All Quotes

"A style and panache that come close to pure magic. Lithe, raunchy, the sweat pouring down his face, he now moves with the precision of an athlete, the grace of a dancer, flamboyant and flashy, sexy and self-mocking, he works with the instincts of a genius to give poetry to the basic rock performance."

"Elvis Presley was an important influence to my generation and we all loved him very much. I wrote a song called “All Over the World,” influenced so much by his ballad "Where do you come from" that the British musician I was working with, Charles Blackwell, put backing singers behind me who sounded exactly like the Jordanaires. I think that had something to do with the success that song had in England. Back in the ’60s, when Elvis wasn’t performing, I always said, “The day he comes back to the stage, I will go to see his show.” When it happened, at the beginning of the ’70s, I made the trip to Las Vegas. I was not disappointed at all. I was amazed."

"As it is, polls show the public’s trust in the Knesset is devastatingly low. So, if you oppose the death penalty, the fact that the coalition is legitimizing it is a problem. And if you support the death penalty, the fact that this bill will probably change nothing is a problem. The same goes for any of the other bills. What the Knesset needs now is what Elvis Presley once called a little less conversation, a little more action – if only the coalition partners will let that happen."

"During the course of their mili­tary action, they became the largest manufacturer of bikes in the world, and through their popularity their reputation and bold image be­came instant staples of the brand. Surprisingly, it was 46 years after the company’s founding that the black leather jacket famous with Harley riders emerged. The outlaw image of riders rocking their jackets on-top of their Harley’s transcended culture with movie actors, legendary singers and superstars, such as Marlon Brando and Elvis Presley."

"I pretty much started acting out of the womb, all kidding aside, it started when I was at Lebanon High school, actually at the library. It was not long after Elvis died when I had actually started listening to all of his records, so one of my buddies at the football team asked me to do my Elvis imitation, right there so I said I no, and then they said to just do it quietly, and I said that if I did it, it had to be loud, so I went into "Teddy Bear", and they all liked it, and then they all started to move closer to where I was seated, so then I stood up and it was kind of festive, because it was around Xmas. And then I got on top of a table, and the response was so great that I sort of became a performer, without knowing it. What happened next is that Robin Rogers, a beautiful girl at the school, who knew me as "the best football player" and was there, came up to me and said that she was involved with the school theatre, and that I should join her there, and be an actor. So I did become one, and it was all thanks to Elvis and Robin..."

"Some horses enjoy greater popularity after they've won the Derby. Silver Charm who won the 1997 Kentucky Derby, today lives out his retirement at Old Friends Farm in Georgetown, Kentucky. The owners of the farm say that tours of Old Friends Farm have doubled since Silver Charm retired there, likening his appeal to that of Elvis Presley's."

"Atheism is not a philosophy, not even a view of the world; it is simply an admission of the obvious. In fact, 'atheism' is a term that should not even exist. No one needs to identify himself as a 'non-astrologer' or a 'non-alchemist.' We do not have words for people who doubt that Elvis is still alive or that aliens have traversed the galaxy only to molest ranchers and cattle. Atheism is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make in the presence of unjustified religious beliefs.”"

"Many people have been giving him trouble for swinging his hips. I swing mine and have no trouble. He’s got publicity I could not buy"

"If ever there were a human equivalent to liver and onions—hated or loved, but no in-between—it was the late E. Hunter Harrison, personally synonymous with the term “Precision Scheduled Railroading,” and whose mention invokes often disquieting debate on theories of management and how best to deliver shareholder value in the short-and long-term. Say “Hunter,” and contemporary railroaders know precisely of whom you speak, a most complex disrupter of the status quo, equally identifiable in his bold pinstriped suits and excessive displays of rock-star-like bling conceivably masking an extension of his childhood infatuation with Elvis Presley."

"Baz Luhrmann's "Elvis" comes out in the summer, and I play B.B. King. That’s really cool, I’m really excited for people to see it. It’s going to be epic,”"

"I met him later at Madison Square Garden. And at that time, I had my uniform, the worn-out denim jacket and jeans—looked like a rag-man and I had a big beard and moustache and long hair down to my waist. They took me to meet him and I'm sitting there, thinking "Well, where’s Elvis, then?" And finally he came out of the back and he was immaculate. I felt like a real grubby little slug and he looked like Lord Siva or something, seemed to be about eight feet tall and his hair was black and his tan was perfect and he had this big white suit, a gold belt about four feet wide and he was towering above me so I just put a hand out and said "Hello, Elvis, how are you?"—just cowering like this little rag-man. (In fact) we all loved him and he's still there in his spirit and in his music...ii) Jesus Christ said "Put your own house in order"' and Elvis said "Clean up your own backyard" so if everybody tries to fix themselves up, rather than trying to fix everybody else up, there won't be a problem."

"“How would I describe it? Elvis Presley. Michael Jackson"

"Elvis was great, and it took me so long to realize it. As I got older, I figured this man was the real deal."

"If it once was assumed that Elvis fans defined themselves by class, and were predominantly from the lowers stratas, this is an assumption that has long been confounded. His fans are also Presidents, Prime Minister and royals. In May 2014, Prince William and his brother Prince Harry and their cousins went to Memphis for a friend's wedding. In spite they were born after Elvis death, the power of Elvis mystique made them pay their respects just like millions have..."

"Red, maybe, but Reed was no Elvis"

"He is visionary in the spirit of the savior of the venerable New York Times, Adolph Ochs or, better yet, Elvis...."

"Presley's long-time manager admitted it to me, over tea, that the real reason why my attempts to bring Elvis to London had failed, was his own uncertain immigration status. Parker was an illegal and didn't want to risk leaving the US – so it was him, not Elvis,”"

"There are so many layers there. I think his voice is otherworldly. It has a soulfulness that I find very, very moving. And his beauty, his exquisite beauty. That voice, that beauty, it feels like such a gift to the world. He’ll always be a huge figure in my life. I was fascinated with Elvis as a child. You hear it in the voice, you know. Me, as a singer, I think we don’t talk enough about what artists are actually doing. We talk about their lives, and find out more about their history. But when you actually just listen to his voice, it’s incredible. It’s unlike anything else, so moving. It’s beyond my comprehension. I can’t even describe in words how magnificent his voice is."

"Elvis, they say, died in 1977, the very same year Orrin began serving in the United States Senate. At the White House, they had just a single medal for the two of them..."

"Elvis Presley, the quintessential American singer. One of the most celebrated and influential musicians of the 20th century. Forty-one years after his death, he still commands a large and loyal following. His Memphis home Graceland has recorded over 20 million visitors since it opened to the public in 1982."

"I met him at the NBC set of "Laugh in" in June of 1968 because he used to rehearse in the studio for his NBC special that year. Anyways, in walks this guy, and he was soooo beautiful, that it just took my breath away, everybody's breath away. And he walked up to me, and he tussled my hair, and he said 'You look like a chicken that's just been hatched'. 'And I didn't know what to think, I thought it was a compliment. But my god, I've never met a guy with so much charisma in my life'"

"Elvis was a giant and influenced everyone in the business."

"This guy didn’t have to give me the time of day. But somehow he had that charm, or maybe it was a knack, of making me feel important at a time when it was important for me personally to be made to feel important. Perhaps, now, I see it clearer, but there is no getting away from it. I had never met — before or since — never read of, nor heard of, any man who could so totally disarm you with charm, generosity and what appeared to be spontaneous love, as could Elvis Presley. Today they use the word charisma. Well, Presley had it to spare in truckloads.”"

"Sorry, Elvis, but you have always been my idol and, if I had just shaken your hand when we were introduced a second ago, you would have not necessarily remembered me, but now that I went down to the floor and bit your ankle, you will"

"I just loved him!!!"

"I've been fascinated with that guy Elvis all my life because I know there is an extraordinary human being underneath that two dimensiuonal facade we see culturally. In fact, I've always been captivated by stories that humanize iconic figures, and Elvis may be the most iconic of all. He was a cultural lightning rod in the 1950s, but by the mid-60s he was culturally irrelevant. As a fan I've always wondered why he didn't do more to satisfy his musical ambitions, and as a filmmaker I've always wondered how much it hurt Elvis the human to see Elvis the icon fade into obscurity. I originally pitched this film as a sports movie: this is an aging superstar with one final chance to throw a Hail Mary and prolong his dying career. If he fails, he's finished. If he succeeds, he continues on. Not only did he succeed, he delivered one of the most indelible performances in music history. This is the story of a stunning triumph amidst overwhelming adversity"

"I remember the revelation it was to me when I realized I'd rather be smart in the way Elvis Presley was than in the way, say, Ludwig Wittgenstein was. The thing was, you could imagine you could be smart like Wittgenstein by just thinking hard enough, but Elvis just had it. It was almost spiritual. A kind of grace."

"We were on location in Crystal River, FL (Weeki Wachee Mermaid Show), where I had him all to myself when what seemed like thousands of people showed up to see him there. They were standing behind a wire fence meant to keep them away from him and I was really overwhelmed by it, because I'd never seen such madness for someone. He then sent me back to the place we were all staying and remained there signing autographs for about three or four hours. And I was so touched by that. He really revered his fans. He was lovely with them. I was very impressed and it was really one more thing to love Elvis for."

"I got to see him twice. The first time he played the Catholic Club, which was like a gymnasium at the local Catholic high school. He and Scotty Moore and Bill Black — a three piece. He was hot. He wasn't famous yet but he was hot. I think he had put out, like, three records that I had heard. The girls were there, too and you couldn't really hear because they were starting to act up."

"I just had to make my own version of one of my favourite songs from Elvis! The idea was to respect the original whilst adding my own “twist”. I had a hard time coming up with a cover art that would be “kitsch” enough for this one. Then I looked over at my cats and there they were – sleeping in an almost-heart-shaped position! Click! Anyway, here is a song to get you in to the right mood while preparing for your Valentine’s Day’s date, or to send to your loved ones to tell them how important they are!“"

"One of his favourite musicians to watch was Elvis Presley. In fact, Jimi specially idolized him, loved his music but more than that he liked the passion he showed on stage ii) He'd play for me all the time when I was a kid. After our mother was gone it was hard on me, and I had a hard time sleeping some nights. Jimi would hear me crying sometimes and come sit on the bed next to me and play me songs on the guitar to help me relax until I could fall asleep. He played a lot of Elvis songs to me, especially "Love me tender" and Heartbreak Hotel." iii) My uncle Al at the time was having financial difficulties so Jimi came to live with us, for about a year, and he would play the guitar on a broomstick, so at that time we are all listening to Elvis Presley. iv) In 1969, I was sitting next to Jimi when Elvis Presley's new Soulful recording of 'Suspicious Minds' had just came out and the DJ started playing it. Jimi reached for the radio, turned up the volume and started singing along. 'Great song'. He was excited Elvis was coming back with new music and live performing. v) Back at the BBC, he chose a bluesie list that included his tribute to Elvis Presley, with Hound Dog, a crowd pleaser which would start to creep into many of his later live shows."

"You`ve got to be progressive. Take Elvis. He's still got plenty of fans and just look at the progress he´s made on his bank statements..."

"Yes, life has taught me not to leave anything for tomorrow. I've made a list, some are personal, intimate, others are places I have to visit before I die, like going to Japan, which I did two weeks ago. And, it all actually started when I was at the intensive care unit, and all I kept thinking was that I wasn't going to make it to see Elvis' house."

"In keeping with the spirit of the week, Senator Ernst introduced the "Cost Openness and Spending Transparency Act (COST Act) after a report released this week from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) identified several government projects which did not follow the guidelines, incluiding a $90,000 NIH study focused on a sour cream and onion flavored potato chip resembling Elvis Presley."

"When I visited Graceland, I expected rhinestones and shag carpet. I didn’t expect to be emotionally moved. As I toured the house, I found myself increasingly wrapped up in the story of Elvis’s private life. Graceland uses iPads and headphones for self-guided tours, which provide narration, archival images and options that allow you to learn more about each room. I hadn’t fully appreciated how versatile Elvis was as an artist — or how young. He recorded his first song at 18, and by 23 he was already a global star. And by 42, he was gone. As I made my way through the complex, I was struck by the epic scale of Elvis’s short-but-eventful life. In just 42 years, Elvis made more than 30 films, performed over 1,600 live shows and built a fan base that spanned the globe. The tour gave me a sense for his charisma, kindness and crowd-pleasing charm, but also the fatigue, the pressure and the toll of his relentless fame. For me, the most moving part of the tour was the Meditation Garden, Elvis’s final resting place. He is buried there alongside his parents, grandmother and a memorial to his stillborn twin brother. The space is quiet with flowers, fountains and a low stone wall that curves around the graves. After all the flash and fame on display, this part of Graceland tells a more personal story, one that feels unexpectedly tender.Before going to Graceland, I thought I had a pretty clear picture of Elvis, from his early stardom to Vegas glitz. But being there added layers I didn’t expect. Graceland is not just a museum about a musician: it’s a window into a unique American life and a reflection of the era that shaped it."

"I would occasionally miss the bus that took me from my post back to my living quarters. When that happened, a fellow soldier in my battalion, the most celebrated soldier in the Army, Elvis Presley, who lived a few doors away would offer me a ride. And despite all the hoopla surrounding his military service, he remained remarkably humble and grounded. I'd first met him at Fort Hood in Texas and saw each other every day while we finished training in a M48 tank battalion. After six months, our company was then shipped off to Germany. There Elvis lived a few doors from me. In fact, throngs of German girls camped out in front of his residence. If he revealed in all the attention, he didn’t show it, was kind of on the shy side and wasn’t one to shout out, ‘I’m Elvis Presley the superstar.’ He just kind of kept to himself. But keeping to himself also didn't mean he was aloof. Out in the field, he wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty and never shied away from the work that was expected of him, and the rest of the tank company. After our two-year enlistment ended we parted ways and wouldn't see each other again until 1972, a short time before he was to play a concert at the old Chicago Stadium. I knew a Chicago police watch commander who was working security that night and although the police tried to stop us, my wife and I, from getting backstage at first, Elvis saw them and talked with them for a few minutes. It was the last time we would see or talk to him."

"In 1982, we went to Washington DC, and did the tour of the FBI Building, visited Pres. Kennedy's grave at Arlington Memorial and had our pictures taken outside the White House. From there we went to Graceland. Pablo loved Elvis. While we were there he bought his entire record collection. From that moment on, he played his tapes all the time, even danced like him. In 1991, when we first surrendered to the Colombian Army authorities, that collection was one of the few things he took to prison with him. When we escaped from prison a year later, we could not take it with us even if we had wanted to. The reason? It had been just stolen by a jail mate, something Pablo deeply regretted..."

"i) And as a human being? As long as I live, I know I will never see anyone have such a profound effect on people. He could make anyone feel like he was the most important person in the world just by talking with him. He had charisma and charm that is just indescribable and he didn't even have to sing. When Elvis entered a room, you could feel the energy of his presence tingle at your nerves because the power of his magnetism was that intense and Elvis was just as perplexed by this phenomenon as you or I. He was a humble man but keenly aware of his unique gifts and spent most of his life searching the spirituality, over and over throughout his life asking himself, Why me? Since his death I have asked myself the same question, “why me?” and why, of all the people Elvis met in the service, did he pay special attention to me? In fact, why was I even in the Army? Did destiny lead me into the Army for the sole purpose of meeting Elvis Presley? Why was I selected to become “right hand man to the most celebrated entertainer in history, and to be chosen by Elvis Presley as a best man at his wedding? ii) When you worked for Elvis it wasn’t eight hours a day or 10 hours a day. It was 24 hours a day, seven days a week, because we did everything together. went on vacations together, traveled together. Everything we ever did we all did it together."

""I was in Washington studying music and wanted to meet the perfect boyfriend, get married, etc. But for some reason I also wanted to visit a convent in Nashville but had no money to finance the trip, so a friend who was going to Graceland to pay her respects offered me a ride and, as a result and thank God for Elvis, I became a nun!!"

"Alemayehu Eshete is one of the most popular singers to emerge from the golden age of music in the capital Addis Ababa. His “rock n roll funk” stylings and Elvis manner of dress and way of acting has given him “dint of rampant Americanism,” as well as the nickname of The Ethiopian Elvis,"

"Well, Jesus and I are Capricorns, and Elvis Presley was born on the same day as me. I read an article the other day about only children and about they being more successful because they never have to compete for love,"

"By virtue of Elvis Presley being Mississippi's most beloved son."

"It had been expected for a half a million dollars to be raised from the music festival which included appearances by Elvis Presley, B.B. King, Mahalia Jackson, the Staple Singers, the Dells and others, including the Rolling Stones. With the money raised, plans had been made to use part of it for some work to be done on the Robert F. Kennedy Park and Playground in Fayette. More than 47 years later, the then Mayor Charles Evers finally revealed that Presley, who along with the Stones did not participate in the festival, had wanted to come and perform there, especially because of his being a huge follower of B.B. King. Evers said he and his brother, Medgar, fought for change because they knew Mississippi would be the greatest state in the nation if that change took place. With the nomination of Evelyn Gandy, James Hardy, Aaron Henry, Ida B. Wells and Elvis he now believes Mississippi is one of the greatest states to live in..."

"I guess I should have set a price before I set foot in the boat, but I felt pretty ritzy later that day as we stepped into our gondola. "How much to sing "O Sole Mio?" I asked. I had been taken with the song and Venice since seeing it in movies. If there was one piece of music associated with Venice and its canals, it was this. I knew that Pavarotti had recorded it. So had Caruso. And Mario Lanza. And Elvis Presley, recently released from the Army, had a version written for him called "It's Now Or Never." Without missing a beat the gondolieri told me, "Sixty dollars, U.S." He put his oar in the water and we splashed off. He was a pretty good singer, actually, and I imagined that we were in an old MGM Technicolor musical. My wife Roz was smiling and I was thinking, Yeah, this is a magical moment. I thought about imagining this moment from the time I was growing up in Brooklyn, and that I probably never would have wanted anything better. When we had gotten married all those years before, taking a gondola on a Venice canal, listening to "O Sole Mio" and "It's now or never", it wasn't something I even dared consider. It would have been a fantasy. Now, I was living that fantasy as we held hands and he wound up with a full-throated last note. When the sail ended, I peeled off three twenty-dollar bills, and thanked him. We walked away, humming."

"I really am a big Elvis fan – at six foot three I’m one of the biggest. In all the excitement about accompanying the Beatles to their meeting with Elvis, I sent my suit to the cleaners to prepare for the big meeting. However, the cleaners had sewn up my pockets where I kept a bunch of guitar picks that I always had on hand for the boys. So, inevitably when Elvis asked for a guitar pick that night, I went into a panic. I couldn’t access the picks in my sewn-up pockets, so I frantically ran into the kitchen and smashed up a bunch of plastic spoons to create makeshift picks. I’d have loved to have given Elvis a pick, have him play it, then got it back and had it framed."

"In 1956, cast me as a bullfighter in the film adaptation of 's "The Sun Also Rises", with most of the cast as well as Hemingway himself opposing me. But when Zanuck saw me learning the trade in Mexico, he said “The kid stays in the picture. And anybody who doesn’t like it can quit.” By 1957, when the film opened, I was receiving more mail than anyone else at Twentieth Century Fox, apart from Elvis Presley."

"I remember when I first saw Elvis, I had been playing guitar since I was 8, so then I saw him I said, WOW, finally people are gonna know what a guitar is. (After him) it was cool to have a guitar around your neck, when before, it wasn't""

"The moment I first saw him, the presence he had, wow, he was so beautiful, and had such a charisma that no one could even utter a word. Anyways, a couple of days later, at the MGM Commissary, which was a gigantic place, you know, full of stars, directors, I was seated in a table, my back was facing the door, and then everybody started to get up, and they were all rushing outside, so I turned around and you know, when you are trying to look through a glass, with the sun behind you, so you kind of cover your face, and it was Elvis, outside, looking for me, inside, so there he was, at one of the lowest times in his career, and all 700 people, many celebrities themselves, rush and try to meet him. He almost didn't have a chance to survive THAT kind of celebrity..."

"Then candidate Joe Biden, didn't even run for President in 2020. The press ran for him against Donald Trump. In fact, there were more Elvis sightings in the summer of 2020 than Biden's sightings"

"Had he not kissed, he'd be our Jesus."