:25,368
My manager told me
they was hollering...
423
00:37:25,452 --> 00:37:28,079
Because I was wiggling my legs.
I was unaware.
424
00:37:28,163 --> 00:37:31,458
And so I went back out for an encore,
and I did a little more.
425
00:37:31,541 --> 00:37:33,960
And the more I did,
the louder they went.
426
00:37:41,050 --> 00:37:45,388
Sam Phillips was able to get Elvis on
the opry in Nashville, which was massive.
427
00:37:45,472 --> 00:37:47,599
You don't just get on the grand ole opry.
428
00:37:48,683 --> 00:37:52,061
The opry, you had to be a member,
be in this club.
429
00:37:52,145 --> 00:37:55,231
A traditional Nashville establishment.
430
00:37:56,691 --> 00:37:59,194
You had to dress the way
they wanted you to dress...
431
00:37:59,277 --> 00:38:02,113
And sing the way
they wanted you to sing.
432
00:38:02,197 --> 00:38:05,617
The opry was very, very segregated.
433
00:38:11,998 --> 00:38:16,795
This was an older audience. They had
their artists that they went to see.
434
00:38:16,878 --> 00:38:19,297
And here's a kid dressed funny...
435
00:38:19,380 --> 00:38:22,801
Coming out doing
one of their idol's songs...
436
00:38:22,884 --> 00:38:25,136
In a blasphemous way.
437
00:38:25,804 --> 00:38:28,640
They didn't get up
and cheer and holler.
438
00:38:29,557 --> 00:38:34,979
If you're faint-hearted, you'll give up
in a hurry on a situation like that.
439
00:38:35,271 --> 00:38:37,565
We were not faint-hearted.
440
00:38:37,649 --> 00:38:40,693
We certainly didn't know
whether we would win it.
441
00:38:40,777 --> 00:38:43,530
We knew, in time,
that something this great...
442
00:38:43,613 --> 00:38:47,116
Could not be kept under a bushel.
443
00:38:49,327 --> 00:38:53,832
You cannot understand Elvis
apart from country music...
444
00:38:53,915 --> 00:38:57,836
But he was pulling it away
from the traditional...
445
00:38:57,919 --> 00:39:00,964
Grand ole opry sound
and shaping it...
446
00:39:01,047 --> 00:39:05,593
As a new, bluesier version.
447
00:39:06,511 --> 00:39:11,057
While country music could recognize it,
they also knew it was...
448
00:39:11,140 --> 00:39:14,227
A threatening sound
that would ultimately...
449
00:39:14,310 --> 00:39:18,231
Destroy the power
of the grand ole opry.
450
00:39:18,940 --> 00:39:22,610
So four months after the release
of the first single...
451
00:39:22,694 --> 00:39:25,864
They play their first
Louisiana hayride show.
452
00:39:25,947 --> 00:39:27,198
- You ready?
- Yes, sir.
453
00:39:27,282 --> 00:39:30,243
- Let's see what comes out of you.
- All right.
454
00:39:40,336 --> 00:39:43,339
The Louisiana hayride
was strictly a country show.
455
00:39:43,631 --> 00:39:46,509
Webb Pierce, faron young,
nat stuckey, George Jones...
456
00:39:46,593 --> 00:39:48,970
Just about everybody
played the hayride.
457
00:39:49,554 --> 00:39:53,141
The Louisiana hayride
was really the place...
458
00:39:53,224 --> 00:39:58,855
Where country music and blues
hit one another and exploded.
459
00:39:59,272 --> 00:40:02,609
It was a critical moment in his career.
460
00:40:03,693 --> 00:40:08,615
The radio broadcast had had
an enormous impact in Memphis.
461
00:40:08,698 --> 00:40:13,036
But the Louisiana hayride
was a whole different audience.
462
00:40:13,328 --> 00:40:17,582
The hayride could be heard
all through the western part of the south.
463
00:40:17,665 --> 00:40:20,543
So it had a pretty wide
geographical audience.
464
00:40:21,169 --> 00:40:23,379
That was a kind of testing...
465
00:40:23,463 --> 00:40:26,966
Of his ability to reach audiences...
466
00:40:27,050 --> 00:40:29,344
Beyond his own home in Memphis.
467
00:40:32,972 --> 00:40:37,226
The Louisiana hayride did send out
road tours to surrounding towns.
468
00:40:37,310 --> 00:40:38,770
The entire show would move.
469
00:40:39,395 --> 00:40:42,231
They start to build these touring routes
that bring them back...
470
00:40:42,523 --> 00:40:44,776
To shreveport once a week.
471
00:40:45,777 --> 00:40:47,612
That's a big turning point...
472
00:40:48,404 --> 00:40:53,326
Not only from a financial perspective,
but also from an exposure perspective.
473
00:40:53,993 --> 00:40:57,205
Elvis played a lot of these first shows...
474
00:40:57,288 --> 00:40:59,374
With Jim ed and Maxine brown...
475
00:40:59,457 --> 00:41:02,293
Bud deckelman, Betty Amos.
476
00:41:02,377 --> 00:41:06,005
Successful country artists,
but not on a real top level.
477
00:41:07,298 --> 00:41:10,218
Those performers are
competing with one another.
478
00:41:10,301 --> 00:41:13,471
Somebody wants to leave there
feeling like they won.
479
00:41:13,554 --> 00:41:16,724
Being on bills like that,
you are amongst people...
480
00:41:16,808 --> 00:41:20,019
Who are gonna teach you things.
That's a big part...
481
00:41:20,103 --> 00:41:23,189
Of what made Elvis,
in those early becoming years...
482
00:41:23,272 --> 00:41:27,443
Was that he had an antenna
that was up, and he was stealing tricks.
483
00:41:27,527 --> 00:41:29,445
He was learning lessons.
484
00:41:29,529 --> 00:41:33,032
He was bringing it all in
without it seeming like...
485
00:41:33,116 --> 00:41:37,620
He was just doing
somebody else's act.
486
00:41:38,663 --> 00:41:42,875
He could go out there,
the audience wouldn't be on his side.
487
00:41:42,959 --> 00:41:45,211
But somehow or another,
he'd turn them around.
488
00:41:45,294 --> 00:41:47,046
He could read an audience.
489
00:41:47,130 --> 00:41:51,259
He could tell if it didn't seem like
he was doing it right. He'd do something.
490
00:41:51,467 --> 00:41:53,720
Something you wouldn't even expect.
491
00:41:53,803 --> 00:41:58,307
He often started a song by, like,
a "well..." And left it hanging there.
492
00:41:58,391 --> 00:42:00,935
People were like,
"what's going on?" He would stop...
493
00:42:01,019 --> 00:42:03,604
In the middle of a song
and turn around...
494
00:42:03,688 --> 00:42:08,693
Or walk away and then go back, or do
something with a microphone stand.
495
00:42:09,193 --> 00:42:11,779
And he would grab that microphone...
496
00:42:12,238 --> 00:42:15,658
And he would drag it across the stage.
497
00:42:15,742 --> 00:42:18,911
He was so sophisticated already
about making contact...
498
00:42:18,995 --> 00:42:20,246
With the audience.
499
00:42:20,329 --> 00:42:23,750
If the audience reacted a lot
to something he did...
500
00:42:24,333 --> 00:42:26,085
He did it again.
501
00:42:27,295 --> 00:42:32,300
He just had this look,
like a wild captured animal.
502
00:42:32,592 --> 00:42:35,344
Shook his head and his hair
was down in his face.
503
00:42:35,428 --> 00:42:38,723
And just to watch him walk
from that curtain...
504
00:42:38,806 --> 00:42:42,769
To the microphone,
you felt a part of it.
505
00:42:43,478 --> 00:42:47,774
He gets presence on the
charts, and his records kept doing well.
506
00:42:47,857 --> 00:42:51,736
And, eventually, he gets voted
the most promising new artist.
507
00:42:52,070 --> 00:42:54,405
And finally got a Cadillac.
508
00:43:12,590 --> 00:43:16,260
When I was driving a truck,
every time a big, shiny car drove by...
509
00:43:16,344 --> 00:43:18,596
It started me sort of daydreaming.
510
00:43:20,598 --> 00:43:22,391
I'd daydream...
511
00:43:25,394 --> 00:43:27,105
About how it would be.
512
00:43:32,318 --> 00:43:36,364
The first car I bought was
the most beautiful car I've ever seen.
513
00:43:40,034 --> 00:43:43,371
It was secondhand,
but I parked it outside my hotel...
514
00:43:43,454 --> 00:43:44,664
The day I got it.
515
00:43:47,917 --> 00:43:50,378
I sat up all night just looking at it.
516
00:43:52,004 --> 00:43:56,259
And the next day, well, the thing
caught fire and burned up on the road.
517
00:43:57,677 --> 00:43:59,554
I've got a lot of cars.
518
00:44:00,596 --> 00:44:03,599
But none will ever take the place
of that first one.
519
00:44:21,367 --> 00:44:25,580
The story that we hear
about early rock 'n' roll...
520
00:44:25,663 --> 00:44:29,834
Is that the major labels, in the main,
passed on rock 'n' roll.
521
00:44:29,917 --> 00:44:34,255
So the indie labels took it up.
And it took the major labels a while...
522
00:44:34,338 --> 00:44:36,966
To see that rock 'n' roll
wasn't going away.
523
00:44:39,802 --> 00:44:43,055
The rcas, the capitols,
the columbias, the deccas...
524
00:44:43,139 --> 00:44:45,474
They were called "the majors."
525
00:44:46,809 --> 00:44:49,478
All the other people
were independent businessmen...
526
00:44:49,562 --> 00:44:52,565
Who sold records to stores.
527
00:44:52,857 --> 00:44:56,152
I was a small record company,
been in business five years.
528
00:44:56,235 --> 00:44:58,988
Worked the lower of my anatomy off.
529
00:44:59,530 --> 00:45:04,744
Peddling days of me on the road
to the tune of 70,000 miles a year.
530
00:45:07,580 --> 00:45:11,042
When we say "independent,"
Sam was connected to no one...
531
00:45:11,125 --> 00:45:15,671
At the major labels in any way.
He would produce what he wanted.
532
00:45:17,131 --> 00:45:20,426
It means record it, it means edit it.
533
00:45:21,219 --> 00:45:23,888
They went into the lab
and did the mastering.
534
00:45:23,971 --> 00:45:26,807
Packaging was already done.
They put a bunch of singles...
535
00:45:26,891 --> 00:45:31,187
In the car and got on the road
and went into the hills of Tennessee.
536
00:45:31,270 --> 00:45:35,107
And this is really
a very traditional way of doing it.
537
00:45:37,652 --> 00:45:40,696
Now, what the record company
would like to see happen...
538
00:45:40,780 --> 00:45:43,824
Is they could spread
that regionality...
539
00:45:43,908 --> 00:45:47,119
Get it from northern Georgia
to Alabama...
540
00:45:47,203 --> 00:45:49,538
And from Alabama across
to Mississippi.
541
00:45:49,622 --> 00:45:51,874
You know, then they got
national distribution.
542
00:45:52,708 --> 00:45:55,795
I knew, really,
so little about the business...
543
00:45:55,878 --> 00:45:58,965
When it came to merchandising
records and this sort of thing.
544
00:45:59,048 --> 00:46:03,219
The main thing that did more for us
than anything else...
545
00:46:03,302 --> 00:46:07,848
Was it created excitement
amongst the major labels.
546
00:46:07,932 --> 00:46:10,226
A lot of hard work went into this thing...
547
00:46:10,309 --> 00:46:14,897
Both on the part of Elvis and
on the part of Scotty and bill and myself.
548
00:46:14,981 --> 00:46:17,733
Elvis, when he was 19 years old...
549
00:46:17,817 --> 00:46:22,613
He knew what he had to do
to get where he wanted to.
550
00:46:22,697 --> 00:46:24,407
He was a very driven man.
551
00:46:24,490 --> 00:46:29,036
Every two months he was releasing
another single at sun records.
552
00:46:29,495 --> 00:46:32,665
Sam knew what to ask for,
what to push for.
553
00:46:32,748 --> 00:46:35,584
And all of those pieces,
the way they fit together...
554
00:46:35,668 --> 00:46:40,172
It was like Sam Phillips
was the other member of that group.
555
00:46:42,675 --> 00:46:48,222
The sun space was pretty indicative of
most small recording studios of the era.
556
00:46:48,306 --> 00:46:51,267
You know, they were intimate,
they were small.
557
00:46:52,059 --> 00:46:54,687
You were up close
with everybody and everything.
558
00:46:56,272 --> 00:47:00,151
In those early records,
they almost knock you off your heels...
559
00:47:00,234 --> 00:47:05,406
Because all that big sound
is coming from so little.
560
00:47:06,532 --> 00:47:09,702
I think people make the mistake
when they think of rock 'n' roll...
561
00:47:09,785 --> 00:47:11,787
They think of drums.
562
00:47:12,288 --> 00:47:14,707
If you listen to a lot
of the early rock 'n' roll...
563
00:47:14,790 --> 00:47:18,336
Rhythm came out of the slap bass,
rhythmic hitting of the guitar...
564
00:47:18,419 --> 00:47:20,546
And the swing of the singer's voice.
565
00:47:25,176 --> 00:47:27,553
There was only a couple microphones.
566
00:47:27,636 --> 00:47:29,930
It was straightfonlvard.
567
00:47:34,977 --> 00:47:37,772
You could feel the true artistry...
568
00:47:37,855 --> 00:47:40,107
Because there was not a lot
of equipment...
569
00:47:40,399 --> 00:47:42,860
To make records sound a certain way.
570
00:47:47,823 --> 00:47:50,409
Elvis listened to everything
that came his way.
571
00:47:50,493 --> 00:47:54,872
Sam was the same way, only he was
into the technical aspect of it.
572
00:47:54,955 --> 00:47:56,499
But very much a natural.
573
00:47:58,042 --> 00:48:02,505
Didn't want to over-produce anything.
He wanted to capture raw sound.
574
00:48:12,223 --> 00:48:18,437
In Elvis, he found a combination
of rawness with that vision.
575
00:48:18,521 --> 00:48:21,148
The drive of the black music...
576
00:48:21,232 --> 00:48:26,153
You can hearjust as well
the twang on the white side of music.
577
00:48:28,948 --> 00:48:33,160
Scotty Moore, he and bill black
and dj Fontana...
578
00:48:33,244 --> 00:48:35,621
Were an enormous blessing
for Elvis...
579
00:48:35,704 --> 00:48:39,708
And the coherence of the records
they made together.
580
00:48:45,005 --> 00:48:49,385
Tried to play what I thought
fit the way he was singing the song.
581
00:48:49,468 --> 00:48:54,515
Tried to do solos and fills
that made sense on that song.
582
00:48:58,811 --> 00:49:02,314
Scotty is brilliant,
one of the great musicians of all time.
583
00:49:02,398 --> 00:49:04,024
Never plays unless it's necessary.
584
00:49:12,700 --> 00:49:15,995
Bill black, the bassist,
the way he pops the strings...
585
00:49:16,078 --> 00:49:19,748
It's him plucking the bass string
rather than just striking it.
586
00:49:21,459 --> 00:49:23,461
Pretty fierce stuff.
587
00:49:26,922 --> 00:49:30,593
But the basic setup,
when it was just Elvis...
588
00:49:30,676 --> 00:49:35,639
Scotty, bill
and a beautiful echo, tape delay...
589
00:49:35,723 --> 00:49:39,894
It was all you needed.
With that voice, you could do anything.
590
00:50:05,169 --> 00:50:08,839
Elvis' early recordings
are marked by, one of the things...
591
00:50:08,923 --> 00:50:12,384
The freedom of not having
heard yourself very often.
592
00:50:12,718 --> 00:50:14,553
So they're very, very unselfconscious.
593
00:50:25,689 --> 00:50:28,651
Elvis' voice has plenty of space...
594
00:50:28,734 --> 00:50:31,403
And beautiful geography to it.
595
00:50:32,696 --> 00:50:35,491
And the way it was recorded
by Sam Phillips...
596
00:50:35,574 --> 00:50:37,034
Is tremendously pure.
597
00:50:43,874 --> 00:50:45,876
You know, there's a looseness...
598
00:50:45,960 --> 00:50:49,380
As there usually is
in your early recordings.
599
00:50:50,214 --> 00:50:55,302
You're excited about
a sudden discovery of self.
600
00:50:56,095 --> 00:51:01,141
Of your powers, your abilities,
and what you can do with them.
601
00:51:18,659 --> 00:51:20,869
I hear all that on the sun sessions.
602
00:51:45,728 --> 00:51:48,063
What's this Elvis Presley productions?
603
00:51:48,147 --> 00:51:50,274
"Enterprises." that's not anymore.
604
00:51:50,357 --> 00:51:54,320
Last year my manager was Bob Neal,
who's a disk jockey in Memphis.
605
00:51:54,403 --> 00:51:57,489
But when I signed up
with colonel Tom Parker in Nashville...
606
00:51:57,573 --> 00:52:01,160
We didn't figure we needed the office,
so he's handling everything.
607
00:52:01,243 --> 00:52:04,955
Colonel Tom Parker has given you
a lot of advice and help.
608
00:52:05,039 --> 00:52:07,124
-What kind? Everything.
609
00:52:07,207 --> 00:52:10,794
In other words, he's the one guy
that really gave me a big break.
610
00:52:10,878 --> 00:52:14,006
In other words, I don't think
I would have ever been very big.
611
00:52:19,470 --> 00:52:23,432
In 1955, colonel Parker was booking shows
down through Florida.
612
00:52:23,515 --> 00:52:26,352
People like Hank snow, Marty Robbins.
613
00:52:28,228 --> 00:52:31,940
I saw the reaction
this boy received from the people.
614
00:52:32,024 --> 00:52:34,777
So I started booking him
on some of my shows.
615
00:52:34,860 --> 00:52:39,114
And I knew I could help him exploit
his talents all over the world.
616
00:52:40,908 --> 00:52:43,327
He knew he had something very special...
617
00:52:43,410 --> 00:52:45,913
And he knew
from the audience reaction.
618
00:52:45,996 --> 00:52:49,541
He promoted him,
he dropped his other artists...
619
00:52:49,625 --> 00:52:53,504
And devoted himself entirely to Elvis.
620
00:52:54,213 --> 00:52:59,093
The colonel,
he's a very hard guy to understand.
621
00:52:59,176 --> 00:53:01,553
His past was complicated.
622
00:53:01,637 --> 00:53:05,974
I think there was a real respect
between Elvis and the colonel.
623
00:53:06,058 --> 00:53:08,769
But he was a promoter,
he wasn't a creative guy.
624
00:53:08,852 --> 00:53:11,355
He was a brilliant promoter.
625
00:53:13,649 --> 00:53:16,360
There was a big tour in February '55.
626
00:53:16,652 --> 00:53:19,029
Hank snow was the headliner,
and colonel Parker...
627
00:53:19,113 --> 00:53:22,533
Had managed as a favor
and a plot to get Elvis on...
628
00:53:22,616 --> 00:53:24,535
As an extra added thing.
629
00:53:25,160 --> 00:53:28,497
Being on a Hank snow show
was a real big step toward.
630
00:53:28,580 --> 00:53:31,333
The colonel planned it to be
a big step fonnard.
631
00:53:31,417 --> 00:53:34,712
He wanted to see how far
Elvis could go.
632
00:53:36,797 --> 00:53:40,175
Just three months later,
they realized that the star...
633
00:53:40,259 --> 00:53:43,554
Hank snow,
couldn't close the show anymore.
634
00:53:43,762 --> 00:53:47,391
After Elvis had performed, people left.
635
00:53:49,226 --> 00:53:53,439
From June of '55, basically a year
into Elvis' stay at sun...
636
00:53:53,522 --> 00:53:56,567
People are making offers
to buy Elvis' contract.
637
00:53:56,650 --> 00:54:01,280
The colonel was afraid that if Elvis
became much more successful...
638
00:54:01,363 --> 00:54:03,991
Than he already was
that he was eventually...
639
00:54:04,074 --> 00:54:06,493
Not gonna be able to take over
his management.
640
00:54:06,577 --> 00:54:11,457
He would be so big that he was
no longer needed to bring it further.
641
00:54:11,540 --> 00:54:16,211
So over the next months, he actually
starts manipulating everything.
642
00:54:16,920 --> 00:54:21,300
And after that, it became obvious
between the management...
643
00:54:21,383 --> 00:54:24,887
Of Bob Neal and Sam's
independent record company...
644
00:54:24,970 --> 00:54:29,850
They couldn't push a record
the way the big companies could.
645
00:54:29,933 --> 00:54:33,145
Elvis starts worrying
about that element.
646
00:54:33,228 --> 00:54:36,899
My listeners have seen you
and they've heard your records.
647
00:54:36,982 --> 00:54:39,902
They think they're wonderful.
You skyrocketed to fame...
648
00:54:39,985 --> 00:54:41,987
On "that's all right, mama."
649
00:54:42,070 --> 00:54:44,615
Yes, ma 'am. That was the one
that got me on my way.
650
00:54:44,698 --> 00:54:47,326
I wasn't well-known down here.
I mean...
651
00:54:47,409 --> 00:54:50,120
I'm with a small company
and my records don't have...
652
00:54:50,204 --> 00:54:52,498
The distribution they should have.
653
00:54:52,581 --> 00:54:57,294
Of course, that's coming. It takes
a bit of time, and to get distribution.
654
00:54:57,377 --> 00:55:01,381
But I think you are one of
the fastest-rising stars in the field.
655
00:55:01,465 --> 00:55:05,928
You know what I can't understand
is how you keep that leg shaking...
656
00:55:06,011 --> 00:55:09,431
Elvis, he knew,
"I've gotta make a choice."
657
00:55:09,515 --> 00:55:13,268
He and Sam spoke
the same language, creatively.
658
00:55:13,352 --> 00:55:15,521
And they loved each other.
659
00:55:15,604 --> 00:55:20,943
But he knew that colonel Parker
was about national...
660
00:55:21,026 --> 00:55:24,363
About movies,
and about television.
661
00:55:25,030 --> 00:55:28,700
And that if he chose colonel Parker,
Sam would be gone.
662
00:55:29,910 --> 00:55:34,957
Sam Phillips saw in Elvis
what Elvis dreamed of...
663
00:55:35,040 --> 00:55:37,543
And no one else could understand.
664
00:55:38,836 --> 00:55:42,172
Elvis was still underage, under 21.
665
00:55:42,256 --> 00:55:45,509
The colonel set up an appointment
with Vernon Presley...
666
00:55:45,592 --> 00:55:49,763
And Gladys and talked to them.
"I'd like to buy his contract from Bob.
667
00:55:49,847 --> 00:55:51,932
I think he has a lot of potential."
668
00:55:53,642 --> 00:55:55,394
They were suspicious of everybody.
669
00:55:55,477 --> 00:55:58,438
They should've been suspicious
of the colonel...
670
00:55:58,522 --> 00:56:03,569
But the colonel filled them
with all kind of hope. They said okay.
671
00:56:03,986 --> 00:56:06,780
In that whole scenario here,
we have the colonel...
672
00:56:06,864 --> 00:56:09,449
Locked in on the idea
that he wanted rca...
673
00:56:10,284 --> 00:56:12,870
Because he knew rca
from Hank snow.
674
00:56:12,953 --> 00:56:15,873
And he even puts up
money of his own...
675
00:56:15,956 --> 00:56:18,584
As an opening to the dealings
with rca...
676
00:56:18,667 --> 00:56:23,005
Which he would lose
if he didn't bring in the rca contract.
677
00:56:23,088 --> 00:56:26,675
He really believed in Elvis' potential.
678
00:56:31,430 --> 00:56:36,768
When I got into the music business
in November of 1956...
679
00:56:36,852 --> 00:56:40,564
In those days, most of the...
Most, not all...
680
00:56:40,647 --> 00:56:44,067
But most of the records
that were being recorded were ballads.
681
00:56:56,955 --> 00:56:59,875
You know, they weren't stuff
like Elvis was doing.
682
00:56:59,958 --> 00:57:05,172
It wasn't what, unfortunately,
had the "nomer" of "race music"...
683
00:57:05,255 --> 00:57:09,635
And rock 'n' roll. And they released
as little of it as they possibly could.
684
00:57:09,718 --> 00:57:13,013
They felt they had the shareholders
of the company to worry about.
685
00:57:13,221 --> 00:57:17,809
They had distributors, stores,
radio stations to worry about.
686
00:57:18,393 --> 00:57:21,313
They said, "our whole world
is tied up in white music."
687
00:57:26,985 --> 00:57:31,657
So they were very, very reluctant
to expose black music...
688
00:57:31,740 --> 00:57:34,868
Until such time as
they couldn't avoid it anymore.
689
00:57:48,382 --> 00:57:50,717
After a lot of going back and forth...
690
00:57:50,801 --> 00:57:54,638
The colonel pushes rca
to buy the contract...
691
00:57:54,930 --> 00:57:59,351
And the recordings, both that
were released and those that weren't.
692
00:58:02,604 --> 00:58:07,025
I think he's the test object for
the majors to really get in the game...
693
00:58:07,109 --> 00:58:09,277
And it worked.
694
00:58:10,153 --> 00:58:14,282
People have asked me repeatedly,
"do you regret selling Elvis Presley?"
695
00:58:17,077 --> 00:58:18,954
I do not.
696
00:58:27,170 --> 00:58:30,007
- Just be one second, Elvis.
- All right.
697
00:58:31,591 --> 00:58:34,011
- My boy, my boy, give me my guitar.
- Steve?
698
00:58:34,803 --> 00:58:36,930
Can we have a lot of gain
in this playback?
699
00:58:37,014 --> 00:58:38,432
- Yes, sir.
- Right.
700
00:58:43,186 --> 00:58:45,731
Are we on television?
701
00:58:45,814 --> 00:58:47,691
- Are we on television?
- Just a minute.
702
00:58:47,774 --> 00:58:51,570
One day, in the middle of taping
a production number...
703
00:58:51,653 --> 00:58:54,990
We're called into
colonel Parker's office.
704
00:58:58,785 --> 00:59:02,581
Colonel says,
"it's been called to my attention...
705
00:59:02,664 --> 00:59:05,542
That we don't have a Christmas song
in the show.
706
00:59:09,004 --> 00:59:12,340
Elvis wants a Christmas song
in the show.
707
00:59:12,424 --> 00:59:14,217
Don't you, Elvis?"
708
00:59:16,261 --> 00:59:20,098
His hands cross, his head goes down...
709
00:59:20,724 --> 00:59:23,143
And I hear Elvis mumble, "yes, sir."
710
00:59:25,228 --> 00:59:29,441
I watched Elvis cower to Parker.
711
00:59:33,320 --> 00:59:36,531
I said, "if that's what
Elvis wants, that's what I'll do."
712
00:59:36,615 --> 00:59:39,451
The colonel says,
"okay, then we're all in agreement."
713
00:59:39,534 --> 00:59:42,245
Elvis walks out the door.
714
00:59:42,746 --> 00:59:47,084
Head goes up, a lot of energy,
and he jams me in the ribs...
715
00:59:47,167 --> 00:59:49,044
And says, "fuck him."
716
01:00:43,056 --> 01:00:47,561
Elvis was one of the first artists
that actually produced himself.
717
01:00:47,644 --> 01:00:50,897
By the time he lands at rca,
he's in charge.
718
01:00:51,481 --> 01:00:54,734
They're a rock 'n' roll band,
and Steve sholes didn't know...
719
01:00:54,818 --> 01:00:57,904
How to make one
of those records, Elvis did.
720
01:00:58,446 --> 01:01:01,783
Elvis was a very different person
and a very different artist...
721
01:01:01,867 --> 01:01:05,787
Going in to make the first rca record
than he was walking in...
722
01:01:05,871 --> 01:01:07,664
As an absolute rookie at sun.
723
01:01:07,956 --> 01:01:10,709
He'd been out touring
and playing in front of people...
724
01:01:11,001 --> 01:01:14,796
For those months in between.
He had experience in the studio.
725
01:01:14,880 --> 01:01:17,966
He had had the inspiration
of Sam Phillips...
726
01:01:18,258 --> 01:01:20,719
Watching, pick the songs
and the arrangements.
727
01:01:21,011 --> 01:01:23,930
You can hear "heartbreak hotel"
has got echo chamber...
728
01:01:24,222 --> 01:01:26,892
Because he's clearly asking for echo.
729
01:01:26,975 --> 01:01:30,103
And they don't know
how to give him the slapbacks...
730
01:01:30,187 --> 01:01:34,107
So they're turning up the chamber and
he's like, "okay, I'll make this work."
731
01:01:34,191 --> 01:01:36,943
And he does.
732
01:01:51,750 --> 01:01:54,836
My function was in the booth.
733
01:01:54,920 --> 01:01:57,714
But I always spent
a lot of time out in the studio.
734
01:01:58,298 --> 01:02:01,801
What you saw from Elvis was
that being in a recording studio...
735
01:02:01,885 --> 01:02:04,638
Or being on-stage
was exactly the same thing to him.
736
01:02:06,640 --> 01:02:11,436
He was always a real organic
part of the music physically...
737
01:02:11,519 --> 01:02:13,855
Extremely animated when he sang.
738
01:02:13,939 --> 01:02:15,106
Never stood still.
739
01:02:21,279 --> 01:02:27,327
And the guys, they just shifted
right into that mode that Elvis was in.
740
01:02:31,206 --> 01:02:34,542
If something wasn't working right
or Elvis was too slow or too fast...
741
01:02:34,626 --> 01:02:39,798
They all looked to him,
and then he would move to the music.
742
01:02:39,881 --> 01:02:42,884
If the music was right,
he was a show out there.
743
01:02:42,968 --> 01:02:48,807
He was a captivating person,
and nobody made suggestions to Elvis.
744
01:03:14,791 --> 01:03:17,460
Elvis' music
was shot through with the blues...
745
01:03:17,544 --> 01:03:22,007
Which he played quite a bit of.
But he was always mixing genres.
746
01:03:23,591 --> 01:03:28,305
Elvis, by the first rca record,
is already showing...
747
01:03:28,388 --> 01:03:32,350
That he can pull in
a wide range of genres...
748
01:03:32,434 --> 01:03:35,562
But they all come out Elvis.
749
01:03:35,854 --> 01:03:39,316
He didn't invent rock 'n' roll, per se.
750
01:03:39,399 --> 01:03:41,401
You've got little Richard
and Joe Turner...
751
01:03:41,484 --> 01:03:47,032
And all these people on that tip,
but what Elvis did isn't that.
752
01:03:47,866 --> 01:03:51,161
You know, what he did is different.
753
01:03:51,244 --> 01:03:56,583
It's bringing the country music in,
bringing white gospel music in...
754
01:03:56,666 --> 01:03:59,461
And it becomes pop music.
755
01:03:59,544 --> 01:04:05,216
Most of Presley's first recordings
were basically covers of black singers.
756
01:04:05,508 --> 01:04:10,096
Little Richard, Arthur crudup,
Joe Turner, Lloyd price.
757
01:04:38,875 --> 01:04:42,337
Elvis and Elvis' music
pointed to black culture and said:
758
01:04:42,420 --> 01:04:46,299
"This is something that's filled
with the force of life."
759
01:04:46,383 --> 01:04:50,095
If you want to be a complete
and fulfilled person...
760
01:04:50,178 --> 01:04:52,347
If you wanna be an American...
761
01:04:53,139 --> 01:04:55,475
This is something
you need to pay attention to.
762
01:05:01,773 --> 01:05:04,484
The American teen just knew it rocked.
763
01:05:04,567 --> 01:05:08,696
No white music had ever done that.
Plenty of black music had.
764
01:05:18,248 --> 01:05:23,128
Elvis was able to bring a value
to the presentation of black music...
765
01:05:23,211 --> 01:05:26,423
African-American artists,
at a period they were being ignored...
766
01:05:26,506 --> 01:05:28,800
By the great artists,
in a credible way...
767
01:05:28,883 --> 01:05:31,553
Because he learned it
from the source.
768
01:05:42,605 --> 01:05:44,941
- Can't stop me now, man.
- All right.
769
01:05:51,948 --> 01:05:54,868
In the colonel's view,
whatever the songs were...
770
01:05:54,951 --> 01:05:58,121
Whoever played on it didn't matter.
It was Elvis.
771
01:05:58,204 --> 01:06:01,124
It was, in his mind,
about the merchandise.
772
01:06:01,416 --> 01:06:06,296
He always called it "the merchandise."
And that's what it was to him and to rca.
773
01:06:12,260 --> 01:06:15,513
We think tonight that he's
going to make television history for you.
774
01:06:15,597 --> 01:06:17,015
Meet him now: Elvis Presley.
775
01:06:17,098 --> 01:06:20,435
Colonel knew how to do it,
and had the contacts...
776
01:06:20,518 --> 01:06:23,688
With the show in New York,
the Tommy dorsey show.
777
01:06:23,980 --> 01:06:28,026
Rca didn't seem
to be able to secure TV performances...
778
01:06:28,318 --> 01:06:30,862
And colonel Parker
secures Elvis four shows...
779
01:06:30,945 --> 01:06:34,157
To coincide with the release
of the record in January.
780
01:06:36,743 --> 01:06:40,914
The earliest shows, he doesn't
have that much material to draw from.
781
01:06:40,997 --> 01:06:43,791
What he's doing, really, are the covers.
782
01:06:43,875 --> 01:06:48,379
These songs initially recorded
by black songwriters, black performers.
783
01:06:48,463 --> 01:06:52,425
"Shake, rattle, and roll," and
"money honey," and "flip, flop and fly."
784
01:06:55,386 --> 01:07:00,600
He was an incredible performer
in that his body really picked up...
785
01:07:00,683 --> 01:07:03,144
All the intricacies of the rhythm.
786
01:07:03,645 --> 01:07:06,564
It's so lighthearted, but it's so deep...
787
01:07:06,648 --> 01:07:09,317
And meaningful at the same time.
788
01:07:16,449 --> 01:07:19,661
It's such a magical thing to see.
789
01:07:20,203 --> 01:07:24,749
He looks really supernatural,
because of the kinescopes...
790
01:07:24,832 --> 01:07:28,169
Just the way it distorts the image.
791
01:07:29,254 --> 01:07:31,714
There's some beautiful thing
going down there...
792
01:07:31,798 --> 01:07:38,137
And it must have been really incredible
to see it with no warning.
793
01:08:25,476 --> 01:08:28,187
He just did all those
Tommy and Jimmy dorsey shows.
794
01:08:28,479 --> 01:08:30,273
That was nationwide TV.
795
01:08:30,565 --> 01:08:33,901
It all went through the root
from then on.
796
01:08:33,985 --> 01:08:38,781
That's when we saw somebody that could
sing better than other people...
797
01:08:38,865 --> 01:08:40,867
Could move better...
798
01:08:40,950 --> 01:08:44,120
Had style that was
better than other people.
799
01:08:44,203 --> 01:08:48,499
In the pop world,
when this came along, it broke glass.
800
01:08:56,341 --> 01:08:58,760
When you look at those
television performances...
801
01:08:58,843 --> 01:09:03,264
You see the band watching Elvis.
They all got their eyes on Elvis.
802
01:09:06,601 --> 01:09:09,646
That was essential
to the way the band swung.
803
01:09:09,729 --> 01:09:14,067
Elvis is simply swinging your world
with the way he's swinging his hips...
804
01:09:14,150 --> 01:09:18,696
And moving his legs and his shoulders.
He's pushing and pushing his musicians.
805
01:09:25,370 --> 01:09:28,748
We were doing the Milton berle show,
and we were doing "hound dog."
806
01:09:28,831 --> 01:09:31,626
Right at the end, we usually go out.
807
01:09:32,919 --> 01:09:36,089
All of a sudden
he went into this half-time bluesy...
808
01:09:36,172 --> 01:09:38,341
"You ain't nothing
but a hound dog," slow.
809
01:09:38,424 --> 01:09:41,803
We had never did it that way.
We all looked at each other:
810
01:09:41,886 --> 01:09:44,514
"What do we do now?
We'd better follow him."
811
01:09:46,599 --> 01:09:48,601
I figured I'd better
catch his blues licks...
812
01:09:48,685 --> 01:09:51,187
And his legs and arms
and do everything I can.
813
01:09:51,270 --> 01:09:54,065
It was like every man
for himself, actually.
814
01:09:55,108 --> 01:09:57,360
Every time he'd move a finger,
a leg, an arm...
815
01:09:57,443 --> 01:10:00,029
Or run across the stage,
I'd go like a machine gun:
816
01:10:02,115 --> 01:10:05,159
Just every lick I could catch,
you know?
817
01:10:05,618 --> 01:10:08,162
My parents are watching it.
818
01:10:08,246 --> 01:10:10,581
They don't know I'm watching it.
819
01:10:11,040 --> 01:10:12,875
They're looking, and...
820
01:10:13,167 --> 01:10:15,753
My mother is saying, "that's disgusting."
821
01:10:23,845 --> 01:10:27,724
As a little kid, I can remember
the living-room discussion.
822
01:10:27,807 --> 01:10:31,936
His appearances on TV
were of a sexual nature.
823
01:10:32,019 --> 01:10:38,192
He had really stepped over the line
of what's decent on television.
824
01:10:38,901 --> 01:10:41,320
After that,
our parents wouldn't let us see him.
825
01:10:41,404 --> 01:10:44,115
The ministers, reverends,
told our parents:
826
01:10:44,407 --> 01:10:47,493
"Keep him away from your children.
He's the devil."
827
01:10:48,077 --> 01:10:50,705
So he's forbidden fruit.
828
01:10:52,415 --> 01:10:54,959
On your personal appearances,
you create a mass hysteria...
829
01:10:55,251 --> 01:10:57,003
Amongst your audiences of teens.
830
01:10:57,086 --> 01:11:00,548
Is your shaking and quaking
an involuntary response to this hysteria?
831
01:11:01,340 --> 01:11:02,925
- Involuntary?
- Yeah.
832
01:11:03,217 --> 01:11:08,222
Well, I'm aware of everything I do at
all times, but it's just the way I feel.
833
01:11:08,514 --> 01:11:11,309
Do you think you've
learned anything from the criticism?
834
01:11:11,392 --> 01:11:12,810
- No, I haven 't.
- You haven't?
835
01:11:13,102 --> 01:11:15,313
Because I don't feel
I'm doing anything wrong.
836
01:11:15,605 --> 01:11:17,315
Do you read the stuff?
837
01:11:17,398 --> 01:11:23,613
One of the paradoxes with Elvis
is how could a boy so in love with god...
838
01:11:23,696 --> 01:11:26,574
So obsessively
in love with his mother...
839
01:11:26,657 --> 01:11:30,661
So decent and "yes, ma'am,"
and "yes, sir," and all of that...
840
01:11:30,745 --> 01:11:35,583
How could he be so unconfined
on-stage? How could he do this?
841
01:11:35,666 --> 01:11:39,128
That was just totally unacceptable,
because the mid '50s being...
842
01:11:39,212 --> 01:11:41,839
The beginning
of the civil-rights movement...
843
01:11:41,923 --> 01:11:47,762
The biggest fear that most southerners
had was so-called race mixing.
844
01:11:54,477 --> 01:11:59,607
Elvis' first television appearances
were earth-shattering.
845
01:12:00,691 --> 01:12:05,488
He sang at a moment in the history
of the south in the early '50s...
846
01:12:05,780 --> 01:12:10,284
When his music was truly
a revolutionary sound...
847
01:12:10,576 --> 01:12:14,747
That bridged the black and white
musics of southern worlds...
848
01:12:14,831 --> 01:12:18,125
In a way that
had never been heard before.
849
01:12:19,210 --> 01:12:24,382
I don't think he was necessarily
trying to shake the world in that sense...
850
01:12:24,465 --> 01:12:26,926
But I think he knew
what he was on to.
851
01:12:27,218 --> 01:12:31,430
He knew it made him feel great, and he
knew there was a rebellious streak in it.
852
01:12:31,514 --> 01:12:34,600
He had to know that,
and it made him powerful.
853
01:12:34,684 --> 01:12:36,894
They're clearly afraid of him.
854
01:12:38,479 --> 01:12:40,398
To some degree.
855
01:12:40,481 --> 01:12:44,610
If you see a large social anxiety
on the horizon...
856
01:12:44,819 --> 01:12:48,739
There's probably issues
of bodies and control involved.
857
01:12:49,115 --> 01:12:53,995
Young people, whether they were physically
mixing black and white or not...
858
01:12:54,078 --> 01:12:57,415
They were culturally mixing
black and white.
859
01:12:57,498 --> 01:12:59,709
The way they were
expressing themselves...
860
01:12:59,792 --> 01:13:05,172
The movements in space as that
mixing happened, were sexual in nature.
861
01:13:12,722 --> 01:13:14,849
And I think in the case of Elvis...
862
01:13:14,932 --> 01:13:21,772
The fearful response, it had a racial
component and a sexual component.
863
01:13:22,356 --> 01:13:25,067
It's all about fear and the body.
864
01:13:26,319 --> 01:13:29,947
I and millions of other kids,
growing up...
865
01:13:30,031 --> 01:13:33,200
We all had this feeling
that Elvis was...
866
01:13:33,284 --> 01:13:38,456
Sort of sent to us to lead us out
of the darkness of our own confusion:
867
01:13:38,539 --> 01:13:43,210
Sexual confusion,
social confusion, ineptitude.
868
01:13:50,301 --> 01:13:53,638
Here's what it was for me.
Elvis came along...
869
01:13:53,721 --> 01:13:59,310
And this soundwave came out
that ran right through me.
870
01:14:01,103 --> 01:14:02,897
You felt like he was looking at you.
871
01:14:02,980 --> 01:14:06,442
I mean, he had these eyes, and he
was connecting with his audience.
872
01:14:06,525 --> 01:14:11,197
As teenagers, it was liberating.
Now we had something to claim for ours.
873
01:14:12,782 --> 01:14:18,829
I don't think there was any context
for the kind of shift Elvis represented.
874
01:14:18,913 --> 01:14:23,125
I don't think there was any possible way
to know that that was going to resonate...
875
01:14:23,209 --> 01:14:29,507
And shake young people to their core
in such a profound way.
876
01:14:31,342 --> 01:14:35,680
The reason I booked him, I recognized
right away that he had something...
877
01:14:35,763 --> 01:14:40,851
A cuteness. It was chiefly his face,
but a beautiful sound he really never had.
878
01:14:40,935 --> 01:14:44,313
The thing is that it was well-known
that Steve Allen...
879
01:14:44,397 --> 01:14:47,650
Who fancied himself
a major songwriter...
880
01:14:47,733 --> 01:14:51,821
Hated rock 'n' roll.
And his purpose in having Elvis...
881
01:14:51,904 --> 01:14:54,699
Was first and foremost,
he needed the ratings.
882
01:14:54,782 --> 01:14:59,912
But, secondly, to be sarcastic
and condescending to Elvis...
883
01:14:59,996 --> 01:15:03,833
And to the music
he openly despised.
884
01:15:14,135 --> 01:15:16,887
Steve Allen, he was out to humiliate...
885
01:15:16,971 --> 01:15:20,516
An entire culture
of what he would've called "hillbillies."
886
01:15:20,599 --> 01:15:22,476
It was all a sneer.
887
01:15:22,560 --> 01:15:25,438
It's a control thing. It was humiliating.
888
01:15:25,521 --> 01:15:28,232
After that
he didn't like Steve Allen at all.
889
01:15:28,899 --> 01:15:33,529
As a child, I was deeply offended.
There was something wrong there.
890
01:15:33,612 --> 01:15:36,032
"Elvis, why are you letting him
do this to you?"
891
01:15:38,826 --> 01:15:42,830
We can look at Elvis
as a southern trickster figure.
892
01:15:42,913 --> 01:15:46,083
You deal with power
by yes-ing them to death...
893
01:15:46,167 --> 01:15:48,627
And that's what Elvis did.
894
01:15:48,711 --> 01:15:51,756
Very polite, very deferential...
895
01:15:51,839 --> 01:15:54,467
But with his eye on the sparrow.
896
01:15:54,550 --> 01:15:58,679
He was basically
a good-natured southern kid...
897
01:15:58,763 --> 01:16:03,517
But he was on a mission
to deliver this music.
898
01:16:03,809 --> 01:16:08,022
By 1956,
Elvis was coming into his own.
899
01:16:08,647 --> 01:16:13,402
The rca singles were enormous.
"Hound dog," "don't be cruel"...
900
01:16:13,486 --> 01:16:16,113
They sold 3 million copies.
901
01:16:16,197 --> 01:16:20,242
When Elvis' first album came out,
that sold 300,000 copies.
902
01:16:20,326 --> 01:16:25,498
"Heartbreak hotel" topped all three
billboard charts: Country, pop and R&B.
903
01:16:26,165 --> 01:16:31,921
This was now a career that was going
to these unimaginable heights.
904
01:16:32,797 --> 01:16:38,803
I often wonder if there had ever been
a 21-year-old that had that power...
905
01:16:39,011 --> 01:16:44,558
That could mold the lives of millions
of youths with the wave of his hand.
906
01:16:53,234 --> 01:16:56,904
His mother worried so much about him.
He always wanted to be a good son...
907
01:16:56,987 --> 01:17:00,241
Mostly to his mom,
and didn't wanna give her fears.
908
01:17:00,324 --> 01:17:03,285
They would talk every single day,
and he was comforting her...
909
01:17:03,369 --> 01:17:05,746
That he'd be okay
and not to worry so much.
910
01:17:11,418 --> 01:17:15,673
By the time Elvis made the first
appearance on the ed Sullivan show...
911
01:17:15,756 --> 01:17:19,260
It was already something
everybody was waiting for, watching for.
912
01:17:19,343 --> 01:17:22,471
There was all kinds of pressure
and all kinds of expectation.
913
01:17:22,555 --> 01:17:27,101
The Sullivan show was the crown Jewel.
That was the biggest game in town.
914
01:17:27,685 --> 01:17:31,063
It was like, "okay, I'll do these shows.
915
01:17:31,147 --> 01:17:33,399
I'm doing my song,
I'm doing my thing."
916
01:17:33,691 --> 01:17:37,111
But he's not letting go of his roots.
917
01:17:44,618 --> 01:17:47,496
He wanted to do "peace in the valley."
918
01:17:48,289 --> 01:17:53,085
They said, "we've never had a religious
song. You're not gonna sing one now."
919
01:17:53,169 --> 01:17:57,464
That's one of the songs his
mother loved, was "peace in the valley."
920
01:17:57,548 --> 01:18:01,051
He fought for that song.
No one wanted him to do that song.
921
01:18:08,100 --> 01:18:12,396
But it was important for him to
sing it for his mother, to his mother...
922
01:18:12,479 --> 01:18:13,772
And keep his roots intact.
923
01:18:19,486 --> 01:18:24,241
If you really look at Elvis
on the dorsey shows, that's the rebel.
924
01:18:24,325 --> 01:18:29,246
But then you see him doing "peace
in the valley" on the Sullivan show...
925
01:18:29,330 --> 01:18:31,749
That's the good-natured southern kid.
926
01:18:44,386 --> 01:18:48,390
This is sort of off-the-cuff, but how
does it feel to be right up there on top?
927
01:18:48,474 --> 01:18:52,353
Right with the best of them, since you're
one of that class. How does it feel?
928
01:18:52,436 --> 01:18:54,521
It all happened so fast, so I don't know.
929
01:18:54,605 --> 01:18:57,858
I'm afraid to wake up, afraid it's liable
to be a dream, you know?
930
01:19:20,047 --> 01:19:22,549
In the long range,
do you feel you've got your eye on...
931
01:19:22,841 --> 01:19:25,928
An objective in the future
that you're headed for?
932
01:19:26,011 --> 01:19:29,265
Yeah, I do. I would like to learn
how to act in the movies.
933
01:19:30,975 --> 01:19:34,144
We got a seven-year contract
with Paramount pictures.
934
01:19:35,896 --> 01:19:38,023
It's a dream come true, you know?
935
01:19:38,107 --> 01:19:42,569
I've had people ask me,
was I gonna sing in the movies? I'm not.
936
01:19:44,196 --> 01:19:46,949
Isee you're signed
by hal Wallis out of Paramount.
937
01:19:47,032 --> 01:19:48,617
- Yes.
- Can you tell us anything...
938
01:19:48,701 --> 01:19:50,828
About the first movie
that will be made?
939
01:19:50,911 --> 01:19:54,498
We have a movie coming out,
we start making it in June.
940
01:19:54,581 --> 01:19:58,127
It's a movie with Burt Lancaster
and Katharine hepburn, the rainmaker.
941
01:20:00,129 --> 01:20:02,256
He didn't get the rainmaker.
942
01:20:02,339 --> 01:20:05,676
They talked him into doing
love me tender...
943
01:20:05,759 --> 01:20:08,470
And then talked him into four songs.
944
01:20:09,680 --> 01:20:14,518
I think that Elvis brought
a lot of insecurity with him.
945
01:20:14,601 --> 01:20:19,356
He wanted to be a movie star, that was
much bigger than being a recording star.
946
01:20:19,440 --> 01:20:24,945
And he was fairly disheartened when he
learned he had to sing for these movies.
947
01:20:25,029 --> 01:20:28,449
In the first four movies,
you see him so into the part.
948
01:20:28,532 --> 01:20:31,243
You see him really
taking the role seriously.
949
01:20:31,327 --> 01:20:35,831
He learned everyone's lines.
He thought that's what an actor did.
950
01:20:36,290 --> 01:20:38,917
Training himself
to be more like a Marlon Brando...
951
01:20:39,001 --> 01:20:41,795
Or a James Dean
or a Humphrey bogart.
952
01:20:42,087 --> 01:20:46,550
He respected these actors, and this
is where he thought his future was going.
953
01:20:48,218 --> 01:20:50,929
The movie people
took him very seriously.
954
01:20:51,513 --> 01:20:57,102
These were carefully made films.
They had scripts, they had emotion.
955
01:20:57,186 --> 01:21:01,231
King creole,
love me tender, jailhouse rock.
956
01:21:01,315 --> 01:21:03,901
They assigned him stellar people.
957
01:21:04,777 --> 01:21:08,113
Michael curtiz,
who directed king creole...
958
01:21:08,405 --> 01:21:12,076
Is the same Michael curtiz
who directed Casablanca.
959
01:21:12,159 --> 01:21:15,913
So they treated him with respect.
960
01:21:16,705 --> 01:21:20,209
King creole,
it was being prepped for James Dean...
961
01:21:21,168 --> 01:21:22,795
Before the fatal crash.
962
01:22:49,673 --> 01:22:53,427
Out of all those movies,
king creole was really his favorite.
963
01:22:53,510 --> 01:22:57,723
It was leiber and stoller songs.
It was songs that he loved.
964
01:22:58,223 --> 01:23:03,145
Jerry leiber and Mike stoller were two
of the greatest songwriters in america...
965
01:23:03,228 --> 01:23:05,856
During the late '50s and early '603.
966
01:23:15,949 --> 01:23:18,243
When we first met him, we hit it off.
967
01:23:18,327 --> 01:23:21,830
We were talking about
different records that we knew.
968
01:23:30,088 --> 01:23:32,591
Elvis was into blues.
969
01:23:32,674 --> 01:23:36,637
We thought we were the only
white guys who were into blues.
970
01:23:45,103 --> 01:23:48,857
In order to control music,
and in order to make more money...
971
01:23:48,941 --> 01:23:53,111
Colonel Parker set up music
companies that would deliver songs.
972
01:23:53,195 --> 01:23:57,699
We were given assignments, but
they also went to all the other writers...
973
01:23:57,783 --> 01:24:00,285
Who were assigned
to hill & range songs.
974
01:24:00,369 --> 01:24:04,122
Thus, the owners of hill & range
controlled Elvis Presley music.
975
01:24:05,624 --> 01:24:08,585
Hill & range was one of the
biggest publishers in the United States.
976
01:24:08,669 --> 01:24:14,007
And if you wanted to be on an
Elvis record, you were gonna play ball.
977
01:24:14,091 --> 01:24:17,386
The publisher gets half,
and the writer gets half.
978
01:24:21,139 --> 01:24:25,686
As Elvis is becoming
an a-list superstar...
979
01:24:25,769 --> 01:24:30,524
He's reaching a level of success
that nobody had ever had before.
980
01:24:30,607 --> 01:24:34,486
The fact that several big pop hits
into his career...
981
01:24:34,570 --> 01:24:36,947
He makes a feature film...
982
01:24:37,030 --> 01:24:42,494
And then very soon signs a contract
for a bunch of feature films.
983
01:24:42,578 --> 01:24:47,207
Nobody had ever done that. There's
nobody who, this early in their career...
984
01:24:47,291 --> 01:24:52,629
Is given all of this territory
between the radio...
985
01:24:52,713 --> 01:24:56,216
The television and the movie screen.
986
01:24:58,468 --> 01:25:02,598
There was no blueprint for how
you navigate something like that.
987
01:25:25,495 --> 01:25:31,293
Actually, it was Vernon and Gladys
that found Graceland and showed it to him.
988
01:25:31,376 --> 01:25:33,587
He fell in love with it,
but more than that...
989
01:25:33,670 --> 01:25:36,590
It was to give a beautiful home
to his mom.
990
01:25:36,673 --> 01:25:38,425
And, of course, his father too...
991
01:25:38,508 --> 01:25:41,803
But, really, for his mother,
because he saw her working so hard.
992
01:25:41,887 --> 01:25:43,930
He wanted to be a great son.
993
01:25:45,390 --> 01:25:51,355
He was living the most hectic time
of his life, career-wise.
994
01:25:52,481 --> 01:25:56,943
This was his controlled escape.
995
01:25:57,194 --> 01:26:02,824
Graceland. Just the name of it itself
pulled directly out of gospel tradition.
996
01:26:03,116 --> 01:26:05,285
It's an idealized home.
997
01:26:05,369 --> 01:26:08,330
The perfect symbol of someone
who's come up from the bottom...
998
01:26:08,413 --> 01:26:11,917
And enjoyed the best
the country has to offer.
999
01:26:13,418 --> 01:26:17,172
It was a huge moment for Elvis
to walk through those doors...
1000
01:26:17,255 --> 01:26:19,841
And call that place his home.
1001
01:26:19,925 --> 01:26:26,431
It had all of the things that Elvis
had never known as a kid.
1002
01:26:26,515 --> 01:26:30,018
It's not a lavish home. It's not Tara.
1003
01:26:30,435 --> 01:26:34,398
But it is everything
that money and fame...
1004
01:26:34,481 --> 01:26:38,610
Could deliver,
according to his specifications.
1005
01:26:39,403 --> 01:26:41,279
You bought a home for your folks.
1006
01:26:41,488 --> 01:26:46,076
Even though your father is only 39,
you've insisted he retire. Is that true?
1007
01:26:46,493 --> 01:26:48,745
Yes. Well, he's more help... I mean...
1008
01:26:48,829 --> 01:26:51,373
He's more help at home
than he is anywhere else...
1009
01:26:51,456 --> 01:26:53,917
Because he can take care
of all my business.
1010
01:26:54,000 --> 01:26:56,628
He can look after things
when I'm gone.
1011
01:26:56,712 --> 01:26:59,631
Well, I think that's very smart.
I, of course...
1012
01:26:59,715 --> 01:27:03,552
Elvis gave Vernon a huge obligation:
"Take care of me."
1013
01:27:04,720 --> 01:27:08,724
He had an office. It gave him a job.
It gave him something to do...
1014
01:27:08,807 --> 01:27:13,228
And it was for his son. They made
sure that they kept everything in order...
1015
01:27:13,311 --> 01:27:16,440
Because he was really in fear
of not doing the right thing.
1016
01:27:17,149 --> 01:27:23,447
Vernon's office, you can tell didn't come
from a sophisticated business manager.
1017
01:27:23,739 --> 01:27:27,075
It came from a poor man
from tupelo, Mississippi.
1018
01:27:28,285 --> 01:27:32,080
Elvis had all the money in the world.
He had anything he wanted.
1019
01:27:32,164 --> 01:27:33,915
He built Graceland...
1020
01:27:33,999 --> 01:27:36,585
Yet he had some sweetness
about him...
1021
01:27:36,668 --> 01:27:41,256
That kind of breaks your heart.
I mean, I don't think he ever lost that.
1022
01:27:41,548 --> 01:27:43,842
Any presents
you got for your parents...
1023
01:27:43,925 --> 01:27:46,678
Aside from the house
and furniture and cars?
1024
01:27:47,888 --> 01:27:51,767
Well, yes. We've gotten quite a bit
of stuff. I mean, nothing really big.
1025
01:27:51,850 --> 01:27:54,936
I've gotten them anything
that I think they might want.
1026
01:27:55,896 --> 01:27:58,982
I've gotten daddy some suits and...
1027
01:27:59,775 --> 01:28:03,945
Mother goes to town now,
and she buys anything she wants.
1028
01:28:04,029 --> 01:28:06,448
Which makes me feel real good.
1029
01:28:06,948 --> 01:28:10,202
Elvis never wanted to go
back to the days where they struggled...
1030
01:28:10,285 --> 01:28:12,454
The days of poverty.
1031
01:28:36,061 --> 01:28:38,730
In 1958, Elvis was drafted
into the army.
1032
01:28:38,814 --> 01:28:42,943
No matter how much he'd been through
on the road and making movies...
1033
01:28:43,235 --> 01:28:46,571
The notion of going to another
continent, away from his family...
1034
01:28:46,655 --> 01:28:49,658
Was a difficult thing
for him to consider.
1035
01:28:50,867 --> 01:28:54,788
The idea was that Elvis would
do his duty, so he could come back...
1036
01:28:54,871 --> 01:29:00,001
And be respectable in the colonel's
new vision of the future Elvis Presley...
1037
01:29:00,085 --> 01:29:03,213
Which was a brilliant vision.
He knew exactly...
1038
01:29:03,296 --> 01:29:07,342
- Where he wanted to take Elvis.
- Colonel said, "we don't want no favors.
1039
01:29:07,425 --> 01:29:10,554
He won't be in entertainment.
He's gonna be a soldier."
1040
01:29:11,221 --> 01:29:13,849
Elvis, you don't get out
of the army until 1960.
1041
01:29:13,932 --> 01:29:16,309
If rock 'n' roll should
diminish in popularity...
1042
01:29:16,393 --> 01:29:19,104
Or even disappear,
what would you do?
1043
01:29:21,648 --> 01:29:27,153
Well, I would probably try acting.
I mean, you know, I...
1044
01:29:27,237 --> 01:29:31,199
Being drafted was something he
never thought about happening to him.
1045
01:29:31,908 --> 01:29:35,912
The army, which is odd,
because there is no war on.
1046
01:29:35,996 --> 01:29:38,623
There's not a lot of people
being drafted.
1047
01:29:38,707 --> 01:29:42,335
But Elvis, he goes along with it.
1048
01:29:42,419 --> 01:29:46,214
The biggest star in the world,
going into the army.
1049
01:29:46,506 --> 01:29:52,095
From our historical perspective,
that's a very strange episode.
1050
01:29:52,178 --> 01:29:56,391
But then if you try
to get into his experience...
1051
01:29:56,474 --> 01:30:01,730
Having gone through this
profound rise to fame...
1052
01:30:01,813 --> 01:30:08,194
There's total uncertainty as to what
he will return home to, if he returns.
1053
01:30:08,778 --> 01:30:12,032
Elvis, in his 203,
he was still inventing all the rules.
1054
01:30:12,115 --> 01:30:16,745
In those days there was no perception
that a rock 'n' roll musician...
1055
01:30:16,828 --> 01:30:18,830
Could have a long and lasting career.
1056
01:30:18,914 --> 01:30:22,959
People expected that kind of a career
to be over within moments.
1057
01:30:23,043 --> 01:30:28,381
Rca panicked. They pushed the colonel
to set up recording sessions...
1058
01:30:28,465 --> 01:30:31,384
Before Elvis left,
so they could record a lot of material.
1059
01:30:31,468 --> 01:30:34,012
The impulse was to flood
the market, give the fans...
1060
01:30:34,095 --> 01:30:37,474
As much as possible and keep
riding this as hard as you can.
1061
01:30:37,557 --> 01:30:40,268
And the colonel works it
the opposite way.
1062
01:30:40,352 --> 01:30:47,108
His idea was to have just enough
material to keep Elvis' name alive.
1063
01:30:47,192 --> 01:30:50,236
He wanted to keep the mystery.
1064
01:30:50,904 --> 01:30:55,951
He kept Elvis away from performing,
serving his country like a good soldier.
1065
01:30:56,034 --> 01:30:59,663
He had fans waiting
for him to come back.
1066
01:30:59,746 --> 01:31:02,332
- I...
- I, Elvis Presley...
1067
01:31:03,500 --> 01:31:07,087
- Do solemnly swear...
- Do solemnly swear...
1068
01:31:07,170 --> 01:31:09,756
That I will bear true faith
and allegiance...
1069
01:31:09,839 --> 01:31:12,842
That I will bear
true faith and allegiance...
1070
01:31:13,843 --> 01:31:18,556
- To the United States of America.
- To the United States of America.
1071
01:31:19,099 --> 01:31:21,685
His mother was concerned
about him going to Germany.
1072
01:31:21,768 --> 01:31:24,062
Because all they heard
at that time was Russia.
1073
01:31:24,145 --> 01:31:28,108
She thought he was going to war.
Her son was leaving for two years...
1074
01:31:28,191 --> 01:31:31,569
And he'd never been
out of the United States.
1075
01:31:31,653 --> 01:31:35,532
When he went to basic training in Texas,
they talked every day.
1076
01:31:35,615 --> 01:31:39,411
And he kept saying, "mama,
I'm gonna be okay. I'm gonna be okay.
1077
01:31:39,494 --> 01:31:41,538
I'm not gonna be fighting."
1078
01:31:42,038 --> 01:31:45,083
But she just couldn't get it
into her head.
1079
01:32:32,047 --> 01:32:34,758
Before he left to serve in Germany...
1080
01:32:34,841 --> 01:32:37,177
Gladys suddenly got sick
and she passed.
1081
01:32:40,764 --> 01:32:43,933
When those things happen like that,
you don't do a lot of talking.
1082
01:32:44,017 --> 01:32:49,314
Elvis and his mother, that's the closest
I've seen anybody, as far as that goes.
1083
01:32:49,397 --> 01:32:50,982
Sure was.
1084
01:32:51,357 --> 01:32:55,361
She worried about him night and day,
because he was such a sensitive boy.
1085
01:32:55,445 --> 01:32:57,530
And, yes, she was overly protective...
1086
01:32:57,614 --> 01:33:00,116
But because of the loss
of the twin brother...
1087
01:33:00,200 --> 01:33:05,580
That protectiveness really lingered
until the day she passed.
1088
01:33:26,017 --> 01:33:30,522
Easy to sneer that Elvis was a mama's
boy and so on, but it wasn't that.
1089
01:33:30,605 --> 01:33:34,400
It was one of those relations
between a mother and son...
1090
01:33:34,484 --> 01:33:38,363
Where you could hardly say where the
mother ends and where the son begins.
1091
01:33:39,072 --> 01:33:41,991
And when his mother died,
it left a hole in him.
1092
01:33:42,075 --> 01:33:44,786
He was never whole again, as it were.
1093
01:33:45,411 --> 01:33:50,917
He deeply feared not being a good man,
being a godly man.
1094
01:33:51,000 --> 01:33:53,711
He needed her there to say,
"I love you.
1095
01:33:53,795 --> 01:33:57,757
You're doing the right thing, I know
you're good." He needed her. Absolutely.
1096
01:34:00,218 --> 01:34:04,347
The loss was the most devastating time
in his life.
1097
01:34:04,430 --> 01:34:06,558
It was all fun before that.
1098
01:34:07,517 --> 01:34:09,644
It was the skating rink,
it was the theater.
1099
01:34:09,727 --> 01:34:12,147
It was making a movie,
then going back to Memphis.
1100
01:34:12,230 --> 01:34:14,399
Being with his friends and playing.
1101
01:34:14,482 --> 01:34:17,026
And then, of course,
having Graceland as the center...
1102
01:34:17,110 --> 01:34:21,114
Fixing all that up for the family,
and so he matured a lot...
1103
01:34:21,197 --> 01:34:23,700
Because of the loss of his mother.
1104
01:34:24,784 --> 01:34:28,246
It was unbearable for him
during that time.
1105
01:34:39,007 --> 01:34:43,094
As we 're getting closer to the time
they're gonna pull that gangplank away...
1106
01:34:43,178 --> 01:34:44,762
And you'll be on your way.
1107
01:34:44,846 --> 01:34:49,434
Since this is the last chance you'll have
to say something to your fans...
1108
01:34:49,517 --> 01:34:52,228
Do you have
any particular message?
1109
01:34:54,314 --> 01:34:55,690
Well...
1110
01:34:56,858 --> 01:34:59,485
I'm gonna be very honest about it.
1111
01:34:59,569 --> 01:35:04,949
In spite of the fact I'm going away, and
I'll be out of their eyes for some time...
1112
01:35:05,033 --> 01:35:07,619
I hope that I'm not out of their minds.
1113
01:35:07,702 --> 01:35:11,080
And I'll be looking foward
to the time when I can come back...
1114
01:35:11,414 --> 01:35:13,583
And entertain again like I did and...
1115
01:35:13,666 --> 01:35:16,085
All we can do is
wish you a wonderful trip...
1116
01:35:16,169 --> 01:35:18,963
And all the best luck in the world,
and come home soon.
1117
01:35:19,047 --> 01:35:21,925
Well, thank you very much.
I'll do my very best.
1118
01:35:22,383 --> 01:35:25,553
Elvis hadn't had much time to himself...
1119
01:35:25,637 --> 01:35:28,890
Between that summer day
when he recorded "that's all right"...
1120
01:35:28,973 --> 01:35:31,017
And when he was shipped
to Germany.
1121
01:35:31,100 --> 01:35:33,436
Suddenly, on a boat to Germany...
1122
01:35:33,895 --> 01:35:37,482
There was lots of time.
That's where he meets Charlie hodge...
1123
01:35:37,565 --> 01:35:41,486
And they start talking about
music together. They start singing.
1124
01:35:48,534 --> 01:35:53,706
Charlie hodge had been a gospel singer
who Elvis had heard sing.
1125
01:35:54,457 --> 01:35:58,086
He liked Charlie because Charlie
was in the music business...
1126
01:35:58,169 --> 01:36:01,339
And somebody
he could relate to that way.
1127
01:36:02,590 --> 01:36:08,221
Elvis was so down that Charlie
would tell jokes and try to keep him up.
1128
01:36:14,394 --> 01:36:16,312
To have somebody
who understood him...
1129
01:36:16,396 --> 01:36:20,733
That he could lean on, and also
to be able to turn to that music...
1130
01:36:20,817 --> 01:36:23,945
Was tremendously important
for him to get through that time...
1131
01:36:24,028 --> 01:36:26,447
And everything that was going on.
1132
01:37:01,983 --> 01:37:03,860
When he gets to Germany, yes, he's...
1133
01:37:03,943 --> 01:37:08,823
He's obviously committed
to the hours every day...
1134
01:37:08,906 --> 01:37:12,994
But there's, again,
a lot of spare time in an apartment...
1135
01:37:13,077 --> 01:37:16,164
Or at a house in Germany,
where he doesn't know anybody.
1136
01:37:16,247 --> 01:37:18,666
So there's a lot of time for reflection.
1137
01:37:19,625 --> 01:37:23,838
He goes into the army,
which was where he gets the pep pills...
1138
01:37:23,921 --> 01:37:28,343
For the first time, the methedrine,
to stay up on watch.
1139
01:37:28,551 --> 01:37:31,637
That was the beginning.
He started with the uppers...
1140
01:37:31,721 --> 01:37:34,640
To get him through the army,
through the cold days...
1141
01:37:34,724 --> 01:37:36,768
To get him through the lonely nights.
1142
01:37:39,979 --> 01:37:43,733
Do you have any time
for music anymore?
1143
01:37:43,816 --> 01:37:49,155
Well, only at night. You see,
I get off work at 5:00 in the afternoon...
1144
01:37:49,238 --> 01:37:53,785
And I have a guitar up here
in the room, and I sit around up here.
1145
01:37:53,868 --> 01:37:57,580
- I don't wanna get out of practice.
- I should hope not.
1146
01:37:57,663 --> 01:37:59,832
The struggle while Elvis
was in the army...
1147
01:37:59,916 --> 01:38:02,877
Was a mandate from colonel Parker
that he not record...
1148
01:38:02,960 --> 01:38:06,214
And not make new music,
since he wouldn't be able to promote it.
1149
01:38:06,297 --> 01:38:11,010
What Elvis didn't know was Parker was
not a legal resident in the United States.
1150
01:38:11,094 --> 01:38:13,096
And without legitimate papers...
1151
01:38:13,179 --> 01:38:17,975
Any travel he took could present big
problems for him trying to get back in.
1152
01:38:18,059 --> 01:38:20,103
The colonel would come up
with excuses...
1153
01:38:20,186 --> 01:38:23,147
And explanations to Elvis,
to his family.
1154
01:38:23,231 --> 01:38:26,692
There'd be telegrams from
the colonel telling him not to worry:
1155
01:38:26,776 --> 01:38:28,528
"I've done this, I've done this."
1156
01:38:28,611 --> 01:38:31,823
Parker was releasing songs
for him every few months...
1157
01:38:31,906 --> 01:38:33,699
To keep the fans interested.
1158
01:38:34,867 --> 01:38:39,539
It's not a lot. Not at the pace they were
used to and that the machine required.
1159
01:38:40,289 --> 01:38:45,503
This approach to Elvis' career
was preying on his vulnerability.
1160
01:38:45,586 --> 01:38:50,174
This was certainly an opportunity
for the colonel to fully seize the role...
1161
01:38:50,258 --> 01:38:52,135
Of parent, mentor.
1162
01:38:52,218 --> 01:38:55,805
The one person who could
take him through this difficult time...
1163
01:38:55,888 --> 01:38:58,015
And lead him out the other way.
1164
01:38:58,099 --> 01:39:01,394
Colonel was like a father
figure. There's no doubt about that.
1165
01:39:01,686 --> 01:39:03,855
And he felt colonel
knew what he was doing.
1166
01:39:03,938 --> 01:39:07,483
I mean,
colonel brought him to where he was.
1167
01:39:07,567 --> 01:39:09,944
Sam Phillips couldn't do
what colonel Parker did.
1168
01:39:10,027 --> 01:39:11,863
He was bright enough to know that.
1169
01:39:11,946 --> 01:39:15,366
So he was gonna follow
what colonel Parker said.
1170
01:39:15,450 --> 01:39:18,035
He'd been right so far.
1171
01:39:42,727 --> 01:39:47,857
Any time Elvis was going through
a really rough time...
1172
01:39:47,940 --> 01:39:50,985
He always went to gospel music.
1173
01:39:53,029 --> 01:39:54,572
What is gospel?
1174
01:39:54,655 --> 01:39:58,534
Gospel is a place where
you go for transcendence...
1175
01:39:58,618 --> 01:40:00,536
Where you go for peace...
1176
01:40:00,620 --> 01:40:03,623
Where you go
for a certain type of security.
1177
01:40:04,624 --> 01:40:09,295
It's a home. It's a deep home
within your soul and your body.
1178
01:40:24,936 --> 01:40:28,898
We just went to Germany.
My father was stationed there. Air force.
1179
01:40:28,981 --> 01:40:32,568
And a man came up to me and said,
"would you like to meet Elvis Presley?"
1180
01:40:32,652 --> 01:40:35,488
And I thought he was kidding.
I said, "sure."
1181
01:40:35,571 --> 01:40:38,741
He goes, "no, I'm really serious."
I told him if I were to meet him...
1182
01:40:38,824 --> 01:40:42,787
He'd have to ask my parents,
and my parents were very reluctant.
1183
01:40:42,870 --> 01:40:46,249
And I persuaded them
to at least let me, you know, meet him.
1184
01:40:55,716 --> 01:40:58,719
What does anyone say
to a famous person?
1185
01:41:02,223 --> 01:41:05,059
Elvis was sitting in a chair,
his legs crossed.
1186
01:41:05,142 --> 01:41:09,188
Elvis walked over to me and he said,
"oh, what do we have here?"
1187
01:41:10,648 --> 01:41:15,570
He started playing the piano, looking
over at me, and I kind of smiled at him.
1188
01:41:16,696 --> 01:41:21,117
The more I looked over,
the more he would entertain even more.
1189
01:41:22,118 --> 01:41:26,622
Three days later, I get a call
that Elvis would like to see me again.
1190
01:41:28,124 --> 01:41:30,668
And the rest is history.
1191
01:41:39,468 --> 01:41:42,722
I learned so much
from Elvis about music.
1192
01:41:43,389 --> 01:41:45,933
Songs that he played
when I was in Germany...
1193
01:41:46,017 --> 01:41:50,605
With him for those six months,
some of them I could hardly connect to.
1194
01:41:50,688 --> 01:41:54,609
I was listening
to Frankie avalon, fabian.
1195
01:41:54,692 --> 01:41:57,570
And his selection of music,
I'd never heard, really.
1196
01:42:00,573 --> 01:42:03,951
The ink spots, the platters,
Faye Adams, "shake a hand."
1197
01:42:04,035 --> 01:42:06,662
I didn't know any of these people.
1198
01:42:07,580 --> 01:42:12,209
That's when I realized that music was
so much bigger than what my music was:
1199
01:42:12,293 --> 01:42:15,129
Songs of loss, songs of departing...
1200
01:42:15,212 --> 01:42:18,007
Songs of hope.
1201
01:42:19,759 --> 01:42:23,429
I couldn't really even see him
as a movie star anymore.
1202
01:42:23,512 --> 01:42:25,931
That he was so much deeper.
1203
01:42:38,903 --> 01:42:42,365
Do you have any idea when
you'll be traveling back home?
1204
01:42:43,199 --> 01:42:45,117
No, I don't, dick.
1205
01:42:45,743 --> 01:42:47,995
I wish I did know, you know.
1206
01:42:48,245 --> 01:42:50,206
How about it? Do you miss home?
1207
01:42:50,289 --> 01:42:52,208
Oh, boy, you... you...
1208
01:42:53,000 --> 01:42:54,919
I can hardly talk.
1209
01:42:55,002 --> 01:42:58,964
That's kind of a silly question
on my part, I guess.
1210
01:44:05,614 --> 01:44:08,033
Elvis, now you're really home.
How does it feel?
1211
01:44:08,325 --> 01:44:12,204
It's hard to get used to it. I've been
looking fonrvard to it for two years.
1212
01:44:12,288 --> 01:44:16,667
That was the hardest part of all,
just being away from show business.
1213
01:44:16,751 --> 01:44:19,587
It wasn't the army,
it wasn't the other men.
1214
01:44:19,670 --> 01:44:24,383
It was that. It stayed on my mind. I kept
thinking about the past all the time.
1215
01:44:25,926 --> 01:44:27,970
Contemplating the future.
1216
01:46:28,632 --> 01:46:32,177
All right, we have a wide shot,
so no one can be in here.
1217
01:46:33,262 --> 01:46:35,014
Standing by.
1218
01:46:35,472 --> 01:46:37,474
Nine-twelve.
1219
01:46:45,149 --> 01:46:51,155
The '68 special really showed
Elvis' career in its entirety.
1220
01:46:51,238 --> 01:46:56,201
They took Elvis' original songs,
and they made them more modern.
1221
01:46:57,077 --> 01:47:02,374
This was bringing him back to
the beginning, yet going into the future.
1222
01:47:06,921 --> 01:47:10,758
There was the jam session
with his original musicians.
1223
01:47:10,841 --> 01:47:13,385
It had simplicity, spontaneity.
1224
01:47:14,428 --> 01:47:17,348
And it also had
the choreographed pieces...
1225
01:47:17,431 --> 01:47:21,769
That really was a reflection
of the movies and the post-army years.
1226
01:47:27,316 --> 01:47:31,278
The real spine of the special
came from our writers.
1227
01:47:31,487 --> 01:47:33,489
They locked themselves
in their office...
1228
01:47:33,572 --> 01:47:36,450
And played every Elvis record
you could find.
1229
01:47:37,284 --> 01:47:43,332
We wove a story of Elvis
from his beginnings to being a superstar.
1230
01:47:43,415 --> 01:47:46,919
It gave everybody
a look at Elvis as a musician.
1231
01:47:50,589 --> 01:47:54,551
It's funny. It's telling Elvis' story,
yes, in a variety show.
1232
01:47:54,635 --> 01:47:57,346
It's got the girls.
It's got him playing guitar.
1233
01:47:58,013 --> 01:47:59,181
I look back now...
1234
01:48:00,933 --> 01:48:02,935
His life was so big.
1235
01:48:03,018 --> 01:48:06,313
I don't know
if you can get it in an hour.
1236
01:48:21,537 --> 01:48:24,164
I started out
when I was just out of high school.
1237
01:48:24,415 --> 01:48:27,835
I started out driving a truck,
and I was training to be an electrician.
1238
01:48:33,507 --> 01:48:34,800
One day at my lunch break...
1239
01:48:34,883 --> 01:48:38,053
I went into this little record company
to make a record.
1240
01:48:38,137 --> 01:48:41,015
The guy put the record out,
and overnight, in my hometown...
1241
01:48:41,098 --> 01:48:43,183
People were saying, you know,
"who is he?"
1242
01:48:49,940 --> 01:48:52,735
I started to play little nightclubs
and football fields.
1243
01:48:53,068 --> 01:48:56,113
Like a year and a half I was doing this,
and I met colonel Parker.
1244
01:48:59,074 --> 01:49:02,286
In 1956, they arranged
to put me on television.
1245
01:49:02,578 --> 01:49:06,749
So they dressed me in a tuxedo,
had me singing to a dog on a stool.
1246
01:49:10,669 --> 01:49:12,796
I went to Hollywood,
and I did four pictures.
1247
01:49:13,380 --> 01:49:16,175
I was really getting used to
the movie-star bit.
1248
01:49:18,385 --> 01:49:21,263
Just overnight, it was all changed.
1249
01:49:22,973 --> 01:49:24,808
I got drafted.
1250
01:49:35,069 --> 01:49:38,655
Returning from the army,
coming back home...
1251
01:49:38,739 --> 01:49:42,993
Getting ready to perform again,
it's obviously not the '60s.
1252
01:49:43,077 --> 01:49:45,204
Those '60s haven't come yet.
1253
01:49:45,287 --> 01:49:47,664
This is pre-civil rights.
1254
01:49:48,082 --> 01:49:53,087
Things are happening in that regard,
but it's not really coming to a head yet.
1255
01:49:53,837 --> 01:49:58,050
I'm sure he was aware
of how much had gone on.
1256
01:49:58,592 --> 01:50:02,346
He could've gone in several directions.
1257
01:50:02,638 --> 01:50:05,641
Well, Elvis, now you're really home.
How does it feel?
1258
01:50:07,226 --> 01:50:09,394
It's pretty hard to describe,
I'll tell you.
1259
01:50:09,478 --> 01:50:13,148
It's hard to get used to. I've been
looking foward to it for two years...
1260
01:50:13,232 --> 01:50:15,943
And all of a sudden, here it is.
1261
01:50:16,026 --> 01:50:18,153
It's not easy to adjust to it.
1262
01:50:18,362 --> 01:50:22,074
Do you think the music has changed
since you've been out of the service?
1263
01:50:22,157 --> 01:50:24,326
I mean, since you've been in the service.
1264
01:50:24,409 --> 01:50:29,123
Possibly, yes. I can't say, really.
I haven't been here long enough to know.
1265
01:50:31,208 --> 01:50:33,877
The only thing I can say is
if it has changed, well...
1266
01:50:34,086 --> 01:50:37,881
I would be foolish not to
try to change with it, you know.
1267
01:50:40,801 --> 01:50:43,262
When Elvis gets back from the army...
1268
01:50:43,345 --> 01:50:47,599
He was still one of the biggest stars
on the planet, but rock 'n' roll...
1269
01:50:47,683 --> 01:50:51,645
That force that happened
between '54 and '59...
1270
01:50:51,728 --> 01:50:54,523
Basically had evaporated
while he was away.
1271
01:50:54,606 --> 01:50:58,277
And you see immediately the results
of the colonel plotting:
1272
01:50:58,360 --> 01:51:02,698
"How do I make him as widespread
as possible and Polish his image?
1273
01:51:02,781 --> 01:51:07,035
Get him on the path towards being
a frank Sinatra or a Dean Martin...
1274
01:51:07,119 --> 01:51:10,247
Pop singers who have
very long careers?"
1275
01:51:12,249 --> 01:51:15,335
This was a curious crossroads
in his career.
1276
01:51:15,419 --> 01:51:19,673
It was open field to see what was he
gonna do and where was he gonna go.
1277
01:51:19,965 --> 01:51:22,801
The work that he had done
during his time in the army...
1278
01:51:22,885 --> 01:51:27,848
Broadens the scope of the music
that he was interested in.
1279
01:51:27,931 --> 01:51:31,894
He didn't wanna do the same music.
He wanted to grow.
1280
01:51:31,977 --> 01:51:37,441
He wanted to evolve in a way he could
offer something different in his music.
1281
01:51:37,524 --> 01:51:41,403
With Elvis, he was always
about the challenge, the motivation.
1282
01:51:41,486 --> 01:51:44,907
He's already in the recording studio
in Nashville...
1283
01:51:44,990 --> 01:51:48,035
Two weeks after coming home.
He knew what was at stake...
1284
01:51:48,118 --> 01:51:50,120
So did the colonel
and the engineers.
1285
01:51:50,204 --> 01:51:53,957
There was this tension in the room:
"What's it gonna be like?"
1286
01:51:54,333 --> 01:51:57,252
You ready? Let's cut one.
1287
01:51:57,544 --> 01:51:59,963
Ltwboo81, take one.
1288
01:52:16,647 --> 01:52:20,442
They all relax afterjust a few takes
because he's so on top of it.
1289
01:52:20,734 --> 01:52:22,861
He's been longing for this moment.
1290
01:52:24,488 --> 01:52:29,034
Both to get his career started, but also
to express a new range of music...
1291
01:52:29,326 --> 01:52:33,330
His new understanding of music,
everything he could do.
1292
01:52:42,673 --> 01:52:46,051
Since the last ed Sullivan show
appearance in 1957...
1293
01:52:46,134 --> 01:52:48,845
The colonel decided to take Elvis
off of television.
1294
01:52:48,929 --> 01:52:53,183
He didn't wanna give Elvis away when
you could sell tickets in a movie theater.
1295
01:52:53,767 --> 01:52:56,687
But in the relaunch,
he wasn't gonna gamble.
1296
01:52:56,770 --> 01:52:59,773
He wanted exposure to make sure
they got a head start.
1297
01:52:59,856 --> 01:53:01,984
Now it was time to deliver.
1298
01:53:02,067 --> 01:53:04,653
The colonel's plan
was get Elvis on television...
1299
01:53:04,736 --> 01:53:06,780
In front of as many people
as possible...
1300
01:53:06,863 --> 01:53:09,533
With the world's other
most famous singer...
1301
01:53:09,616 --> 01:53:13,120
Make it fun and exciting,
so that now the career can continue.
1302
01:53:40,397 --> 01:53:44,568
The Sinatra show, it was
a very conservative move at the time.
1303
01:53:44,651 --> 01:53:48,739
It was just trying to find his place
after coming out of the army.
1304
01:53:49,072 --> 01:53:52,617
He simply had to believe in himself,
and that's what Elvis did.
1305
01:54:05,505 --> 01:54:09,134
Elvis put himself forth as somebody
who was not a flash in the pan...
1306
01:54:09,217 --> 01:54:12,637
But who was in along line
of a tradition of American pop singers.
1307
01:54:12,846 --> 01:54:16,141
They were saying
there's a life for Elvis after Elvis.
1308
01:54:16,224 --> 01:54:19,936
Elvis, I tell you something, it was great.
1309
01:54:20,020 --> 01:54:23,690
I remember when he appeared
on the frank Sinatra special.
1310
01:54:23,774 --> 01:54:27,778
That show was very much
the opposite of the Steve Allen show.
1311
01:54:27,861 --> 01:54:30,864
There was a collegial atmosphere.
1312
01:54:30,947 --> 01:54:35,285
Frank Sinatra and Elvis
had two different styles...
1313
01:54:35,369 --> 01:54:39,539
But were in an
incredibly exclusive club.
1314
01:54:44,169 --> 01:54:47,047
We work in the same way,
only in different areas.
1315
01:54:57,265 --> 01:55:01,103
Trading their own hits with each other
is the big moment...
1316
01:55:01,186 --> 01:55:03,397
That the colonel engineered for him.
1317
01:55:06,441 --> 01:55:08,985
You can hear the women
in the crowd start screaming.
1318
01:55:09,069 --> 01:55:10,904
Elvis sexes it up a little bit.
1319
01:55:18,995 --> 01:55:22,833
Sinatra, he's fitting "love me tender"
into that swing thing.
1320
01:55:22,916 --> 01:55:23,959
He's more on the beat.
1321
01:55:56,616 --> 01:55:58,743
Man, that's pretty.
1322
01:56:04,958 --> 01:56:10,005
He's embraced by the community
that had previously put him down...
1323
01:56:10,088 --> 01:56:15,802
And that signaled he was now ready
to take on this role of cultural icon.
1324
01:56:16,219 --> 01:56:19,639
You get this new Elvis,
the Elvis that colonel Parker wanted...
1325
01:56:19,723 --> 01:56:23,393
The Elvis that had grown up
exactly the same way...
1326
01:56:23,477 --> 01:56:26,396
That his core audience
had grown older.
1327
01:56:26,480 --> 01:56:29,274
They were gone from being teenagers
to being young adults.
1328
01:56:29,357 --> 01:56:32,819
So for him, it was the perfect launch.
1329
01:56:33,236 --> 01:56:38,325
The public widely accepted that,
but obviously this was a transition.
1330
01:57:12,567 --> 01:57:15,237
He knew that next album was important.
1331
01:57:15,320 --> 01:57:17,030
He gave it a lot of thought.
1332
01:57:18,615 --> 01:57:23,620
The Elvis is back! Album
reveals new influences, new interests...
1333
01:57:23,828 --> 01:57:25,080
New arrangements.
1334
01:57:25,163 --> 01:57:29,125
He had been getting ready for this
mentally while he was in Germany.
1335
01:57:29,209 --> 01:57:34,548
There's a little bit of R&B, there's
a little bit of pop, ballads, country.
1336
01:57:36,258 --> 01:57:38,969
New songs that represented
a different vocal approach...
1337
01:57:39,052 --> 01:57:42,013
Than anything
that he had tried before that.
1338
01:57:44,015 --> 01:57:47,394
His voice was very much
in tune always...
1339
01:57:47,686 --> 01:57:49,896
Because he didn't have
to fight the band.
1340
01:57:49,980 --> 01:57:52,399
Those guys were soft
and they didn't push him...
1341
01:57:52,482 --> 01:57:54,401
And they weren't too busy.
1342
01:57:54,693 --> 01:57:57,988
The band had the ability
to play all this music...
1343
01:57:58,071 --> 01:58:00,991
That came from
so many different sources.
1344
01:58:01,741 --> 01:58:05,412
That was the true magic
of Elvis combining with this band.
1345
01:58:05,996 --> 01:58:08,123
They perfectly understood each other.
1346
01:58:12,752 --> 01:58:16,172
Those musicians were incredible.
1347
01:58:16,256 --> 01:58:18,091
Bobby Moore on bass.
1348
01:58:18,383 --> 01:58:20,260
Floyd cramer on piano.
1349
01:58:20,343 --> 01:58:24,389
Man, those guys heard a demo once
and, bam, they were ready to go.
1350
01:58:24,973 --> 01:58:26,641
They were a real tight group.
1351
01:58:26,725 --> 01:58:30,604
Nobody played anything that didn't go
with what the other one was playing.
1352
01:58:31,896 --> 01:58:33,565
Dj and Scotty were still there...
1353
01:58:33,648 --> 01:58:37,944
But they began to play a lesser role,
and that made it more sophisticated.
1354
01:58:40,113 --> 01:58:42,407
He liked the way the music sounded.
1355
01:58:42,490 --> 01:58:45,285
Technology,
it evolved while he was gone.
1356
01:58:45,702 --> 01:58:48,413
Rca studios got a three-track recorder.
1357
01:58:48,496 --> 01:58:52,125
That immediately adds
a technical professionalism...
1358
01:58:52,208 --> 01:58:55,712
As recording technology
is moving into the future.
1359
01:58:57,339 --> 01:59:02,552
He started feeling confidence
because these were his song choices.
1360
01:59:02,636 --> 01:59:05,639
These were songs
that he was singing in Germany.
1361
01:59:05,930 --> 01:59:10,101
That's the freedom that he wanted.
That's what he was looking for.
1362
01:59:10,477 --> 01:59:13,480
And that's why it was so successful.
1363
01:59:13,980 --> 01:59:16,232
Just blew people away.
1364
01:59:17,942 --> 01:59:19,986
Elvis, when he came back...
1365
01:59:20,070 --> 01:59:24,074
Clearly in finding the songs
and making the records...
1366
01:59:24,157 --> 01:59:28,078
Was very driven.
His vision was very intact...
1367
01:59:28,161 --> 01:59:30,538
And I don't think
he could be distracted.
1368
01:59:30,622 --> 01:59:33,917
Elvis is so attuned to the emotional.
1369
01:59:34,000 --> 01:59:39,047
He was always on the search
for emotional music.
1370
01:59:39,130 --> 01:59:42,842
I asked him one day,
"what makes you pick out your songs?"
1371
01:59:42,926 --> 01:59:46,429
He said to me,
"I wanna be able to reach and feel...
1372
01:59:46,513 --> 01:59:48,765
What we all go through
as human beings."
1373
01:59:50,934 --> 01:59:53,144
This is the mysterious part about music.
1374
01:59:53,228 --> 01:59:57,565
How do we know, when we're listening
to a song, that someone means it?
1375
01:59:57,774 --> 01:59:58,775
We just know.
1376
02:00:01,403 --> 02:00:04,572
And the people who mean it
are generally the ones...
1377
02:00:04,656 --> 02:00:10,036
Who are processing
some kind of loss through music.
1378
02:00:10,120 --> 02:00:13,748
And we can hear them
negotiating their loss...
1379
02:00:13,832 --> 02:00:16,251
And we connect to it.
1380
02:00:33,518 --> 02:00:37,313
Those who are truly a recording artist...
1381
02:00:37,397 --> 02:00:41,860
You go into the artistic aspect
of what makes whatever you're doing...
1382
02:00:41,943 --> 02:00:44,446
Alive and unique for that song.
1383
02:00:44,529 --> 02:00:47,490
So he would lose himself
in an artistic way...
1384
02:00:47,574 --> 02:00:50,034
In order for people to feel it.
1385
02:00:52,328 --> 02:00:54,873
That's called "soul."
1386
02:01:14,642 --> 02:01:18,188
Usually, when we chat, Elvis,
we ask you to select your favorite song...
1387
02:01:18,271 --> 02:01:21,065
Of all your recordings.
What's the current favorite?
1388
02:01:21,149 --> 02:01:24,819
I think "now or never."
"It's now or never."
1389
02:01:40,001 --> 02:01:43,296
Everything was a level up on the '50s.
1390
02:01:43,379 --> 02:01:46,591
The three singles,
"stuck on you," "it's now or never"...
1391
02:01:46,674 --> 02:01:49,636
And "are you lonesome tonight?"
Were number-one hits.
1392
02:01:49,719 --> 02:01:53,097
It was a true triumph
and a whole new ballgame...
1393
02:01:53,389 --> 02:01:55,642
Of what pop music was.
1394
02:01:59,687 --> 02:02:04,275
Rhythmically, his sense of time,
his phrasing, musicality...
1395
02:02:04,359 --> 02:02:05,819
Elvis was impeccable.
1396
02:02:09,823 --> 02:02:13,284
He loved opera singers.
He loved the range of an opera singer.
1397
02:02:13,368 --> 02:02:15,537
"It's now or never"
is very much like that.
1398
02:02:19,874 --> 02:02:23,294
What he did that was unusual
was he could slide up the scale...
1399
02:02:23,378 --> 02:02:26,673
Into a tenor voice
and then back down, you know.
1400
02:02:26,756 --> 02:02:30,301
And he's just having fun.
1401
02:02:30,927 --> 02:02:32,929
He's sliding all over the scale.
1402
02:02:33,221 --> 02:02:37,100
It's so human, it's so real.
1403
02:02:44,816 --> 02:02:49,195
"It's now or never" was adapted
from "'o sole mio," the Italian song.
1404
02:02:49,279 --> 02:02:53,658
Elvis had always had this interest
in the Italian crooners.
1405
02:02:53,741 --> 02:02:56,578
When he was in the army
with Charlie hodge...
1406
02:02:56,661 --> 02:03:00,373
They were exploring
that kind of drama in his singing.
1407
02:03:00,456 --> 02:03:02,458
That sound, that style, became...
1408
02:03:03,042 --> 02:03:07,463
One of the staples of Elvis'
musical range from then on.
1409
02:03:10,216 --> 02:03:11,467
It's about challenge.
1410
02:03:11,759 --> 02:03:14,929
It was the challenge
that made him do that extra thing.
1411
02:03:15,972 --> 02:03:21,394
And hitting the high notes at the end on
"it's now or never" was the challenge.
1412
02:03:22,562 --> 02:03:26,441
He can't really reach it, and the engineer
says, "we can cut the ending only."
1413
02:03:26,524 --> 02:03:31,029
Elvis says, "if I can't sing it the whole
way through, I'm not gonna do it."
1414
02:03:32,780 --> 02:03:34,449
He challenged himself.
1415
02:03:34,532 --> 02:03:37,785
He got a thrill
out of hitting a note so high.
1416
02:04:30,129 --> 02:04:32,715
For Elvis to have to do g.I. Blues...
1417
02:04:32,799 --> 02:04:35,802
Reflecting his two years in the army...
1418
02:04:35,885 --> 02:04:39,931
In a way that probably doesn't
compare a lot to what it was like...
1419
02:04:40,014 --> 02:04:42,767
I don't think he really enjoyed that.
1420
02:04:42,850 --> 02:04:45,979
G.i. Blues was a family type of film...
1421
02:04:46,062 --> 02:04:49,691
Moving Elvis' image
in a completely different direction...
1422
02:04:49,774 --> 02:04:53,987
From the very young,
aggressive characters in the '50s movies.
1423
02:04:55,321 --> 02:04:57,824
But he was given the promise that...
1424
02:04:57,907 --> 02:05:00,702
There would be two films
for 20th century fox...
1425
02:05:00,785 --> 02:05:04,038
Following this
that were serious roles.
1426
02:05:04,122 --> 02:05:08,209
It may have been a reasonable bargain
for Elvis at the time.
1427
02:05:09,043 --> 02:05:12,422
When he found out the songs
he had to do in gi. Blues...
1428
02:05:12,505 --> 02:05:16,759
He said, "baby, I don't know how this
is gonna go. I'm a little disappointed."
1429
02:05:17,051 --> 02:05:19,387
The songs,
they had to fit into the plot...
1430
02:05:19,470 --> 02:05:22,515
But musically they were not
where Elvis was at.
1431
02:05:23,391 --> 02:05:25,268
He makes a compromise.
1432
02:05:25,351 --> 02:05:29,272
That was the really disheartening part
for Elvis.
1433
02:05:31,274 --> 02:05:35,528
The soundtrack of gi. Blues, it was the
most successful album they had made.
1434
02:05:36,404 --> 02:05:39,866
It sold much more than
the absolutely brilliant studio album...
1435
02:05:39,949 --> 02:05:42,368
That came out some months before.
1436
02:05:42,952 --> 02:05:44,954
Elvis is now a big business.
1437
02:05:45,038 --> 02:05:49,834
So instead of going out,
getting the best songwriters in general...
1438
02:05:49,917 --> 02:05:53,504
Hill and range, from the colonel,
were hiring a couple of songwriters...
1439
02:05:53,588 --> 02:05:55,548
To write Elvis songs.
1440
02:05:56,424 --> 02:05:59,802
They would bring all of the material.
1441
02:05:59,886 --> 02:06:02,638
That was the unspoken rule.
1442
02:06:02,722 --> 02:06:07,685
Nobody else was allowed
to bring any music into the session.
1443
02:06:07,769 --> 02:06:11,606
That was very tightly controlled
by the colonel...
1444
02:06:11,689 --> 02:06:15,359
By the publishing
and record company.
1445
02:06:15,860 --> 02:06:19,363
The colonel eventually started
getting a percentage of everything.
1446
02:06:19,447 --> 02:06:23,701
He was a businessman. He didn't
give a damn if it was worth a crap.
1447
02:06:23,785 --> 02:06:29,415
Elvis could care less about
the songwriting, publishing, in general.
1448
02:06:29,499 --> 02:06:35,671
Some of it, he got and understood,
but he cared more about good material.
1449
02:06:35,755 --> 02:06:38,341
It was more about
the colonel owning the publishing...
1450
02:06:38,424 --> 02:06:43,054
Which was a huge stone
in his shoe the rest of his life...
1451
02:06:43,137 --> 02:06:47,058
Was this business of,
"we must own the copyright...
1452
02:06:47,141 --> 02:06:50,186
Or we don't want you to do it."
1453
02:06:50,269 --> 02:06:52,522
Elvis said,
"I'm starting to feel the pressure.
1454
02:06:52,605 --> 02:06:55,691
I'm obligated here.
I don't think there's a way out for me."
1455
02:06:55,775 --> 02:06:57,944
I said, "well, can't you talk to colonel?"
1456
02:06:58,027 --> 02:07:01,114
And that's when I think
he started getting disillusioned.
1457
02:07:01,197 --> 02:07:03,157
Basically, colonel was part of it.
1458
02:07:03,866 --> 02:07:06,661
Already, he's feeling
that he's not in control.
1459
02:07:06,744 --> 02:07:10,039
And this is really early on.
1460
02:07:36,357 --> 02:07:39,610
I already had a feeling
of what Graceland was like...
1461
02:07:39,694 --> 02:07:42,321
Through Elvis' description.
1462
02:07:42,405 --> 02:07:46,617
He told me in Germany,
"I want you to come see Graceland."
1463
02:07:47,160 --> 02:07:49,036
And he would give me images.
1464
02:07:52,456 --> 02:07:54,500
When I came the first time...
1465
02:07:54,584 --> 02:07:57,837
He told me to close my eyes
and not to open them.
1466
02:07:58,045 --> 02:08:02,425
We're driving,
and then he said, "open them."
1467
02:08:05,052 --> 02:08:07,555
The gates of Graceland opened up.
1468
02:08:08,681 --> 02:08:10,808
It was everything that he described.
1469
02:08:11,601 --> 02:08:15,688
It was bigger than life for me,
his safe haven.
1470
02:08:20,318 --> 02:08:23,279
Graceland always represented
something more...
1471
02:08:23,362 --> 02:08:25,907
Than just a house to Elvis.
1472
02:08:25,990 --> 02:08:30,453
Graceland was something, initially, that
he had bought with and for his parents.
1473
02:08:30,536 --> 02:08:32,914
And it reminded him of his mother...
1474
02:08:32,997 --> 02:08:36,459
Her presence
and her influence in his life...
1475
02:08:36,542 --> 02:08:39,670
Which didn't end after she died.
1476
02:08:39,754 --> 02:08:43,633
I opened up a closet,
and it was filled with her clothes.
1477
02:08:45,218 --> 02:08:47,845
And I had such a sense of her.
1478
02:08:47,929 --> 02:08:49,972
She liked soft fabric.
1479
02:08:50,056 --> 02:08:55,853
Her hats, her shoes,
he hung on to those personal things.
1480
02:08:55,937 --> 02:08:57,730
Even though it had been a few years...
1481
02:08:57,939 --> 02:09:01,651
There was still
a lingering scent there of her.
1482
02:09:03,069 --> 02:09:06,906
It really showed me
the love that he had for her.
1483
02:09:07,490 --> 02:09:12,161
She never really wanted anything.
You know, anything fancy.
1484
02:09:12,245 --> 02:09:15,665
She just stayed the same,
all the way through the whole thing.
1485
02:09:16,791 --> 02:09:20,753
There's a lot of things happened,
and there are times when it feels like...
1486
02:09:20,836 --> 02:09:23,798
I don't know what
I'm gonna do next, you know.
1487
02:09:24,799 --> 02:09:28,427
Once he got back to Graceland
and wanted to reconnect with...
1488
02:09:28,511 --> 02:09:32,682
The spirit he was brought up in
and the memory of his mother...
1489
02:09:32,765 --> 02:09:36,852
The best way was to go back
to the music that he had grown up with.
1490
02:09:37,520 --> 02:09:40,564
The theme of return...
1491
02:09:40,648 --> 02:09:43,818
And in Elvis' case,
a return to gospel...
1492
02:09:43,901 --> 02:09:48,698
Is part of how
we all experience music.
1493
02:09:49,365 --> 02:09:53,369
There are these profound experiences
that happen with music...
1494
02:09:53,452 --> 02:09:55,079
At a younger age.
1495
02:09:56,330 --> 02:10:00,126
Through our lives,
we're often chasing them.
1496
02:10:03,004 --> 02:10:06,882
If you were raised
in the proximity of gospel...
1497
02:10:06,966 --> 02:10:12,555
That's what launched you
into the world of emotional music.
1498
02:10:13,389 --> 02:10:16,809
He was getting into
another phase in his life...
1499
02:10:16,892 --> 02:10:20,479
And gospel, religious music,
was his favorite...
1500
02:10:20,563 --> 02:10:23,190
And that's why he did it.
1501
02:10:23,274 --> 02:10:25,192
Just on the heels of gi. Blues...
1502
02:10:25,276 --> 02:10:29,030
He goes in and records
a complete album of gospel music...
1503
02:10:29,113 --> 02:10:30,781
With songs from all his old heroes:
1504
02:10:31,073 --> 02:10:34,452
Blackwood brothers, golden gate,
statesmen quartet.
1505
02:10:34,535 --> 02:10:37,455
It's a tribute to everything he came from.
1506
02:10:37,538 --> 02:10:41,042
And he does it with a voice
at its best ever.
1507
02:10:44,712 --> 02:10:47,173
It was so close to those records...
1508
02:10:47,256 --> 02:10:51,052
The statesmen and blackwoods were
making, it could've been those records.
1509
02:10:52,636 --> 02:10:55,306
He had the jordanaires
as the key element...
1510
02:10:55,598 --> 02:10:58,309
Of developing a gospel feel...
1511
02:10:58,392 --> 02:11:03,147
With a band feel that was true
to the music on the Elvis is back! Album.
1512
02:11:06,275 --> 02:11:08,402
Obviously,
it's not really rock 'n' roll...
1513
02:11:08,486 --> 02:11:12,114
But there's drums and there's
saxophone. There's a lot of swing to it.
1514
02:11:16,452 --> 02:11:22,249
The way he blended them together
is an incredibly original thing to do.
1515
02:11:22,333 --> 02:11:26,670
Sometimes, you know, he wasn't
traveling very far away from the gospel.
1516
02:11:26,754 --> 02:11:30,216
I mean, some of it,
it was just about putting a beat to it.
1517
02:11:31,550 --> 02:11:36,639
That angle of the two and the four
slightly different than gospel would.
1518
02:11:40,559 --> 02:11:43,604
You have a feeling
that he's truly enjoying this.
1519
02:11:43,687 --> 02:11:45,564
It's a veryjoyous record to listen to.
1520
02:11:46,690 --> 02:11:49,568
His hand in mine was a passion.
1521
02:11:49,652 --> 02:11:53,781
The whole gospel influence
was as much a part of him...
1522
02:11:53,864 --> 02:11:57,701
And maybe even more so,
as the rhythm and blues.
1523
02:11:57,785 --> 02:12:00,121
This was just his opportunity
to get it out.
1524
02:12:00,204 --> 02:12:03,374
And it was a mission to show others,
the listeners...
1525
02:12:03,457 --> 02:12:06,794
That in his choices of music
and how it's embellished...
1526
02:12:06,877 --> 02:12:10,881
Really what Elvis was looking for
as an artist, to have that freedom.
1527
02:12:11,424 --> 02:12:13,175
It's that simple.
1528
02:12:21,517 --> 02:12:23,686
- How's blue Hawaii going?
- Going very well.
1529
02:12:23,769 --> 02:12:25,604
- We leave tomorrow for kauai.
- Yeah.
1530
02:12:25,688 --> 02:12:29,024
- I think we 7! Be there for about 10 days.
- Tell us about blue Hawaii.
1531
02:12:29,108 --> 02:12:31,944
- There's about 11 songs in it.
- Some Hawaiian tunes?
1532
02:12:32,027 --> 02:12:34,238
- Yeah.
- You got special material written...
1533
02:12:34,321 --> 02:12:37,366
- For you for the picture?
- We had about 10 songs written...
1534
02:12:37,450 --> 02:12:41,287
Especially for the picture. We do that,
you know, before the picture starts.
1535
02:12:46,709 --> 02:12:50,171
The film blue Hawaii
was an ovennhelming success.
1536
02:12:50,379 --> 02:12:53,841
That is the point
where it gets real interesting.
1537
02:12:54,592 --> 02:12:57,887
The two dramas,
wild in the country and flaming star...
1538
02:12:57,970 --> 02:13:01,098
They're not as music-heavy,
and they actually lose money.
1539
02:13:01,390 --> 02:13:05,728
That's when they told him,
"this is proof, what the public wants.
1540
02:13:05,811 --> 02:13:10,191
People just wanna hear your music.
They wanna hear you sing in movies."
1541
02:13:12,276 --> 02:13:15,196
The last concert he played
for almost a decade...
1542
02:13:15,279 --> 02:13:17,656
Was a charity show near Pearl harbor.
1543
02:13:32,505 --> 02:13:34,715
That was like the ultimate charity show...
1544
02:13:34,798 --> 02:13:37,885
Because it was for the building
of the Pearl harbor memorial.
1545
02:13:37,968 --> 02:13:39,428
Couldn't be more patriotic...
1546
02:13:39,512 --> 02:13:43,140
Couldn't have been more of a cause
that people could get behind.
1547
02:13:43,641 --> 02:13:45,184
He's back. He's served his time.
1548
02:13:45,768 --> 02:13:46,977
He's a great patriot.
1549
02:13:47,061 --> 02:13:51,315
It was more to build that piece of
the story that the colonel wanted to tell.
1550
02:13:51,899 --> 02:13:54,944
He's cleaned up, and he's a good boy.
1551
02:14:03,827 --> 02:14:06,747
The band he brings with him
is very interesting.
1552
02:14:07,039 --> 02:14:09,750
He has Scotty and dj,
but he brings with him...
1553
02:14:09,833 --> 02:14:13,504
His all-star
Nashville session-guy band...
1554
02:14:13,587 --> 02:14:17,299
Including boots Randolph,
who was a great saxophone player.
1555
02:14:21,387 --> 02:14:23,639
Boots Randolph brings in
a lead instrument...
1556
02:14:23,722 --> 02:14:26,475
That can balance out
Elvis' singing in a way...
1557
02:14:26,559 --> 02:14:30,771
That Scotty playing rockabilly licks
didn't do previously.
1558
02:14:30,854 --> 02:14:34,817
So it just becomes
a much more full sound.
1559
02:14:37,653 --> 02:14:42,324
It's a tragedy that he didn't continue
to play live for people at that point.
1560
02:14:42,408 --> 02:14:46,453
But the colonel knew that the films got
Elvis in front of millions of people...
1561
02:14:46,537 --> 02:14:50,833
Simultaneously,
with as little work as possible.
1562
02:14:51,875 --> 02:14:54,837
The post-army films, I went to them.
1563
02:14:54,920 --> 02:14:58,924
They were in a separate category
from what happened in the '50s
1564
02:14:59,133 --> 02:15:03,387
he finds himself in a situation
where he's just churning out stuff...
1565
02:15:03,470 --> 02:15:05,848
That he couldn't possibly
have believed in.
1566
02:15:28,954 --> 02:15:31,624
The colonel negotiated
contract after contract.
1567
02:15:32,458 --> 02:15:36,462
Mgm, Paramount, united artists,
you name it.
1568
02:15:36,545 --> 02:15:40,507
He was inundated
with work, work, work.
1569
02:15:45,971 --> 02:15:50,517
Everybody was trying to get every penny
they could out of whatever they could.
1570
02:16:00,319 --> 02:16:02,237
He had to make three movies a year.
1571
02:16:02,321 --> 02:16:06,367
So these soundtrack albums became a big
part of the contractual obligation...
1572
02:16:06,450 --> 02:16:09,161
To release music with rca.
1573
02:16:10,621 --> 02:16:12,247
That was not his music.
1574
02:16:12,331 --> 02:16:14,583
It was killing his recording career...
1575
02:16:14,667 --> 02:16:18,003
Because they were movie songs,
situation songs.
1576
02:16:18,671 --> 02:16:21,590
Obviously, in some of the movies,
you got some hits:
1577
02:16:21,674 --> 02:16:25,386
"Viva Las Vegas," "bossa nova baby."
They weren't all bad.
1578
02:16:25,469 --> 02:16:29,556
But because it was connected
to a movie, it wasn't like a real record.
1579
02:16:30,432 --> 02:16:32,893
The songs had to fit the scene.
1580
02:16:32,976 --> 02:16:35,854
And the colonel obviously knew
that the best format...
1581
02:16:35,938 --> 02:16:38,315
Was girls and beautiful locations.
1582
02:16:40,484 --> 02:16:42,611
I thought it was terrible direction.
1583
02:16:42,695 --> 02:16:45,948
The idea to do
a bunch of corny-ass movies...
1584
02:16:46,031 --> 02:16:50,119
Where this is all being led,
it's no-man's land.
1585
02:16:50,202 --> 02:16:54,790
He certainly knows this music is crap.
1586
02:16:54,873 --> 02:16:57,543
The movies were very harmful
to his image...
1587
02:16:57,626 --> 02:17:00,462
As an innovator, as a great musician.
1588
02:17:00,671 --> 02:17:01,922
They were harmful.
1589
02:17:02,005 --> 02:17:05,175
He's very talented.
I mean, he's very present.
1590
02:17:05,259 --> 02:17:11,181
It's an incredible image of him, but where
he had a nice start in the movies...
1591
02:17:11,265 --> 02:17:14,393
And did do
some creative things early on...
1592
02:17:14,476 --> 02:17:17,521
And you could see
there was great potential for this guy...
1593
02:17:17,604 --> 02:17:22,234
There was really no way for him
to become the huge movie star...
1594
02:17:22,317 --> 02:17:26,280
That he would've liked to have been
and the colonel keep control of it.
1595
02:17:26,363 --> 02:17:30,117
You know, there's too many
creative aspects gonna come in.
1596
02:17:30,200 --> 02:17:35,164
And they're gonna challenge
the colonel's carnival mentality.
1597
02:17:35,372 --> 02:17:39,251
Well, no, no, no.
Far as I was concerned...
1598
02:17:39,334 --> 02:17:43,338
I was not involved other
than making the contract.
1599
02:17:43,422 --> 02:17:48,343
He had the opportunity to say, "I don't
wanna do it, " or "I'd like to do it."
1600
02:17:48,427 --> 02:17:53,640
No one told him he had to make
a picture that he didn't wanna do.
1601
02:17:53,724 --> 02:17:56,518
When we had a script,
we 'd deliver it to Elvis.
1602
02:17:56,602 --> 02:17:59,730
Elvis did refuse a bad picture.
1603
02:18:00,147 --> 02:18:02,024
In comes the colonel...
1604
02:18:02,107 --> 02:18:05,819
In comes the studios,
in comes the record company.
1605
02:18:05,903 --> 02:18:07,279
They would say to him:
1606
02:18:07,362 --> 02:18:11,742
"You don't fulfill your contracts,
you won't do anything."
1607
02:18:19,416 --> 02:18:24,797
In viva Las Vegas, it's the closest
he ever gets to having a true co-star.
1608
02:18:26,632 --> 02:18:28,383
That's a problem for the colonel...
1609
02:18:28,467 --> 02:18:33,514
Because he doesn't want anybody
to even come close to outshining Elvis.
1610
02:19:01,542 --> 02:19:07,464
The colonel did not want Ann-Margret
in his world after she got a lot of press.
1611
02:19:08,257 --> 02:19:12,052
Anybody who had influence
on Elvis was a threat.
1612
02:19:12,135 --> 02:19:15,681
The tragedy of the old style
of management...
1613
02:19:15,764 --> 02:19:19,893
Was to try and maintain
control of the artist...
1614
02:19:19,977 --> 02:19:23,564
By limiting their exposure
to opportunities.
1615
02:19:26,024 --> 02:19:31,697
The colonel was not interested in Elvis
becoming too independent a thinker.
1616
02:19:31,780 --> 02:19:35,659
He needed Elvis to think that everything
good came from the colonel...
1617
02:19:35,742 --> 02:19:39,329
And anything bad came
from imagined enemies.
1618
02:19:40,581 --> 02:19:44,918
He kept that con game going
for much too long.
1619
02:19:47,296 --> 02:19:51,758
The years spent chasing the movies,
you know, seven years...
1620
02:19:51,842 --> 02:19:55,178
They were very destabilizing
for Elvis...
1621
02:19:55,262 --> 02:19:58,724
Because music was always the buoy.
1622
02:19:59,433 --> 02:20:01,560
It's clear about halfway
through that period...
1623
02:20:02,144 --> 02:20:06,982
He becomes very restless and
very annoyed with the whole process.
1624
02:20:07,065 --> 02:20:09,735
Elvis didn't have script approval.
1625
02:20:09,818 --> 02:20:11,820
There weren't great budgets.
1626
02:20:11,904 --> 02:20:15,699
The humdrum movies he was given:
Boy chase girl...
1627
02:20:15,782 --> 02:20:19,161
Boy gets girl, they get married,
and it's happily ever after.
1628
02:20:19,244 --> 02:20:22,998
That was not Elvis Presley.
He was not that man.
1629
02:20:23,081 --> 02:20:24,791
He was much deeper than that.
1630
02:20:26,126 --> 02:20:29,880
He had no inspiration whatsoever.
He knew he had to make it work.
1631
02:20:29,963 --> 02:20:34,384
He knew he was under a contract, and
he walked through every one of them.
1632
02:20:37,304 --> 02:20:39,890
After a movie, he felt trapped.
1633
02:20:40,182 --> 02:20:42,059
He dreaded the next script...
1634
02:20:42,142 --> 02:20:46,063
Because he knew it would be
the same thing over and over again.
1635
02:20:46,146 --> 02:20:47,606
But the disconnect...
1636
02:20:47,689 --> 02:20:52,527
The disconnect in the two
was really wearing on his mind...
1637
02:20:52,611 --> 02:20:56,365
That colonel was not taking him
to the place he needed to be.
1638
02:20:57,407 --> 02:20:59,868
This is what we'll never understand...
1639
02:20:59,952 --> 02:21:05,040
Is why did colonel Parker have
this kind of influence over him?
1640
02:21:05,123 --> 02:21:09,920
Why was he willing to knowingly
humiliate himself for this man...
1641
02:21:10,003 --> 02:21:13,382
Or for the money promised him
by this man?
1642
02:21:13,465 --> 02:21:15,801
He puts up with it.
1643
02:21:16,885 --> 02:21:19,221
I have never felt Elvis was lost.
1644
02:21:19,304 --> 02:21:22,808
He knew with all those movies,
as is the case with every artist...
1645
02:21:22,891 --> 02:21:25,477
They're taking themselves away
from their strength.
1646
02:21:25,560 --> 02:21:28,397
Many artists can't get back
to where their strengths are.
1647
02:21:30,107 --> 02:21:33,777
An artist has to constantly grow
and to continue...
1648
02:21:33,860 --> 02:21:37,406
Creating and changing,
and being inspired by...
1649
02:21:37,489 --> 02:21:41,702
Things around him
in a spiritual or a personal way.
1650
02:21:51,837 --> 02:21:53,922
I'd like to stay in the same vein.
1651
02:21:54,006 --> 02:21:58,051
I mean, I wouldn't like to be
at a standstill, you know what I mean?
1652
02:21:58,135 --> 02:22:01,304
I like... I'd like to progress.
1653
02:22:01,388 --> 02:22:04,433
I'd like to do a lot of things, but I...
1654
02:22:05,183 --> 02:22:10,105
I realize that it takes time,
and you can't...
1655
02:22:10,188 --> 02:22:15,360
You can't go out of your capa...
Your limitations.
1656
02:22:16,403 --> 02:22:19,114
You have to know
your capabilities, you know?
1657
02:22:19,197 --> 02:22:22,993
Like, I have people say
to me all the time, "wh y don't...?
1658
02:22:23,076 --> 02:22:25,871
Why don't you do
an artistic picture? Why don't you...
1659
02:22:25,954 --> 02:22:27,748
Do this picture and that picture?
1660
02:22:27,831 --> 02:22:29,875
Why don't you do
something or other?"
1661
02:22:29,958 --> 02:22:32,794
Well, that's fine, but...
1662
02:22:34,963 --> 02:22:37,632
I would like to.
I'd like to do something someday...
1663
02:22:37,716 --> 02:22:40,719
Where I feel
that I'd really done a good job...
1664
02:22:41,011 --> 02:22:46,224
You know, as an actor
in a certain type role.
1665
02:22:46,725 --> 02:22:51,229
If what you're doing is doing okay, you're
better off sticking with it until...
1666
02:22:51,313 --> 02:22:54,941
You know,
until just time itself changes things.
1667
02:23:03,825 --> 02:23:06,536
The great irony is that...
1668
02:23:06,828 --> 02:23:09,247
Elvis was such a significant force...
1669
02:23:09,331 --> 02:23:14,878
In the launch of rock 'n' roll,
and the very revolution that he sparked...
1670
02:23:14,961 --> 02:23:16,713
Carries on without him.
1671
02:23:17,005 --> 02:23:19,800
There is a renaissance
that is undenrvay...
1672
02:23:20,383 --> 02:23:27,349
And he is, in effect, in a bubble
in Hollywood as it passes him by.
1673
02:23:28,600 --> 02:23:31,853
'63, '64, '65,
when all the bands were coming in...
1674
02:23:31,937 --> 02:23:35,065
He just didn't wanna hear music.
He didn't wanna hear the songs.
1675
02:23:35,357 --> 02:23:38,735
Was there room for him now,
being a solo artist?
1676
02:23:38,819 --> 02:23:44,199
Elvis wasn't interested in writing his own
music, and all these groups coming up...
1677
02:23:44,282 --> 02:23:46,576
The Beatles, Bob Dylan,
the beach boys...
1678
02:23:46,660 --> 02:23:48,620
They all wrote their own songs...
1679
02:23:48,703 --> 02:23:52,290
So they could direct their careers
in a way that Elvis couldn't.
1680
02:23:53,083 --> 02:23:55,418
There is no road map at this point...
1681
02:23:55,502 --> 02:23:59,673
As to what a rock 'n' roller
does when he gets older.
1682
02:23:59,756 --> 02:24:02,175
The Beatles had each other, you know?
1683
02:24:02,259 --> 02:24:04,803
They had four people together
to go through it.
1684
02:24:04,886 --> 02:24:07,055
And Elvis was totally alone.
1685
02:24:07,139 --> 02:24:09,599
There was no one vaguely his equal.
1686
02:24:09,683 --> 02:24:13,687
There was nobody he could
bounce anything off of.
1687
02:24:16,690 --> 02:24:20,861
Elvis really didn't ask
for anybody's advice.
1688
02:24:20,944 --> 02:24:24,322
He didn't ask the guys for their advice.
Oh, my gosh, he would never.
1689
02:24:24,406 --> 02:24:28,034
You didn't tell Elvis what to sing
or what movie he should be in or...
1690
02:24:28,118 --> 02:24:30,036
Elvis was truly his own man.
1691
02:24:30,120 --> 02:24:32,914
He needed someone to come
with a plan and offer it to him.
1692
02:24:32,998 --> 02:24:35,083
"What do you think of this?"
1693
02:24:35,292 --> 02:24:39,546
But he hung out
with the same people all the time.
1694
02:24:39,629 --> 02:24:41,506
We all lived in this bubble.
1695
02:24:41,590 --> 02:24:44,301
Very few outsiders came in.
1696
02:24:44,593 --> 02:24:46,887
His world was really quite small.
1697
02:24:47,179 --> 02:24:50,390
And only consisted of us,
people that he trusted.
1698
02:24:58,315 --> 02:25:01,860
You didn't really talk about
the movies around Elvis.
1699
02:25:01,943 --> 02:25:04,070
We didn't go there.
Why get him upset?
1700
02:25:04,154 --> 02:25:06,489
And people... the guys were around
to bring him up.
1701
02:25:07,324 --> 02:25:09,993
Elvis was going to us and saying:
1702
02:25:10,076 --> 02:25:15,790
"Damn it, I know there's good music
out there. Why am I not getting it?"
1703
02:25:16,249 --> 02:25:20,754
You can tell his interest in
making records has kind of gone away.
1704
02:25:20,962 --> 02:25:23,798
You don't get him in the studio a lot.
1705
02:25:25,508 --> 02:25:29,262
He was just struggling
with what to do next and where to go...
1706
02:25:29,554 --> 02:25:32,098
Trying to figure out
his purpose again.
1707
02:25:32,182 --> 02:25:34,851
It was very difficult to watch.
1708
02:25:51,701 --> 02:25:54,704
By this point,
Elvis had grown so disconnected...
1709
02:25:54,788 --> 02:25:59,793
From the music that he was recording.
He knew that it was inauthentic.
1710
02:25:59,876 --> 02:26:03,672
He knew that it was insincere.
1711
02:26:03,755 --> 02:26:07,175
And he was looking
for some connection to music...
1712
02:26:07,259 --> 02:26:09,469
That still made him feel the way...
1713
02:26:09,552 --> 02:26:13,056
That music had made him feel
when he was younger.
1714
02:26:20,105 --> 02:26:24,859
He was interested
in this new folk music:
1715
02:26:24,943 --> 02:26:27,279
Peter, Paul and Mary,
the songs of Bob Dylan.
1716
02:26:27,362 --> 02:26:29,197
He didn't love Bob Dylan's voice...
1717
02:26:29,281 --> 02:26:33,493
But he was interested
in this imagery and this language...
1718
02:26:33,576 --> 02:26:37,414
That drew from the gospel
and the blues.
1719
02:26:37,914 --> 02:26:40,709
And here he has odetta singing.
1720
02:26:40,792 --> 02:26:44,879
You hear the song, and you've got
the lyrics that match his feelings.
1721
02:26:44,963 --> 02:26:48,008
You've got the lyrics
that he could see himself singing.
1722
02:26:57,642 --> 02:27:02,272
Many of his relationships with
the culture of the day were circuitous...
1723
02:27:02,355 --> 02:27:07,235
Because he was Elvis,
and he was behind a high wall.
1724
02:27:31,760 --> 02:27:34,429
Elvis, a lot of times,
when everyone had gone to bed...
1725
02:27:34,512 --> 02:27:39,017
Or there was no one around, he would
go into the music room at Graceland...
1726
02:27:39,100 --> 02:27:43,229
Just sit there, totally in solitude,
as if even I wasn't around...
1727
02:27:43,313 --> 02:27:44,981
And just start playing.
1728
02:27:45,065 --> 02:27:49,903
Always, it was gospel,
always it was "precious lord."
1729
02:27:55,909 --> 02:27:57,285
When he would sing...
1730
02:27:57,369 --> 02:28:01,706
It was like a character study,
watching him get lost.
1731
02:28:13,510 --> 02:28:14,803
And then he'd look over...
1732
02:28:14,886 --> 02:28:19,599
To see how I was relating to it.
He'd look over and wink at me.
1733
02:28:21,309 --> 02:28:23,603
Those were times
that I Cherish the most, actually.
1734
02:28:24,312 --> 02:28:27,899
He wasn't really trying to impress
anyone. He was doing it for himself.
1735
02:28:27,982 --> 02:28:31,945
And just getting in touch,
getting in touch with his maker.
1736
02:28:32,028 --> 02:28:33,446
It was a plea.
1737
02:28:46,084 --> 02:28:49,796
He didn't have a burning desire anymore
to record songs.
1738
02:28:51,423 --> 02:28:53,967
The real interesting element in that...
1739
02:28:54,050 --> 02:28:57,470
Is that when he regains his appetite
for recording...
1740
02:28:57,554 --> 02:29:03,810
And wants to prove a point in 1966,
he makes a gospel record again.
1741
02:29:05,979 --> 02:29:09,315
During the middle of the Beatles
and the byrds and the stones...
1742
02:29:09,607 --> 02:29:13,027
Elvis makes a gospel record
when he wants to come back.
1743
02:29:21,536 --> 02:29:24,247
Elvis is connecting to new music.
1744
02:29:24,330 --> 02:29:26,124
He wants a more modern sound...
1745
02:29:26,416 --> 02:29:29,919
A more aggressive rhythm section,
a rock 'n' roll mix.
1746
02:29:37,093 --> 02:29:39,721
I think Elvis' return to gospel was...
1747
02:29:39,804 --> 02:29:43,600
A part of simply the deep religiousness
of the south and his upbringing.
1748
02:29:44,809 --> 02:29:48,146
But in the late '60s, people
were having a hard time looking past...
1749
02:29:48,730 --> 02:29:51,983
The kitsch aspect
of some of the things that Elvis did.
1750
02:29:54,444 --> 02:29:58,031
To appreciate that music,
that stuff couldn't bother you.
1751
02:30:10,084 --> 02:30:12,212
What do you think of yourself?
1752
02:30:13,379 --> 02:30:16,341
You mean as an entertainer
or as an individual...
1753
02:30:16,633 --> 02:30:18,384
- Or what?
- Both.
1754
02:30:18,718 --> 02:30:21,554
I can sum it up fairly easily, I...
1755
02:30:22,013 --> 02:30:23,556
As a human being, really...
1756
02:30:23,640 --> 02:30:27,602
Who's been very extremely fortunate
in so many ways.
1757
02:30:28,645 --> 02:30:32,857
I have a lot that I'd like to do,
a lot I'd like to accomplish.
1758
02:30:34,943 --> 02:30:38,154
I'd like to get married,
I 'd like to have a family.
1759
02:30:40,532 --> 02:30:44,452
I suppose the most important thing
in a person's life is...
1760
02:30:44,536 --> 02:30:47,914
Is happiness. I mean,
not worldly things because...
1761
02:30:48,456 --> 02:30:51,209
I mean, you can have cars,
you can have money...
1762
02:30:51,292 --> 02:30:54,546
You can have a fabulous home,
you can have everything.
1763
02:30:54,629 --> 02:30:57,006
But if you're not happy,
what have you got?
1764
02:31:03,555 --> 02:31:08,268
I was very young and very
in love. I wanted to be with him a lot.
1765
02:31:08,977 --> 02:31:11,604
The times that we were together,
ichenshed.
1766
02:31:36,004 --> 02:31:41,593
I mean, 1968 was a wild and violent year
in American history.
1767
02:31:47,890 --> 02:31:50,768
At the beginning of the year,
Lisa Marie is born.
1768
02:31:51,561 --> 02:31:55,231
And then a couple of months later,
Martin Luther King is assassinated.
1769
02:31:57,150 --> 02:31:59,235
We were making a movie at mgm...
1770
02:31:59,319 --> 02:32:03,489
When we heard on the radio
about Martin Luther King.
1771
02:32:04,198 --> 02:32:09,746
King was that hope to bring us
all together, and Elvis knew that.
1772
02:32:11,039 --> 02:32:14,500
Elvis looked down and he said:
1773
02:32:14,584 --> 02:32:16,711
"He always told the truth."
1774
02:32:21,215 --> 02:32:24,218
There's this contentious
presidential election going on.
1775
02:32:24,302 --> 02:32:26,262
Bobby Kennedy is assassinated.
1776
02:32:27,347 --> 02:32:30,058
There's chaos at
the Democratic convention in Chicago.
1777
02:32:32,769 --> 02:32:35,313
Things were just in disarray.
1778
02:32:35,396 --> 02:32:37,148
It was never the same after that.
1779
02:32:48,034 --> 02:32:50,912
By '68, most Elvis fans...
1780
02:32:50,995 --> 02:32:54,874
Had more or less given up the ghost.
There'd been so many poor movies...
1781
02:32:54,957 --> 02:32:57,335
So many throwaway singles.
1782
02:32:57,418 --> 02:32:59,170
Elvis starts to think about:
1783
02:32:59,253 --> 02:33:01,214
"Okay, so how can I play live again?
1784
02:33:01,297 --> 02:33:04,550
There's no infrastructure
for me to do that."
1785
02:33:04,634 --> 02:33:08,012
A couple of really bright guys
who got Elvis...
1786
02:33:08,096 --> 02:33:11,641
Talked their way
into making a TV special.
1787
02:33:11,724 --> 02:33:14,310
Their mission was
to remind everybody...
1788
02:33:14,394 --> 02:33:18,398
Just who Elvis had been
and who he still was.
1789
02:33:19,315 --> 02:33:24,570
In a sense, to erase the last seven years
of the movie soundtracks.
1790
02:33:25,571 --> 02:33:29,158
When the opportunity
for the TV special is presented...
1791
02:33:29,242 --> 02:33:32,870
He hasn't performed
for an audience for years.
1792
02:33:32,954 --> 02:33:35,832
He was actually thinking,
what would he do...
1793
02:33:35,915 --> 02:33:37,542
If everything went wrong?
1794
02:33:38,292 --> 02:33:40,253
This was his career. This was his life.
1795
02:33:41,003 --> 02:33:44,048
This was the moment of realization,
that this is it.
1796
02:33:44,132 --> 02:33:48,928
This was gonna be either a complete
failure, or it'll change everything.
1797
02:33:50,012 --> 02:33:53,558
I remember I waited for weeks
for the '68 special...
1798
02:33:53,641 --> 02:33:56,352
Because I knew it was coming.
I remember exactly...
1799
02:33:56,436 --> 02:34:00,982
Where our TV was set up in the dining
room, the exact place I was sitting.
1800
02:34:01,274 --> 02:34:04,986
It's one of those things
imprinted on my memory forever.
1801
02:34:05,069 --> 02:34:08,072
But you weren't sure
if he had the ability to focus...
1802
02:34:08,156 --> 02:34:13,494
And gather it all together one more
time to create musical explosiveness.
1803
02:34:14,287 --> 02:34:19,125
Welcome to nbc
and the Elvis Presley special.
1804
02:34:21,961 --> 02:34:22,961
You can do better.
1805
02:34:23,004 --> 02:34:26,215
I'm gonna say it over again.
I wanna really hear something.
1806
02:34:26,299 --> 02:34:30,636
When I went with him to nbc,
he was very quiet.
1807
02:34:30,720 --> 02:34:33,723
He didn't know
how people were gonna feel about him.
1808
02:34:34,390 --> 02:34:36,476
He was extremely nervous that night.
1809
02:34:36,559 --> 02:34:38,144
It's all new again.
1810
02:34:38,227 --> 02:34:42,732
And I'd never seen
Elvis perform live before.
1811
02:34:42,815 --> 02:34:44,609
I didn't really know what to expect.
1812
02:34:45,485 --> 02:34:48,446
We didn't know where
it was gonna go, period.
1813
02:34:51,240 --> 02:34:54,076
Just before it began,
on the first taping...
1814
02:34:54,160 --> 02:34:56,829
Elvis called me
into the makeup room.
1815
02:34:56,913 --> 02:35:01,751
He was sitting there, and he asked
everybody in the room to leave...
1816
02:35:01,834 --> 02:35:04,629
So he could just be with me
one on one.
1817
02:35:04,712 --> 02:35:07,006
I said, "what's the problem?"
1818
02:35:07,089 --> 02:35:10,301
"The problem is I changed my mind.
I don't wanna do this."
1819
02:35:11,552 --> 02:35:14,263
May we strike the coiled cable
off the platform, please?
1820
02:35:14,347 --> 02:35:18,017
We weren't seeing, sitting
in the audience, what was going on.
1821
02:35:18,309 --> 02:35:20,478
I'd stayed away from the dressing room.
1822
02:35:20,561 --> 02:35:22,855
He didn't want anyone around.
1823
02:35:23,314 --> 02:35:27,819
I was sitting there going, "oh, my gosh,
is he gonna be able to pull this off?"
1824
02:35:28,110 --> 02:35:30,029
I said, "what are you talking about?"
1825
02:35:30,112 --> 02:35:34,659
And he said, "I don't remember anything
I sang in the dressing room.
1826
02:35:34,742 --> 02:35:37,370
I don't remember any stories that I told.
1827
02:35:38,037 --> 02:35:43,000
My mind is a blank, Steve. Let's just
call it off. It's not gonna happen."
1828
02:35:44,502 --> 02:35:49,590
I said, "Elvis, I've never asked you to do
anything that you don't wanna do."
1829
02:35:49,674 --> 02:35:51,968
Mr. Elvis Presley.
1830
02:35:52,051 --> 02:35:53,928
"But you've got to go out there."
1831
02:36:15,032 --> 02:36:21,038
I don't know how this happened,
but I saw him relax.
1832
02:36:21,122 --> 02:36:22,957
They want you to sit on the floor.
1833
02:36:57,325 --> 02:36:59,911
I had no knowledge
or understanding...
1834
02:36:59,994 --> 02:37:04,498
About how incredibly talented
he really was until that show.
1835
02:37:08,794 --> 02:37:11,923
He's having an experience
in the moment.
1836
02:37:12,006 --> 02:37:14,592
During the years
he was doing Hollywood movies...
1837
02:37:15,176 --> 02:37:18,012
You never got to see him
in the moment.
1838
02:37:21,474 --> 02:37:23,142
Yeah, baby.
1839
02:38:04,684 --> 02:38:07,687
The interplay with Scotty and dj...
1840
02:38:07,770 --> 02:38:12,066
Who's playing drums
on the back of a guitar case.
1841
02:38:12,149 --> 02:38:15,069
It felt like we were back home again.
1842
02:38:27,748 --> 02:38:32,253
Those are guys who grew up together
and they suddenly have a moment...
1843
02:38:32,336 --> 02:38:34,422
Of reflection:
1844
02:38:34,714 --> 02:38:37,216
The past. The early days.
1845
02:38:41,429 --> 02:38:46,600
He was rediscovering the sheer animal
joy of making music and realizing...
1846
02:38:46,684 --> 02:38:50,604
For the first time in years,
just how good he was.
1847
02:39:06,328 --> 02:39:10,291
That show was 1000 percent Elvis.
1848
02:39:10,374 --> 02:39:15,671
His fingerprint was on the first frame
to the last frame.
1849
02:39:15,755 --> 02:39:18,049
He was a man on a mission.
1850
02:39:19,383 --> 02:39:22,511
That night when it premiered on TV,
we were all silent.
1851
02:39:22,595 --> 02:39:26,057
We just sat there and watched the show
and never said a word.
1852
02:39:26,140 --> 02:39:29,977
And then, of course, the telephone calls
were coming in, and reviews.
1853
02:39:30,061 --> 02:39:33,773
And oh, my gosh, it was such a relief.
1854
02:39:36,484 --> 02:39:39,445
It was so great to see him smile again.
1855
02:39:46,243 --> 02:39:47,661
After the comeback special...
1856
02:39:48,496 --> 02:39:53,542
Elvis didn't have to look too far
to find his way back to the source.
1857
02:39:57,088 --> 02:40:00,049
It was the old story.
You could take the boy out of Memphis...
1858
02:40:00,132 --> 02:40:03,094
You really couldn't take Memphis out
of the boy, you know.
1859
02:40:03,177 --> 02:40:06,680
The roots that you come from
are always compelling to return to...
1860
02:40:06,764 --> 02:40:08,933
No matter how far away you get.
1861
02:40:09,016 --> 02:40:11,811
By that point he only had
a couple of movies left.
1862
02:40:11,894 --> 02:40:14,271
So when he went back to the studio...
1863
02:40:14,355 --> 02:40:16,607
He wanted to do things differently.
1864
02:40:17,858 --> 02:40:23,114
Elvis returned home to restart
his career as a recording artist...
1865
02:40:23,197 --> 02:40:26,617
With local musicians,
with a local producer...
1866
02:40:26,700 --> 02:40:29,787
In a little humble storefront,
north Memphis.
1867
02:40:29,870 --> 02:40:34,291
That's where Elvis returned to,
essentially, save his career.
1868
02:40:36,460 --> 02:40:40,256
Chips moman,
his job was writer and producer.
1869
02:40:40,339 --> 02:40:42,883
He had evolved from stax records...
1870
02:40:42,967 --> 02:40:47,847
As a producer associated with soul
and with black artists.
1871
02:40:48,305 --> 02:40:51,183
But chips was a transracial figure.
1872
02:40:51,267 --> 02:40:54,979
He thought in terms of style,
in terms of sound.
1873
02:40:55,271 --> 02:40:58,399
And he really did embody
Memphis music.
1874
02:40:59,483 --> 02:41:02,111
It was the greatest sessions,
the greatest.
1875
02:41:02,194 --> 02:41:04,405
My gosh, I mean,
he came alive again.
1876
02:41:04,697 --> 02:41:09,952
He was liberated.
It was a beautiful marriage.
1877
02:41:19,962 --> 02:41:24,592
He told Elvis, "I have a stack
of records here I think are hits...
1878
02:41:24,675 --> 02:41:27,469
And you don't have any publishing.
What do you wanna do?"
1879
02:41:30,055 --> 02:41:34,351
Elvis said, "chips, I need hit records."
1880
02:41:41,275 --> 02:41:44,570
He decides he's gonna sing
contemporary material...
1881
02:41:44,653 --> 02:41:46,947
Publishing be damned.
He's gonna do what he wants.
1882
02:41:59,752 --> 02:42:03,255
The songs, every one of them,
was a hit.
1883
02:42:03,339 --> 02:42:06,592
That's the biggest sales
Elvis had had ever.
1884
02:42:10,387 --> 02:42:15,434
You would think that would've been
the next recording session.
1885
02:42:15,517 --> 02:42:17,311
Never recorded with chips again.
1886
02:42:45,756 --> 02:42:50,135
In '69, he got a chance
to play live at the international hotel.
1887
02:42:50,469 --> 02:42:53,472
Vegas was a huge event for him.
1888
02:42:53,555 --> 02:42:56,892
Back in the '50s, he wasn't accepted
too much then in Vegas.
1889
02:42:58,227 --> 02:43:02,690
Vegas, it's not about teenyboppers.
It's aimed at a particular audience.
1890
02:43:02,773 --> 02:43:06,527
People interested in a show that's there
so that they'll stop in the casino...
1891
02:43:06,610 --> 02:43:09,863
On the way in or out
and drop some money.
1892
02:43:15,202 --> 02:43:19,873
Their burning thing to go to Las Vegas
and play long stands, you know...
1893
02:43:19,957 --> 02:43:24,628
Doesn't happen until they, virtually,
have run aground in the film business.
1894
02:43:25,838 --> 02:43:29,008
There isn't a single studio
that will throw down...
1895
02:43:29,091 --> 02:43:32,303
Any significant money
for Elvis in a movie.
1896
02:43:32,386 --> 02:43:35,472
So they look around and go,
"well, what we gonna do now?
1897
02:43:35,556 --> 02:43:38,600
Elvis is going on-stage," you know.
Thank god.
1898
02:43:47,109 --> 02:43:50,654
"You don't have to say you love me"
and "bridge over troubled water."
1899
02:43:50,738 --> 02:43:54,616
I was able to witness him
put a band together.
1900
02:43:55,576 --> 02:43:59,621
When he goes out to Vegas,
he's really making decisions...
1901
02:43:59,705 --> 02:44:03,792
That are a little more for Elvis
than what came before.
1902
02:44:04,752 --> 02:44:06,920
He's wanting to play with a band.
1903
02:44:07,004 --> 02:44:09,798
He's wanting to go through
a deep catalog...
1904
02:44:09,882 --> 02:44:12,801
Big parts of which remind him
of his own youth.
1905
02:44:25,064 --> 02:44:28,233
I personally went to him and said,
"I wanted to know...
1906
02:44:28,442 --> 02:44:31,779
If you wanted me to try
to duplicate classic songs...
1907
02:44:32,029 --> 02:44:34,615
What was done previously?"
He said, "absolutely not.
1908
02:44:34,865 --> 02:44:36,867
Just do what you do,
that's why you're here."
1909
02:44:37,117 --> 02:44:40,913
I thought it was good that he'd try
different songs he liked the sound of.
1910
02:44:41,163 --> 02:44:42,664
Glen d. Was the arranger...
1911
02:44:42,873 --> 02:44:47,127
And he'd write arrangements for him,
and they would be exciting.
1912
02:44:55,511 --> 02:44:58,389
I wanna try something.
And since this is the last verse...
1913
02:44:58,639 --> 02:45:02,768
I think the vocals
were just as important to Elvis.
1914
02:45:03,560 --> 02:45:05,938
Okay, the horns are answering it there.
1915
02:45:06,146 --> 02:45:09,274
He had to have the sweet inspirations.
1916
02:45:09,608 --> 02:45:13,278
They had been working
with Wilson pickett and aretha Franklin.
1917
02:45:23,497 --> 02:45:28,210
Elvis did whatever he wanted to do. If
he was feeling it, we had to feel it too.
1918
02:45:28,460 --> 02:45:31,672
We could connect,
because we were from gospel.
1919
02:45:31,922 --> 02:45:33,257
We were raised gospel.
1920
02:45:51,483 --> 02:45:54,153
Colonel Parker,
he had billboards all over.
1921
02:45:54,403 --> 02:45:59,867
There was a vibe.
Everybody knew that Elvis was there.
1922
02:46:00,159 --> 02:46:02,202
He was a nervous wreck.
1923
02:46:02,744 --> 02:46:06,290
It's one thing to have
a small, invited audience.
1924
02:46:06,665 --> 02:46:10,544
Now he's going on the biggest stage
in the world. It's Las Vegas.
1925
02:46:13,213 --> 02:46:17,259
This is the nitty-gritty time,
as far as being nervous, you know.
1926
02:46:17,509 --> 02:46:18,719
Opening night, man.
1927
02:46:20,095 --> 02:46:22,514
He was excited and also nervous.
1928
02:46:22,764 --> 02:46:25,684
He didn't know exactly how
he was gonna be received.
1929
02:46:25,767 --> 02:46:27,811
He wanted the best of everything.
1930
02:46:27,895 --> 02:46:30,606
There were all these big goals,
as far as attendance.
1931
02:46:31,190 --> 02:46:35,402
And he had a very competitive nature,
so he wanted to be able to be...
1932
02:46:35,694 --> 02:46:38,822
As powerful and popular as Sinatra,
Tom Jones.
1933
02:46:38,906 --> 02:46:42,242
He wanted to take his music
to a whole different level.
1934
02:46:55,005 --> 02:46:57,007
The first time I ever
saw him on-stage...
1935
02:46:57,090 --> 02:47:00,302
Was the first time he played
in Vegas in '69.
1936
02:47:01,178 --> 02:47:04,181
The '68 special was more
a controlled environment.
1937
02:47:04,264 --> 02:47:06,934
It was for television. But in Vegas...
1938
02:47:07,017 --> 02:47:11,772
To actually see him walk out there
and own that stage...
1939
02:47:11,855 --> 02:47:16,777
It was like,
"oh, my gosh, I get it. I get it."
1940
02:47:49,059 --> 02:47:50,519
Play it.
1941
02:47:57,109 --> 02:47:58,986
I remember looking around.
1942
02:47:59,069 --> 02:48:02,906
They're all applauding,
so drawn in to him.
1943
02:48:03,198 --> 02:48:05,867
I'd never seen anyone
control an audience that way.
1944
02:48:05,951 --> 02:48:08,620
It was like he rehearsed
that show all his life.
1945
02:48:53,957 --> 02:48:58,128
It was great, staying up all night,
being in Vegas. We never left the hotel.
1946
02:48:58,211 --> 02:49:02,049
But psychologically, at a point,
it weighs on you.
1947
02:49:02,132 --> 02:49:03,467
And you may not even know it.
1948
02:49:22,361 --> 02:49:24,613
Thirty days, 61 shows.
1949
02:49:24,946 --> 02:49:29,576
First engagement, six months later,
the second engagement.
1950
02:49:29,660 --> 02:49:31,662
The third engagement.
1951
02:49:33,955 --> 02:49:38,794
Playing that much for weeks on time,
not seeing daylight.
1952
02:49:40,087 --> 02:49:42,631
Locked up in a hotel room,
what is there to do?
1953
02:49:42,714 --> 02:49:44,549
Talk to the same 15 guys every day.
1954
02:49:44,633 --> 02:49:48,220
Bored out of your mind.
And it all kind of conspires...
1955
02:49:48,303 --> 02:49:52,516
To make Elvis vulnerable in ways
that if he had a more rational life...
1956
02:49:52,599 --> 02:49:54,559
He would not be vulnerable.
1957
02:49:57,229 --> 02:49:58,897
That's when colonel took over...
1958
02:49:58,980 --> 02:50:04,861
Went back into modus operandi: Make
as much money as we can out of Elvis.
1959
02:50:05,654 --> 02:50:09,324
It worked great in the beginning.
It just got to be the same old stuff.
1960
02:50:12,786 --> 02:50:15,497
He realized that fans
wanna hear the hits.
1961
02:50:15,580 --> 02:50:19,084
Kind of painted himself into a corner,
so to speak.
1962
02:50:20,210 --> 02:50:23,171
Back in those days, there was
a dinner show, then a late show.
1963
02:50:23,255 --> 02:50:26,633
So all the tables up front,
they were serving dinner and drinks.
1964
02:50:26,717 --> 02:50:29,344
The only people that could afford
the up-front seats...
1965
02:50:29,428 --> 02:50:31,471
Were the high rollers, so older cats.
1966
02:50:31,763 --> 02:50:34,766
Elvis needed connection
with the audience.
1967
02:50:34,850 --> 02:50:40,313
And Vegas was a very reserved,
rich crowd dressed up for the Elvis show.
1968
02:50:40,397 --> 02:50:44,943
It frustrated Elvis that he couldn't
quite seem to get the mayhem going.
1969
02:50:45,026 --> 02:50:48,155
He felt like, really, what he needed
was to get outside of Vegas...
1970
02:50:48,447 --> 02:50:51,116
And go out and get connected
with people...
1971
02:50:51,533 --> 02:50:55,162
Though he hadn't been on tour
for over 13 years.
1972
02:50:55,787 --> 02:50:57,706
What made you decide
to come to Texas?
1973
02:50:57,998 --> 02:51:02,043
Well, I think the most important thing
is the inspiration...
1974
02:51:02,127 --> 02:51:04,671
That I get from a live audience.
I was missing that.
1975
02:51:38,872 --> 02:51:43,043
Back in the 19703,
I was working for rolling stone.
1976
02:51:43,126 --> 02:51:47,130
They sent me to Boston
to review an Elvis concert.
1977
02:51:47,214 --> 02:51:51,676
"He stands there in a blackjumpsuit,
gold spangles and an orange cape.
1978
02:51:51,760 --> 02:51:56,598
When he stretches out his hands,
the cape forms a half sun under his arms.
1979
02:51:56,681 --> 02:52:00,352
And he looks like the true king
of rock 'n' roll.
1980
02:52:00,977 --> 02:52:05,857
He parades in front of 15,000 people
and waits for the applause to wash over.
1981
02:52:07,734 --> 02:52:11,196
And it comes as it always does,
and as he knows it will.
1982
02:52:12,948 --> 02:52:15,951
Elvis Presley has lived through
the greatest superstar trip...
1983
02:52:16,034 --> 02:52:20,413
Of any performer, and he survived it
in his own kind of way.
1984
02:52:20,705 --> 02:52:24,292
Elvis participates in a pure, one-to-one
relationship with his audience.
1985
02:52:26,628 --> 02:52:30,048
When he steps on the stage,
it is he and he alone...
1986
02:52:30,131 --> 02:52:34,678
Who is the subject of the manic,
ecstatic, irrational adoration.
1987
02:52:37,472 --> 02:52:40,600
His brilliance
is reflected in his control.
1988
02:52:42,185 --> 02:52:44,479
He never moves too far
in any one direction...
1989
02:52:44,771 --> 02:52:46,022
And never loses his grip.
1990
02:53:02,080 --> 02:53:07,002
To me, no matter how frustrating
the lapses in his career have been...
1991
02:53:07,085 --> 02:53:08,879
He remains an artist.
1992
02:53:14,301 --> 02:53:15,927
An American artist...
1993
02:53:16,011 --> 02:53:19,180
Who we should be proud
to claim as our own."
1994
02:53:28,732 --> 02:53:29,733
Thank you.
1995
02:53:30,400 --> 02:53:33,069
Elvis in concert covered many genres.
1996
02:53:33,653 --> 02:53:38,617
And he came out, he would do songs
from the '50s and '60s that he broke with.
1997
02:53:38,700 --> 02:53:41,745
But during the show,
there was a lot of country standards.
1998
02:53:41,953 --> 02:53:43,413
He did things that he liked.
1999
02:53:43,496 --> 02:53:46,416
You have any thoughts about
the rising interest in country music?
2000
02:53:46,499 --> 02:53:48,418
I think it's fantastic.
2001
02:53:48,501 --> 02:53:54,132
Country music was always a part
of the influence on my music anyway.
2002
02:53:54,215 --> 02:53:56,718
It's a combination of...
2003
02:53:56,801 --> 02:54:00,513
Country music and gospel
and rhythm and blues all combined...
2004
02:54:00,597 --> 02:54:01,932
Is what it really was.
2005
02:54:02,015 --> 02:54:04,059
As a child I was influenced by all that.
2006
02:54:04,351 --> 02:54:07,896
But I like the blues,
and I like the gospel music.
2007
02:54:07,979 --> 02:54:09,356
Gospel quartets and all that.
2008
02:54:09,648 --> 02:54:12,150
- Hey, good rehearsal, kids.
- See you at showtime.
2009
02:54:12,233 --> 02:54:15,195
You look at the band he put together
for the '703 shows...
2010
02:54:15,487 --> 02:54:19,658
There was a gospel contingent. Those
sections of the show were powerful.
2011
02:54:19,741 --> 02:54:23,370
Straight out of white
and black gospel tradition.
2012
02:54:25,997 --> 02:54:29,876
In the '70s Elvis had moved on
to the "American trilogy."
2013
02:54:29,960 --> 02:54:36,049
His show was consisting
of a cross-cultural picture of america...
2014
02:54:36,132 --> 02:54:37,676
And americana.
2015
02:54:41,846 --> 02:54:45,934
He was trying to encompass
an image of the country as a whole...
2016
02:54:46,017 --> 02:54:48,436
That he could be a vessel
that could contain...
2017
02:54:48,520 --> 02:54:51,231
The entirety of American experience.
2018
02:54:58,154 --> 02:55:02,325
That version of "Dixie" and
"the battle hymn of the republic"...
2019
02:55:02,409 --> 02:55:06,579
It's so beautiful. You know,
the band he's put together...
2020
02:55:06,663 --> 02:55:12,627
Is so over the top, and only Elvis
would have that kind of spending power.
2021
02:55:13,336 --> 02:55:16,631
And just audacious craziness.
2022
02:55:19,050 --> 02:55:23,304
Choirs and orchestras
and a great rhythm section.
2023
02:55:23,388 --> 02:55:26,641
Maybe another gospel group
on the side.
2024
02:55:26,725 --> 02:55:30,812
None of it makes sense
until you hear something like that...
2025
02:55:30,895 --> 02:55:37,902
And they're all playing a role in that,
and it's very moving music.
2026
02:55:43,033 --> 02:55:47,704
When you see him do that music in
those pieces of film I've seen of him...
2027
02:55:47,787 --> 02:55:51,332
That's the pure joy
of music in the man.
2028
02:55:51,416 --> 02:55:55,378
You know,
that's when I see everything stop.
2029
02:56:50,975 --> 02:56:52,727
Thank you, thank you.
2030
02:56:58,233 --> 02:56:59,609
Boy.
2031
02:56:59,692 --> 02:57:03,321
- How was the sound in that building?
- Very good, very, very good. Here.
2032
02:57:03,404 --> 02:57:04,989
Hold on.
2033
02:57:06,324 --> 02:57:09,285
That was his life.
He loved to sing and perform.
2034
02:57:09,369 --> 02:57:12,413
- It's a hot time in Florida.
- Boy, it is.
2035
02:57:12,497 --> 02:57:14,165
An artist like Elvis is...
2036
02:57:14,249 --> 02:57:19,546
Rather than pretending when on-stage,
he's pretending at home, to be normal.
2037
02:57:19,838 --> 02:57:22,465
When he goes out on-stage
at night is who he actually is.
2038
02:57:24,384 --> 02:57:27,762
It's a very difficult dichotomy.
2039
02:57:32,600 --> 02:57:35,270
To see him become
even bigger than life.
2040
02:57:35,562 --> 02:57:38,481
He had so much so soon.
2041
02:57:41,734 --> 02:57:47,198
He was snatched
from the ordinary life of a young man...
2042
02:57:47,282 --> 02:57:52,787
Into a place that no one else had ever
been in society or in our culture.
2043
02:58:06,801 --> 02:58:09,888
To have that success
and to experience it...
2044
02:58:09,971 --> 02:58:13,892
They had to hand over
significant portions of youth.
2045
02:58:13,975 --> 02:58:16,144
That was the trade.
2046
02:58:17,353 --> 02:58:23,026
He is unmoored
from the earth experience.
2047
02:58:23,109 --> 02:58:26,696
We were living two different lives.
He was performing and...
2048
02:58:26,988 --> 02:58:29,115
He was home very, very little.
2049
02:58:29,199 --> 02:58:32,160
It was very difficult
to communicate at that time.
2050
02:58:32,744 --> 02:58:37,081
Elvis had a horrible fear
of not sleeping.
2051
02:58:37,165 --> 02:58:40,543
He would spend many nights alone,
and he would think.
2052
02:58:40,627 --> 02:58:44,422
And that would keep him up.
So he started on sleeping pills.
2053
02:58:44,505 --> 02:58:47,175
And he thought
that he had it under control.
2054
02:58:49,052 --> 02:58:51,971
Everything that he ever had
was prescribed.
2055
02:58:55,516 --> 02:58:58,519
Are you satisfied
with the image you've established?
2056
02:59:00,355 --> 02:59:05,068
Well, the image is one thing
and a human being is another. So...
2057
02:59:05,151 --> 02:59:09,113
- How close is the image to the man?
- It's hard to live up to an image.
2058
02:59:09,405 --> 02:59:12,075
I'll put it that way. Yeah.
2059
02:59:12,492 --> 02:59:16,287
Come on, bring the cameras over here.
Come on through here.
2060
02:59:16,913 --> 02:59:18,998
When the colonel's done talking,
I'll tell you.
2061
02:59:19,582 --> 02:59:22,252
I'm sorry. Oh, yeah,
I'd like to do something.
2062
02:59:22,335 --> 02:59:25,630
There's many places I haven't been.
I'd like to go to Europe.
2063
02:59:25,713 --> 02:59:27,799
I'd like to go to Japan,
all those places.
2064
02:59:27,882 --> 02:59:30,343
I've never left the country
except in the service.
2065
02:59:31,427 --> 02:59:34,055
Elvis, from early on,
had expressed interest...
2066
02:59:34,138 --> 02:59:38,810
In touring overseas, having no idea
that colonel Parker would not let him.
2067
02:59:38,893 --> 02:59:40,895
Because if the colonel went with him...
2068
02:59:40,979 --> 02:59:44,774
He was afraid he was not gonna
be let back into america.
2069
02:59:46,150 --> 02:59:49,487
Colonel knowing that Elvis
wanted to tour overseas...
2070
02:59:49,570 --> 02:59:54,575
Colonel not wanting anybody
to know that he wasn't a us. Citizen.
2071
02:59:54,659 --> 02:59:56,703
How could he answer Elvis?
2072
02:59:56,786 --> 03:00:01,791
They come up with something
that nobody had ever done.
2073
03:00:03,418 --> 03:00:07,755
Instead of shutting down the idea
of Elvis playing in different countries...
2074
03:00:07,839 --> 03:00:11,175
Curtailing it,
he uses it to his advantage...
2075
03:00:11,384 --> 03:00:15,346
And creates the first-ever
live-concert simulcast...
2076
03:00:15,430 --> 03:00:19,350
On satellite television, so that people
in every country all over the world...
2077
03:00:19,642 --> 03:00:22,437
Can see Elvis play a concert.
2078
03:00:22,645 --> 03:00:26,524
By the time of the aloha special,
Elvis had been touring nonstop.
2079
03:00:26,816 --> 03:00:28,943
His health and weight weren't great...
2080
03:00:29,027 --> 03:00:32,280
And now he was confronted with
this performance...
2081
03:00:32,363 --> 03:00:35,950
That was gonna be seen by
a billion people around the world.
2082
03:00:38,453 --> 03:00:43,291
It's very hard to comprehend it,
because I...
2083
03:00:43,750 --> 03:00:46,377
In 15 years, it's hard to comprehend
that happening.
2084
03:00:46,461 --> 03:00:50,590
Through all the countries
all over the world.
2085
03:00:51,424 --> 03:00:56,596
It becomes the biggest media moment
of his career up to that point.
2086
03:00:56,888 --> 03:00:58,931
He knows this.
He's trimmed down for it.
2087
03:00:59,015 --> 03:01:00,350
He looks amazing.
2088
03:01:00,641 --> 03:01:02,643
The band is super tight.
2089
03:01:02,727 --> 03:01:05,605
Aloha does represent Elvis music...
2090
03:01:05,688 --> 03:01:10,151
The moment that Elvis brought together
all of his influences...
2091
03:01:10,234 --> 03:01:15,615
To solidify an image of Elvis,
a look and a style and a presentation...
2092
03:01:15,698 --> 03:01:19,577
That seals in Amber,
this is what Elvis is.
2093
03:01:21,204 --> 03:01:27,835
Elvis was the first
major televisual musical star.
2094
03:01:27,919 --> 03:01:31,714
We can see him,
but we can't touch him.
2095
03:01:35,927 --> 03:01:39,305
Elvis, without intending to...
2096
03:01:39,389 --> 03:01:45,770
Created an image of himself
he would never live past.
2097
03:02:13,339 --> 03:02:19,178
That show was another way in which
he was truly disserved by the colonel.
2098
03:02:21,848 --> 03:02:25,643
It's a bit of a metaphor
for keeping the blinders on...
2099
03:02:25,726 --> 03:02:28,396
Which is what, I think,
the colonel was all about.
2100
03:02:30,022 --> 03:02:34,610
My picture of the colonel really is
someone that loved selling merchandise...
2101
03:02:34,694 --> 03:02:39,282
That wanted, to the end, walk the aisle
selling posters and ballpoint pens.
2102
03:02:40,658 --> 03:02:44,871
It doesn't make any sense, really, to
keep him from touring other countries...
2103
03:02:44,954 --> 03:02:50,001
To keep him from really going
the whole way with the music...
2104
03:02:50,084 --> 03:02:52,628
Like letting him be an artist.
2105
03:02:54,964 --> 03:02:57,925
Thank you. Thank you very much.
2106
03:02:58,009 --> 03:03:02,013
I think the troubles between
Elvis and the colonel...
2107
03:03:02,096 --> 03:03:04,765
Started getting worse at that point.
2108
03:03:04,849 --> 03:03:11,230
There was the bond,
but they were two very different people.
2109
03:03:11,314 --> 03:03:13,774
Elvis outgrew colonel Parker
as an artist...
2110
03:03:13,858 --> 03:03:18,613
But he didn't know how
to cut the strings.
2111
03:03:20,448 --> 03:03:25,119
By this time, he'd started to turn to
prescription drugs to keep himself going.
2112
03:03:25,328 --> 03:03:28,581
He was on a relentless wheel of...
2113
03:03:28,664 --> 03:03:31,709
Performance to travel,
to performance to travel.
2114
03:03:31,792 --> 03:03:34,879
And you start to see the stress of that.
2115
03:03:38,466 --> 03:03:43,471
All the things he told me he wanted to do:
Travel the world, meet new audiences.
2116
03:03:43,554 --> 03:03:45,890
None of that happened.
2117
03:03:48,184 --> 03:03:51,270
All the light went out of his eyes.
2118
03:03:53,147 --> 03:03:58,528
With an addiction to prescription pills,
if you are a performer...
2119
03:03:58,611 --> 03:04:02,323
What you're after is
the anesthetizing part of it.
2120
03:04:02,406 --> 03:04:06,827
But that's gonna take you away from
your powers as a performer.
2121
03:04:06,911 --> 03:04:11,499
And he's gonna go on-stage
nonetheless.
2122
03:04:18,506 --> 03:04:23,636
He had many afflictions,
and he hurt himself in many ways.
2123
03:04:23,719 --> 03:04:29,267
But there was a core in there that
if you let it, it would shine through...
2124
03:04:29,976 --> 03:04:33,896
And sometimes
in the most unlikely places.
2125
03:04:44,031 --> 03:04:48,286
We basically tried to influence him
to do more rock 'n' roll.
2126
03:04:48,369 --> 03:04:50,580
"Burning love,"
that one had some potential.
2127
03:04:50,663 --> 03:04:55,293
He never felt comfortable with it because
he had a hard time with the lyrics.
2128
03:04:55,376 --> 03:04:58,629
He was going through a lot,
so he didn't wanna do the song...
2129
03:04:58,713 --> 03:05:01,591
And the guys kept expressing that
he should do it...
2130
03:05:01,674 --> 03:05:04,010
And he was really fighting it.
2131
03:05:04,093 --> 03:05:07,847
"Burning love," well, it's one of
the greatest records he ever made.
2132
03:05:31,704 --> 03:05:35,499
It was a hard song for him to sing
and to get into.
2133
03:05:35,583 --> 03:05:37,585
About them lyrics.
2134
03:05:38,294 --> 03:05:40,588
It was only one and I hit my mouth.
2135
03:05:40,671 --> 03:05:46,010
He wanted to let out his feelings
in a song that related to how he felt.
2136
03:05:46,093 --> 03:05:50,723
It was difficult to be given music
for something really uplifting, upbeat...
2137
03:05:50,806 --> 03:05:54,977
And that's not matching his tone.
That's not matching his feelings.
2138
03:06:49,156 --> 03:06:51,992
Elvis was very family-orientated.
2139
03:06:52,076 --> 03:06:54,036
He did Cherish family.
2140
03:06:54,120 --> 03:06:56,622
But Elvis wanted it all.
2141
03:06:59,333 --> 03:07:01,627
It takes two in a relationship.
2142
03:07:01,711 --> 03:07:05,381
Having a child,
not being able to do the traveling...
2143
03:07:05,464 --> 03:07:07,425
I was a mother.
2144
03:07:08,634 --> 03:07:12,221
He always used to say,
"you can't serve two masters."
2145
03:07:47,590 --> 03:07:50,217
After he recorded "separate ways"...
2146
03:07:50,301 --> 03:07:55,181
He wanted to go into the control room
and listen to that song for hours.
2147
03:07:56,140 --> 03:07:58,726
And he would just look up
and shake his head...
2148
03:07:58,809 --> 03:08:02,438
Because I know
he still always loved Priscilla.
2149
03:08:04,023 --> 03:08:07,193
Elvis and I, you know,
we held hands in court.
2150
03:08:07,276 --> 03:08:09,445
There was still a lot of love there.
2151
03:08:09,528 --> 03:08:11,447
He was a doting father.
2152
03:08:11,530 --> 03:08:13,824
We kept that relationship very close.
2153
03:08:13,908 --> 03:08:17,453
I knew he was always there for me
and for Lisa as well...
2154
03:08:17,536 --> 03:08:22,166
But the breakup of the marriage
was painful for both of us.
2155
03:08:27,546 --> 03:08:30,257
He was never the same after that.
2156
03:08:30,341 --> 03:08:32,259
He just changed. He was very moody.
2157
03:08:32,343 --> 03:08:34,428
He wasn't well
doing two shows a night...
2158
03:08:34,512 --> 03:08:39,141
And he had to take uppers to get going
and downers to put him to sleep.
2159
03:08:40,392 --> 03:08:42,645
Well, I don't know,
but I know one thing.
2160
03:08:42,728 --> 03:08:46,190
When I told Elvis to slow down,
he wanted more dates.
2161
03:08:46,273 --> 03:08:47,399
I booked more dates.
2162
03:08:47,483 --> 03:08:49,485
I said,
"well, I don't think you should."
2163
03:08:49,568 --> 03:08:51,612
And he said,
"well, it's what I wanna do."
2164
03:08:51,695 --> 03:08:53,989
He was very unhappy,
so we started all over.
2165
03:08:54,073 --> 03:08:55,950
With some 25 color portraits...
2166
03:09:03,958 --> 03:09:09,839
Night by night, it became harder for him
to carry on being Elvis.
2167
03:09:09,922 --> 03:09:14,677
Drugs and the self-destructiveness
were all punishments.
2168
03:09:14,760 --> 03:09:17,638
He was in great pain,
and yet he gave so much pleasure.
2169
03:09:17,930 --> 03:09:20,140
He would go off-stage and collapse...
2170
03:09:21,016 --> 03:09:26,856
And the audience would go out buoyed
up and joyous, spiritually blessed.
2171
03:09:30,067 --> 03:09:33,362
Elvis was always searching for answers.
2172
03:09:33,445 --> 03:09:34,989
Why him?
2173
03:09:35,072 --> 03:09:38,158
"Well, maybe god had something else
planned for me.
2174
03:09:38,242 --> 03:09:41,453
Am I supposed to be
giving a message?"
2175
03:09:42,037 --> 03:09:46,750
Not realizing he was doing
what he was supposed to be doing.
2176
03:09:49,587 --> 03:09:52,423
The last days of his life
was not his best work.
2177
03:09:52,506 --> 03:09:54,967
He had a lot of problems.
2178
03:09:56,552 --> 03:10:01,265
He had gained weight,
which is a cardinal sin in show business.
2179
03:10:01,557 --> 03:10:05,144
Isolation, you know,
that brings on the drug abuse.
2180
03:10:05,436 --> 03:10:07,479
He's lost touch with his father.
2181
03:10:07,563 --> 03:10:08,689
His mom's gone.
2182
03:10:10,107 --> 03:10:12,276
His wife is gone.
2183
03:10:12,651 --> 03:10:16,238
It had to be very lonely. We know that.
2184
03:10:21,785 --> 03:10:26,206
There's a point when you have success,
and you get really wealthy...
2185
03:10:26,290 --> 03:10:28,792
And there is that day
where the letter comes...
2186
03:10:28,876 --> 03:10:31,754
That none of this
is gonna make me happy.
2187
03:10:37,551 --> 03:10:41,305
And he knew he had to
try to find something, you know...
2188
03:10:41,388 --> 03:10:43,974
But I think he gave up.
2189
03:10:44,058 --> 03:10:48,479
I think he felt outgunned and gave up.
2190
03:10:57,696 --> 03:11:00,282
Those last shows,
those last couple of years...
2191
03:11:00,366 --> 03:11:03,535
Were not the most memorable,
as far as performance.
2192
03:11:03,619 --> 03:11:06,580
Sometimes
he didn't get through a song.
2193
03:11:06,789 --> 03:11:10,668
I think the last year,
he was pretty much over it.
2194
03:11:10,751 --> 03:11:13,504
I don't even why, you know,
he went on-stage.
2195
03:11:13,587 --> 03:11:15,464
They're just hard to watch.
2196
03:11:15,547 --> 03:11:19,843
Sometimes I think it was better
maybe if they'd just cancel the show.
2197
03:11:26,558 --> 03:11:30,312
We got the call that
Elvis wanted to record in Memphis.
2198
03:11:30,396 --> 03:11:33,857
Whenever we got the call,
we would be there at his Beck and call...
2199
03:11:33,941 --> 03:11:35,901
Whenever they were ready.
2200
03:11:35,985 --> 03:11:38,946
In my mind, we're going to,
like, sun records or some place...
2201
03:11:39,029 --> 03:11:40,531
Chips moman's studio.
2202
03:11:40,614 --> 03:11:43,367
We pull into Graceland
and I say, "what are we doing here?"
2203
03:11:43,450 --> 03:11:45,160
They said, "we're cutting here."
2204
03:11:45,244 --> 03:11:46,912
He wouldn't go to the studio.
2205
03:11:46,996 --> 03:11:50,040
The studio had to come to him,
right in the jungle room there.
2206
03:11:58,549 --> 03:12:02,928
It's hard to get him to go into a studio,
because he was uncomfortable there.
2207
03:12:03,012 --> 03:12:06,140
Didn't wanna go to Nashville,
to stax, to chips moman's.
2208
03:12:06,223 --> 03:12:08,600
He wanted to stay at home.
2209
03:12:08,684 --> 03:12:13,897
We would come over from Nashville,
check into a hotel right down the street.
2210
03:12:15,524 --> 03:12:19,486
And we'd all be ready there, good to go,
and they'd say Elvis is still not up.
2211
03:12:19,570 --> 03:12:23,490
He could come down at midnight,
or it could be 2:00 in the morning.
2212
03:12:23,574 --> 03:12:26,410
You never knew
what the night was gonna hold.
2213
03:12:27,995 --> 03:12:32,833
Elvis ended up back in the jungle room,
recording his last record.
2214
03:12:33,042 --> 03:12:39,715
Graceland can be something that
gives you a sense of place and of center.
2215
03:12:40,215 --> 03:12:44,344
But it can also be a place
that you just disappear into.
2216
03:12:44,428 --> 03:12:47,514
It seemed to me that
Elvis was caught in between...
2217
03:12:47,598 --> 03:12:50,184
Doing a little bit of both there.
2218
03:12:54,104 --> 03:13:00,235
Seems to be, he's picking songs
that somewhat reflect his state of mind...
2219
03:13:00,319 --> 03:13:04,656
Like "hurt," which is one of the...
The very last ones.
2220
03:13:04,740 --> 03:13:07,117
I think he's... he's feeling very hurt.
2221
03:13:07,201 --> 03:13:09,661
He's very down. He's very alone.
2222
03:13:09,745 --> 03:13:12,372
He doesn't understand
what's happened to music...
2223
03:13:12,456 --> 03:13:14,750
And he got left out of that.
2224
03:13:14,833 --> 03:13:17,294
He had become a thing.
2225
03:13:17,377 --> 03:13:20,047
He was no longer Elvis Presley.
2226
03:13:20,130 --> 03:13:22,925
He was Elvis.
2227
03:13:31,016 --> 03:13:33,644
Well, when I first came over
to the jungle room...
2228
03:13:33,727 --> 03:13:37,189
They removed the furniture,
they covered the walls in blankets.
2229
03:13:37,481 --> 03:13:41,819
There was a semi, a very large
tractor-trailer, out behind the house.
2230
03:13:41,902 --> 03:13:44,446
It was rca's
complete mobile-recording studio.
2231
03:13:44,530 --> 03:13:47,783
They would run all their recording lines
into the jungle room.
2232
03:13:47,866 --> 03:13:50,911
It looks like you're in Tahiti,
like you're in the islands.
2233
03:13:51,245 --> 03:13:54,206
But we're all just crammed
into this tiny little space.
2234
03:13:54,289 --> 03:13:57,876
It was a nightmare for the recording
engineers to keep that sound clean...
2235
03:13:57,960 --> 03:14:00,254
Without too much bleed
with open microphones...
2236
03:14:00,546 --> 03:14:04,049
And we did our best
to do the recordings as best we could.
2237
03:14:04,675 --> 03:14:07,553
It wasn't like we did a lot of rehearsal
for the recordings.
2238
03:14:07,636 --> 03:14:10,305
It was turn the machine on,
and he's gonna sing.
2239
03:14:10,389 --> 03:14:13,142
We would all watch each other,
doing it on the fly.
2240
03:14:13,225 --> 03:14:17,229
I remember one of the first songs
that I recorded with him was "hurt."
2241
03:14:17,312 --> 03:14:21,692
We didn't have a clue of how it was
gonna go down or how he'd perform it.
2242
03:14:21,775 --> 03:14:24,194
All of a sudden, he takes his stance.
2243
03:17:24,708 --> 03:17:29,296
Elvis wanted to finish the '68 special
on a big note.
2244
03:17:32,883 --> 03:17:36,094
Quite frankly,
we didn't know how to finish the show.
2245
03:17:36,178 --> 03:17:42,351
Every day at 4:00, we would all sit
in the piano room of our offices...
2246
03:17:42,434 --> 03:17:45,103
Rehearsing with Elvis.
2247
03:17:45,687 --> 03:17:49,733
While we were sitting
in Steve's office with Elvis...
2248
03:17:50,484 --> 03:17:53,528
We had a black-and-white television
in the corner.
2249
03:17:53,612 --> 03:17:56,031
On that TV...
2250
03:17:56,698 --> 03:17:59,493
Robert Kennedy was assassinated.
2251
03:18:06,041 --> 03:18:09,711
Elvis picked up a guitar,
and he started playing it...
2252
03:18:09,920 --> 03:18:12,214
Clocking about a mile a minute.
2253
03:18:12,672 --> 03:18:16,093
Hesaw,
"I want you to understand me...
2254
03:18:16,718 --> 03:18:21,014
Because this is a moment in time where
we all have to understand each other."
194464
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