All Quotes

"They said no, and that I just couldn’t wear a disguise. So, I talked with my son and his girlfriend and got them to order me an Elvis costume to wear as I picked up my million million dolllar prize."

"It was like an EARTHQUAKE!!! In my neighborhood the whole place was shakin' when he came on. And I said how can a person possess that kind of power that it even comes off the tv and grabs me in this ghetto neighborhood? Back in those days if it was a white artist doing some of our music many would say "Well, they don't like our blacks so we don't like their singers either. They're nothing but copy-cats anyway.' But with Elvis we ALL were going crazy over him. And I said 'Man, this cat's really got something!""

"That September, Presley would make his legendary inaugural appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show," singing a sultry version of "Hound Dog" with his swinging hips in all their vulgar, gyrating splendor. During a later appearance in January 1957, the variety show would famously edit the King from the waist down in order to protect impressionable young television viewers from his brazen sexuality. But then, it was far too late. America had a full-on dose of Elvismania, and there was nary a cure in sight."

"Every morning when I woke up and looked out the window, there were at least two hundred kids lined up on the sidewalk outside, staring at the house. Some of them would stay there all day long, just trying to get a glimpse of him. And when he would go out, he was very sweet to them. A lot of people I know would get angry, or impatient -- but Elvis was very nice to them, spent as much time with them as he could."

"X-ray records felt like the real thing to (Soviet) rock-starved kids. When doing national service in Berlin, I came across a couple of bedraggled teenage Soviet soldiers who had just climbed over the fence. "Why did you want to take this risk?" I asked them, as they could so easily have been shot. ‘Because our officer won’t let us listen to Elvis Presley,’ one of them answered."

"You didn't make it before we came along, and if I wanted to back somebody, I would have picked somebody who can sing, like Elvis Presley."

"During the Louisiana Hayride in the mid-50s, my grandmother was in line to get a hamburger and Elvis Presley moseyed on up to her, small talked a bit and asked her out on a date. Being she was already with my grandpa, she declined, but for more than 60 years, she never let him forget it..."

"There are some artists that appear to be a clear step ahead when it comes to intellectual property protection, Elvis Presley and 50 Cent being leagues ahead when it comes to portfolio size amongst the top ten artists which were made part of the study"

"Elvis Presley, in the midst of his 1968 comeback special, admitted “I’ve got to do this sooner or later, I may as well do it now, baby”. He then launched into Hound Dog ( via Heartbreak Hotel), which was what everyone wanted. I can't help keep thinking that Theresa May should have taken inspiration from this.She had to confront her ERG Leaver wing at some point, why not sooner (baby)? What could May have won, if she'd confronted her strong Leavers back far ago in 2016? What if she'd challenged them to a showdown not in Christmas 2018 but the summer or autumn, say, of 2016?"

"I remember on New Year’s Day of 2021 feeling, along with the ongoing uncertainty and lack of clear knowledge about the virus, a sense of hope. I also had no idea that a fair number of people would decide not to get vaccinated. I usually try not to judge people, but I grew up in a time when polio was at least as frightening as COVID has been the last couple of years. I remember a newspaper photo of Elvis Presley receiving his polio shot, an event that sent the vaccination rate into orbit all across the country. Elvis, for those who don’t remember, had just played the Ed Sullivan show and had something like a third of the entire nation watching. I’m pretty sure I was 12 when I saw the photo of Elvis getting his polio shot. I got my shot not so very long after that. Nobody took a picture of my shot, but having protection against polio sure gave my mom one fewer thing to fret over. I’m not much good at New Year’s resolutions. I decided in the coming year to simply try to stay safe and do everything I can to avoid putting anyone else at risk. That’s a resolution I think I can keep."

"Go into any Thai restaurant the world over and there will very likely be portraits and photos of King Bhumibol gazing down at diners with his benevolent smile, but one of the more common actually features him with Elvis Presley. The meeting came when lifelong music fan Bhumibol and his wife, Queen Sirikit, visited Hollywood’s Paramount Studios in 1960, while Elvis was filming G.I Blues. The king had been a fan of Presley for several years and was by then an accomplished saxophonist who later performed alongside jazz legend Lionel Hampton. In 1987, the late Hampton told the Thai magazine Sawasdee: “He is simply the coolest king in the land.”"

"The Frank Lloyd Wright fans!! Undoubtedly. Why? Because they're on the side of Nature and the others are on the side of an artificiality that is doomed."

"My father wanted me to be like him, an Orthodox Jew. When I said I didn’t want to be, he said, ‘just don’t tell your children.’ I said, ‘you want me to pretend to be somebody I’m not?’ He said, ‘that’s exactly what I’m saying.’. Anyways, he was Elvis' proctologist, so on the day I was supposed to meet him, I got into trouble and he didn't allow me to. When Elvis died, my dad remembered him as a respectful Christian who helped Jews on the Sabbath...."

"The peak of peak attention can be assigned and exact date: September 9, 1956, when Elvis Presley made his first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, at CBS. Its 82.6 percent share of viewers, out of a population roughly half of today' s, has never been equaled or bettered"

"He is rock's greatest presence, shaking a country with a single-handed nuclear reaction of country, gospel, and the blues."

"Elvis was the kind of guy never looked past you, he looked right at you, was the warmest, most twinkling. He made you feel comfortable and at ease, which was amazing. He did not have any of that stuff where 'it's all about me'. He was a perfect gentleman. And he made you feel comfortable right away, at least he did with me. I'd go further and say that Elvis was clearly a guy with a rural or country attitude about life. He had that simple kinda point of view that said you stand up, you're polite to people. In spite of the money and the Cadillacs and all that, it was he and his pals, he never changed. And you could see that the minute he said hello to you. He was not a guy that would talk to you and look over your shoulder to see who else was in the room. Elvis Presley had a genuineness that was very noticeable and quite impressive the first time I met him. And Elaine and I went home really liking him and thinking 'what a terrific guy'. And everytime I saw him after that, he remembered everything, was always gracious and complimentary to people. It wasn't easy to get to see him, I mean, he had a very limited circle of friends. But when you did get in his company it was a real pleasure."

"And as Charles de Gaulle made it into power, promising the colonial population in Algeria "the 1,001 nights", and even as the Bastille seemed like it was never, ever to be taken again yet, in spite of it all, the voice of Elvis kept singing "Good Rockin tonight""

"In examining how rock, soul and R&B grew from the roots of gospel, our program on the Gospel Roots of Rock and Soul shall highlight such highly influential artists as who transitioned from gospel to secular music and her early rock stylings and Elvis Presley, who helped expose white audiences to gospel music. Examples of some of the most beloved contemporary pop music of the last 60 years from artists such as Aretha Franklin, Paul Simon, and Ray Charles illustrate gospel music's influence. Gospel Roots of Rock and Soul also features exclusive live performances recorded by WXPN within the last year from gospel groups The Fairfield Four, The McCrary Sisters, and The Dixie Hummingbirds."

"Elvis Presley Atomic Player B612 has a weight of just 130 grams, plays music from tablets, phones and virtual service: Apple Music, QQ Music. It has a radio as well. The device is made of aluminum, with a supply battery which can be used remotely for seven hours. The energy accumulator takes place via MicroUSB. Demand for the device has grown increasingly...."

"After marvelling at the large portions of food, thick steaks and TVs in our various Canadian hotel rooms, we actually spend much of our time watching cartoons. In fact, spent my $100 advance, meant to last me for three weeks, right away, mostly on new skates, some bubble gum and the latest Elvis Presley album."

"We put all the photos we received into albums. I remember we got fan letters from Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Cuba and from the Soviet Union. We got them from all over the world and I used to collect the stamps for my son. Elvis really loved reading the fan mail and seeing the albums, especially the girls. We got post cards from everywhere. We would save him a lot of letters if they were funny and thought he would enjoy them and he surely did."

"My mother took me to see "Jailhouse Rock" when I was three. She loved Elvis. I guess I thought, like John Lennon, that that looked like a pretty good job. I bought my first Elvis record at seven. I got an old tennis racket and I'd go around the house playing it like a guitar, playing Elvis songs. I'd turn my collar up and do the lip sneer, the whole thing. I was a little boy being Elvis! I knew I was a little girl, but I was being myself. I never understood the gender difference, frankly. It never stopped me: I never thought, 'I'm a little girl, I can't do this.'"

"I was always mesmerized by strong, pure, beautiful voices, (and) Elvis' voice, the emotion in it, was unbelievable; I'd never heard anything like it, and I was listening to my parents' records, like "Heartbreak Hotel" and all the ’50 s stuff, the real raw Elvis...and that's how I gravitated into Patsy Cline, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris."

"Elvis was my first piece of vinyl. It was also a gift when I was only 7 years old. Some things are just too amazing not to share with you all. Thank you Priscilla and thank you BAM I love you bro. I’ll cherish this forever and I love y’all!!”"

"I first heard him in 1959, when I was 27. My favourite song of his is “Are You Lonesome Tonight, a 1961 song in which I found solace, by playing it over, and over, and over again during the weeks preceding and following the aborted 1991 coup against ."

"He was rock and roll's biggest star, and he also tested the boundaries of how an entertainer should behave on stage. Elvis had the whole package: the looks, voice, charisma--he had it all. I see so many videos on YouTube showing younger Elvis fans reacting to Elvis' music in a positive way. So, it shows you that Elvis' legacy and appeal continue to endure."

"Elvis had a brilliant ability to control the attack and ending of each note. If we listen the 1954 Sun Records recording of "Blue Moon of Kentucky" we can hear Elvis using a technique known as “glottal onset and offset” – in which the vocal folds in the larynx are closed at the start of a note and closed with extra emphasis at the end of the note – to achieve clarity of attack and an amazing rhythmic bounce in his vocal performance. That ability to drive the rhythm is also present in the 1963 hit "Viva Las Vegas" in which Elvis effortlessly accents the melody to give a rhythmic shape to each phrase."

"When the question was asked, in March of 2018, “Who do you think is the greatest rock star of all time?” it yielded these results: Elvis Presley 36%, Michael Jackson 21%, John Lennon 9%, Jimi Hendrix 7%, Mick Jagger, 5% Bruce Springsteen 4%, Others 5%, Not sure 13%."

"I asked him what did Dr. King think of the celebrity participation in the movement. He said that Dr King welcomed it because it helped give the movement more attention. Then he added a bonus by including stories of two of my other favorite singers who tragically, like Dr. King, died young themselves. I was astonished when the name Elvis Presley came up. Contrary to what some people believe, I never thought Elvis was racist. I knew that Elvis grew up poor and was heavily influenced by Black musicians. I even heard stories from other people that Elvis admired Dr. King. What I didn't know was that Elvis and Dr. King talked occasionally on the phone. Elvis even contributed money through various channels that filtered to the civil rights movement. Charles Evers, the brother of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers, confirmed this as well. When Dr. King was killed in Memphis, Elvis was said to not just have been upset about Dr. King's death, but he was even more hurt that it happened in his hometown and just a stone's throw away from his Graceland estate. Elvis even inquired about attending Dr. King's funeral in Atlanta, but was talked out of it by others citing that he may be a distraction; it would delay filming and increase budget costs (and other security concerns because nobody could be certain that a riot may break out at the funeral at the time. Instead Elvis watched the funeral from his on-location trailer. According to his co-star at the time Celeste Yarnell who watched the proceeding with Elvis in his trailer, Elvis "felt a tremendous brotherhood with the black community because he grew up poor and he knew what it was like to live in poverty.He was also proud that many blacks embraced him as one of their own."

"I'm like Elvis Presley out here. I’m Swaggy Presley."

"Et Charles de Gaulle prenait le pouvoir, promettant les milles-et-une-nuits au pieds-noirs, et la Bastille en a tellement vu, qu'on ne l'y reprendra jamais, jamais plus, et la voix d'Elvis chante "Good rocking tonight""

"i) Both "Elvis" and "Priscilla" present a vision of Elvis Presley framed by a third party, rather than one viewed directly, with the luxury of omniscience, by the person behind the camera. In "Elvis", Baz Luhrmann shapes Elvis’ story through the eyes of Parker, the man who helped make him and did more than his share to break him. And in "Priscilla", Elvis, for once, isn’t the center of attention; it’s Priscilla’s experience that matters. The suggestion of both movies is that Elvis Presley, like an eclipse of the sun, is too dazzling, too potentially disorienting, to be viewed without a filter...ii) Elvis Presley has been gone for 48 years now, but he hasn’t really died. The second half of the 20th century took shape around his almost mystical youthful charisma, and later around his ghost. Peter Guralnick has already given us the definitive Elvis biography with his two-volume classic, "Last Train to Memphis" and "Careless Love" published in the ’90s but now his "The Colonel and the King: " is a sympathetic, surprising, and assiduously researched book—a coda to that essential work."

"He was the son of Afghanistan’s former prime minister, a prolific recording artist and a music idol for the masses. His music drew from Persian poetry as well as Indian classical styles, and it increasingly revealed a political edge, criticising the Soviet-backed Marxist regime who had seized power in Afghanistan following a 1978 military coup. There is some dream-like footage online of a 1970s gig at Kabul’s Intercontinental Hotel, showing an energetic figure leading a multi-instrumental band. The performer’s hip looks (dark quiff and sideburns; loosened tie) and rollicking, psych-roots grooves reflect the ‘Afghan Elvis’ nickname he earned."

"Some of those we have lost in 2019ː Elvis Presley (singer, actor, 84), perpetrator of the finest prank in history and of two of the best comeback concerts ever seen..."

"This is the mysterious part about music, the people who mean it, like Elvis, are generally the ones who are processing some kind of loss, and we connect to it."

"Elvis has just left the building, Those are his footprints, right there, Elvis has just left the building, To climb up that heavenly stair"

"Can't you just imagine digging up the King? Begging him to sing?."

"He is the Elvis of cultural theory"

"Elvis' 1969 opening night in Las Vegas was his first time back on a live stage in more than eight years, playing the biggest showroom in the biggest hotel and drawing more people for his four-week engagement than any other show in Las Vegas history. His performance got rave reviews, “Suspicious Minds” gave him his first number-one hit in seven years, and Elvis became Vegas's biggest star. Over the next seven years, he performed more than 650 shows there, and sold out every one. Las Vegas was changed too. The intimate night-club-style shows of the Rat Pack, who made Vegas the nation's premier live-entertainment center in the 1950s and ‘60s, catered largely to well-heeled older gamblers. Elvis brought a new kind of experience: an over-the-top, rock-concert-like extravaganza, setting a new bar for Las Vegas performers, with the biggest salary, the biggest musical production, and the biggest promotion campaign the city had ever seen. In doing so, he opened the door to a new generation of pop/rock performers, and brought a new audience to Las Vegas—a mass audience from Middle America that the city depends on for its success to this day."

"What was the Strip like back then, or what was it like to see Elvis Presley....."

"I knew him when he was a kid. He used to play the guitar and go around with quartets and to Negro ‘sanctified’ meetings. He lived near the colored section, and people around here say he's one of the nicest boys they ever knew. He just doesn't impress me as the type of person who would say a thing like that."

"Jerry and I were big Elvis fans and the name held some fascination. We were also looking for someone who had never performed comedy, who could recite the most hilarious piece of dialogue without thinking the lines were MEANT to be funny. We saw a certain naïveté and inexperience in Priscilla Presley that we knew would work for what we had planned."

"No, many thanks but I am just a tourist here and prefer no photos are taken."

"I shall always regret not having seen Elvis Presley live..."

"Our childhood housekeeper kept us supplied with a handwritten list of records. And when our mom would go out shopping and say, “Kids, can I get you something?,” we'd say, “You going by the record store? Here’s the list.” And sure enough, it was Jimmy Reed. It was Larry Williams. It was Ray Charles. All the good stuff. My sister and I played the sides off of those records. We'd turn those 45 rpm singles white. And I remember my mom taking us to see Elvis Presley and that kind of did it ... we had the music bug. And then my father took me down to a recording session at ACA, that was Bill Holford's place. And he put me in a chair and he said, “I’ll be in the office if you need me. Stick around because there are some musicians gonna make a recording session.” And I was kind of enjoying it, and who should walk in but B.B. King and his band. So between seeing Elvis and watching B.B. King record, it was carved in stone."

"Do you know how hard it is to fake your own death? Only one man has pulled it off — Elvis."

"Gather 'round, cats, and I'll tell you a story, about how to become an All American Boy."

"Elvis are you out there somewhere Looking like a happy man? In the snow with Rosebud And King of the Mountain."

"I'd like to wake up in the morning and hear on CNN that Elvis lives again"

"Little hellions, kids feelin' rebellious, Embarrassed their parents still listen to Elvis."