Guitarists From The United States

"I loved everything about him.I grew up with singers, dancers and comics. At 15, I discovered Elvis Presley. A girl whom I wanted to take to the prom showed me a magazine clipping of her "boyfriend." It was Elvis. This guy looked like a Greek god, and then I saw him on television. I loved everything about him, so I became a fan. I always wanted to stand in the same place he stood the night he caused all the commotion at the Ed Sullivan Theatre. May I?"

"I think about Elvis all the time."

"It was my mother's Elvis concerts from the 70's on VHS tapes that first drew me to the sheer thrill of an all-you-can-eat live performance. I just had this fascination for him. I was going to the Punters Club in Fitzroy but a lot of the bands I was watching were staring at their shoes, I mean shoe gaze was massive. Then I'd go home to my mother's Elvis' tapes and nobody was owning a spotlight like that, nobody. I wanted to start a band that was putting on show. I wanted to reward people for leaving their living rooms if they were going to come out to watch a band, let's give them something visual as well as a band that sounds good."

"He is the Elvis of Sea ice Science"

"Any young man who calls his mother “baby” and speaks baby-talk with her must love her tenderly. But Elvis Presley didn't just love his mother – he worshiped her. In return, she inspired him to create a sound that would change popular music forever. It was Gladys who gave her son his first guitar for his 11th birthday, even though Elvis had preferred a bicycle. And it was his love for Gladys that prompted him to record his first song, My Happiness as a special birthday gift for her. The spiritual bond between mother and son had existed from the minute Elvis was born. On 8 January 1935 the then 22-year-old Gladys suffered a hemorrhage and barely survived giving birth to a set of twins. The first one, Jesse Garon, was stillborn, which led Gladys to believe that the surviving twin, Elvis Aaron, had inherited Jesse's soul. Elvis, she believed, was “the One”. Throughout his childhood she instilled in him how special he was. So when the studio receptionist at Sun Records asked Elvis what kind of singer he was, the 18-year-old answered, “I don’t sound like nobody.” The belief in her only son's special calling, whatever that would turn out to be, made Gladys very protective of Elvis. Over the objections of her husband, Vernon, she made sure he never spent a night away from home until he was 17. Once Elvis's musical career took off in a big way in 1956 things went south for his muse. Then, in 1958, when Elvis was drafted into the Army, she succumbed to a heart attack. After her death Elvis remained an incredibly successful artist. In 1977, at the age of 42, he died from an overdose of medications at Graceland. The date was 16 August – the very same day he had buried his beloved mother 19 years earlier and inconsolably wept, “Oh, God, everything I have is gone.”"

"Long before the plans for an actual rock museum in Cleveland were hatched, a group headed by Rolling Stone's Jann Wenner and Atlantic Records' Ahmet Ertegun started off the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with two induction ceremonies-cum-concerts, in 1986 and 1987, bringing in a total of 25 blues-and-rock groundbreakers primarily from the ‘50s, including Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Elvis Presley. Presley is in fact rock’s greatest presence, shaking a country with a single-handed nuclear reaction of country, gospel, and the blues. Along with the Beatles, he is the epitome of pop stardom as well."

"I asked him how he felt about Estes Kefauver and Adlai Stevenson from the Democratic National Convention, and about the Andrea Doria disaster, the Empire waistline in the world of fashion, and Pablo Casals, the world's greatest cellist. His answer was that he would rather keep his views to himself because he did not want to be labeled, so I left him alone. Later I found out that Elvis always enjoyed telling the story of how he managed to outsmart me and every other reporter by answering questions without really answering them."

"Wide raging voices̠ː Singers with extensions from B1 to A5. Elvis Presley's B1 may be heard on the song "Such a Night" and on "Mystery Train" an A5 is reached towards the end. Later in his career, he developed a rich baritone voice which still mastered the higher register with immense power, such as on "American Trilogy", "Unchained Melody" or the joking "Little Darlin""

"Yes, I believe I am an Elvis, the Elvis of Vallenato"

"After seeing "Jailhouse Rock", where Elvis gets out of jail and makes his own records, takes them to the radio stations himself to finally put his records in the stores, I then made records and put them in stores."

"While I was recuperating at Veterans' Hospital in Portsmouth, VA, I went to nearby Norfolk, where I first saw an up and coming singer named Elvis Presley perform at Hank Snow's All Star Jamboree. This experience changed my life. Seeing him on television, as well, I practically launched out of the hospital bed and onto the stage..."

"I was born in Greenville but raised in Farmville and went to Farmville High School, class of 1985. I always loved music and I was drawn to it. My mother had a 1964 RCA console … a big piece of furniture, and my teething marks were on that console because I was pulling up to it immediately. So from a very early age, I was drawn to music and entertainment. "He spent so much of his money on Elvis records", said his mother, that his death in 1977 probably cost the record companies thousands of dollars because I was such a huge Elvis fan and bought everything" ."

"Not only are we thrilled to take viewers into one of America's most beloved private residences, home of the late, great Elvis Presley, we are also thrilled to put the soundtrack of his legendary career behind our romantic holiday movie."

"Well, 'Viva Las Vegas,' Is was fun for Sergio and I to don special race suits for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, as we drew inspiration from Elvis, iconic gold belts and all."

"The one thing that I envy is Bill Belew having the job of dressing Elvis Presley. That job I would've liked'."

"Especially in the South, they speak about Elvis and Jesus in the same breath."

"- My earliest connection with Elvis was that my substitute English teacher at Paxton High was , who seven months later would go on to write "Heartbreak Hotel". Mae was also a show promoter and in the late spring of 1955 she brought the Show to the Gator Bowl Baseball Stadium and that was how I met Elvis. Before the start of the show, I got backstage, talked to him for a long time and then I finally introduced myself to him. He then said "Well I'm Elvis Presley" and I thought 'Wow, that's a strange name' as I had never even heard his name before that. I was there actually to see Snow who headlined and so forth, but as soon as he hit the stage I knew who he was! I'd been thinking that he was just a guitar player but when he went out on stage they came out of the bleachers, pushed so hard you just couldn't hold them back. There just wasn't enough protection as this was a Country show. Elvis was bottom of the bill that day and he hadn't even had a major hit yet, so you wonder what Snow must have thought of the reaction. That day, on May 13, 1955, was the first time I had ever seen a show with so much screaming and fan input. I'd never seen anything like that. It was unbelievable."

"I listen to Elvis Presley, Chainsmokers, Miranda Lambert, Kendrick Lamar, Taylor Swift and Royal Blood."

"There was a time when the B-side might save you. You put all that effort into making records and then not to give people an A-side and a B-side, I loved that. I used to go into someplace in Fargo and put the nickel in the jukebox, listen to Elvis on the jukebox for 4 days and then flip the record over. A lot of my stuff was B-sides and I was glad to have them. They paid the same as the A-side."

"Pope Francis sends me his personal CDs, classical but also tango, Elvis and Piaf..."

"When I was a very little girl, my aunt told me never to listen to Elvis Presley’s music. She asserted (forcefully, I might add) how Elvis (supposedly) said, “The only thing Negroes can do for me is buy my records and shine my shoes.” My aunt also declared he stole black music, so, I now ask myself, why would an African American woman defend a white man she was raised to hate? I decided on a full study and complete unmasking of falsely reported news surrounding the life and career of Elvis Presley. The truth about the invented slur lies in white liberals owning media outlets like , magazine where they could make money exploiting statements and falsifying others because so many whites during the era openly made stupid remarks against black people. So when a black radio station decided to play Elvis' music and black people started acknowledging that they listened to and bought Elvis' records, white liberals went into panic mode and the slur was invented."

"Oh I Go, I was going to die, join the 27 club, I had more pressure than anybody to record a song, even Elvis.."

"Elvis sang black music because he loved it and he helped popularize it. His first single was one side Blues, one side Hillbilly and the combination defined Rock and Roll forever."

"The only time I met him was in Las Vegas, at night, but what a time that was!!!"

"It is an honor for me to be with you, here where the most celebrated people have made history. In this iconic arena, think of this, here, where I stand, is where the King, Elvis Presley played for 80,000 screaming fans"

"I was really happy about his success, because acceptance wasn't really too great in those days unless you were a schooled singer, so it opened up a whole new thing for young performers who had not studied voice but just had feel. It made me a little sad to think that here was a man who came along and probably made one of the greatest contributions to rock n roll music ever, and people would come in and criticise his shows, (In fact), for someone to have given that much joy to that many people, he shouldn't of had to do anything but walk out on that stage and just stand there. And I sometimes wonder if people in that sense are sadistic and wait to see you fall or hope to see you fall."

"Elvis Presley? He is the greatest rock & roller."

"That's what rock'n'roll, born of blues and country music, channeled through charming, southern Christian men like Little Richard and Elvis Presley, has always done for us."

"UK singer, songwriter and guitarist Justin Young, frontman for , choosing his favorite musician of all time in an article published in the Guardian and entitled "Elvis Presley's power, Tina Turner's legs: musicians pick their biggest influences", as published on March 1, 2018."

"I know he didn't write songs but, to me, Elvis Presley was the complete artist. His voice, his song choice, his energy and attitude, his perfect hair and clothes: it felt like he'd been sent from another planet. It was incomprehensible to me that this was a man who made mistakes, or who felt sadness or loneliness. I recently visited his childhood home in Tupelo, Mississippi and it was in stark contrast to the life I'd imagined. To a child, he seemed invincible – and he made me feel it too. To watch Elvis and to listen to his songs was pure escapism and aspiration. "Blue Suede Shoes" was my first love. From as early as I can remember, I knew that if I could channel some of that raw power I saw in him, life would be better for it. I guess, like all of us, he was flawed as a man, but he was the perfect entertainer.""

"Society is always on the lookout for a cultural target for finger pointing when the establishment has issues, especially generationally with its youth. In the '50s, comic books became the easiest target to blame for the post-World War II rise of juvenile delinquency in America because certainly, society never believes anything is the fault of the establishment, itself, nor its parents, teachers, clergyman, politicians, etc. So in the early '50s, comic books were mounted on the cultural crucifix. To this day, I believe that the comic books as we know them would not have survived that attack had it not been for the emergence of Elvis Presley. Quickly, the finger turned and pointed at him, instead. Of course, this was followed by 45 RPM record burnings in cities across our nation. Over the decades, that witch-hunt of blame has moved from comic books to Elvis Presley to Saturday morning cartoons to rap to hip-hop to video games, because, again, nothing is ever the fault of society, itself...."

"Elvis Presley, for example, became a key supporter of Father Don Mowery's work, having grown up in Lauderdale Courts, one of the many Memphis housing projects well served by Youth Service during this period. Interestingly, Elvis' donations always came with a catch, namely that they never be put into the general-operating fund, but instead set aside for “special projects.” By 1985, Memphis-style programs were operating in dozens of cities all across America, father Mowery's concept generally considered the most innovative social-service effort developed between the military and civilian sectors in the late-twentieth century. And although no one knew at that time how much of an impact Elvis' contributions would have on the future of the organization, much of the funding for this national expansion came precisely from that “special projects” fund that Elvis Presley had supported in the 1960s."

"I was an officer in the Japanese Imperial Armny during WW II anfd I want to apologize to Mr. Presley for us fighting you guys. Because I am really sorry about that and given he studied karate under who was indeed a chanpion in my country, I want to gift this samurai sword to him, as a token of appreciatio. ** 's recounting of the time he brought Elvis a samurai sword all the way from Japan, as handed to, and then told by Dick Grob, head of Security at Graceland. Elvis was getting ready to bed, then came down to meet hi, but the veteran had had already left."

"The course examines the history of rock music, primarily as it unfolded in the United States, from the days before rock (pre-1955), to the end of the 1960s. It covers the music of Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Phil Spector, Bob Dylan, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and many more artists, with an emphasis both on cultural context and on the music itself. The course will also explore how developments in the music business and in technology helped shape the ways in which styles developed."

"It is not enough to reject the capitalist decadence with words, to speak out against the ecstatic singing of someone like Elvis Presley. We have to offer something better..."

"Elvis was one of the prime architects of rock and roll music. As such, he influenced several generations both musically and socially. The urgency in Presley's voice is just one part of the equation, and the ease with which he swings tells the rest of the story. Equal parts balladeer and rockabilly king, Elvis played both sides of the fence. He was both tender-love-man and hard-hitting rebel. As this collection proves, his genius was in the way he made it work."

"It has something for everyone, except perhaps Irving Berlin, who attempted to get Elvis's recording of "White Christmas" banned from radio play, deeming it "vulgar and disrespectful". And it was, which is part of the reason why the drastically rearranged tune is so memorable, as the then-young singer masticated the contemporary classic, adding his idiosyncratic dynamics and trills (the so-called educated yodels of one's vocal chords); equally irreverent and just as riveting is the King's gritty take on Leiber and Stoller's "Santa Claus Is Back in Town", one of the most sexually suggestive holiday tunes ever, and his rollicking "Here Comes Santa Claus". And who can forget the song that changed the hue of Yuletide, "Blue Christmas", or his wistful, definitive version of "I'll Be Home for Christmas", which cemented his reputation as pop's top dreamboat. Along with Phil Spector's "Christmas Gift for You", this is arguably the finest Rock & Roll Christmas album of all-time, a seasonal yet essential recording belonging under any Christmas tree."

"I was 11 when he died, but I remember that. He gave Ali that robe. Everybody loved him. He was a beautiful person in real life."

"Blue laws began in Texas in 1863 and were still being passed in 1961. Many states prohibited the selling of alcoholic beverages on and off premises in one form or another on Sundays, or at restricted times. Also, blue laws of Texas did not prohibit most businesses being open on Sundays, but all of the restrictions made it impractical to open. Can anyone imagine when some Sunday shopping was a crime? If this blue law was still in effect today, we would all go to jail and cause a Jailhouse Rock with an 8.6 magnitude on the musical Richter scale like Elvis did back in his heyday."

"I'd really love to bump Elvis"

"This is the best way to hear Elvis the Superstar, with "Hound Dog," (1956),"All Shook Up,(1957), "Are You Lonesome Tonight" (1960), and the ever zany "Suspicious Minds" (1969), still sounding fresh and immediate —impressive given how many times most the world has heard them —, and showing off the diversity of Elvis' singing, from the purity of his gospel falsetto to his rock and roll purr."

"But even the power of organized religion paled beside the personal changes I felt come over me in the mid-1950s when I heard Elvis Presley's "Mystery Train" on the radio for the first time. Determined to get a berth of my own on the fast-moving train of rock 'n' roll, I quickly made my way up to Memphis and the legendary Sun Studios. There, I talked producer Sam Phillips into giving me a shot at making some records of his own."

"You want me to describe Elvis? Wow!!"

"So I picked up the two Guralnick biographies and started reading them, and as you do if you're reading books about music, you start listening to the tracks as you're going along. Before I'd finished the first book I became a diehard Elvis fan, and by the time I'd finished the second one I had an Elvis tattoo. He might not have written his own songs, but he was the master producer and engineer of his generation. It's also popular opinion to say that the original Hound Dog is better, but no it fucking isn't. That's just bollocks. Elvis' version of that song is lightyears ahead, and if you listen to the two of them back-to-back you can hear what he was doing. This was obviously the ‘50s so it was all cut live, and he’d stand in the middle of the room with all the musicians around him and they’d do 60 takes in a row. He’d be like, ‘Bar three, verse two; drop that F sharp to an E. Now let’s do it again.’ He was in full control of his vision. It's taken me until my mid-30s to realise it, and when I was younger I didn't really get it."

"The pace could be brutal between touring and schedules, but Vegas was best. The Turners' annual stays at the International, later the Hilton, allowed them to bring the kids along, sometimes taking all four of them to the big room to catch Elvis' extravaganza and he would have the whole family stand for a round of applause."

"Well, this was during the time that Elvis Presley was driving a gravel truck and we were playing on 11th Street and they didn't allow whites there. It was a whole black street. And at that time I didn't know who Elvis was, whether he was a musician, he was just a guy that I liked. He liked music, so I liked him because he liked music. I'm assuming that was it and we had some form of rapport together. So I would slip him into the back of the club, the piano sitting like this and the back door was sitting there and I would sit him and have him behind the piano, because in those days I would stand up to play the piano, and I'd play the piano backwards and just clowning with the piano. But I never knew that this guy was even an entertainer. But meantime, I'm just assuming a year or so, I hear this "Blue Suede Shoes" but I never put this with this guy at all. I don't even connect the two. And many years later, in Las Vegas, I was playing the lounge room at the International Hotel, and Elvis was in the main room, but you know I never was interested in other acts, you know, I always was interested, like if I get to know you, OK, but for me to go over there, Red Foxx was in the lounge also at that time. And one night, I won some thousand dollars, and I was coming down through the back, had all this big old rack of chips and stuff and this white guy says, "Hey you don't remember me?" And I said no. So that's when he [Elvis] told me that he was the one that used to come to West Memphis and hide behind the piano, in this black club. You know, it was amazing, you know?"

"Even as we focus on perhaps the final election of the 2018 season in North Carolina's 9th District, pundits and scholars are already debating whether or not there was a “blue wave” during the 2018 election, or if it was an Elvis Presley-like “Blue Christmas” for the Democrats, a missed opportunity for the party."

"It really puts perspective on things, though, doesn't it?"

"Even Plato, I think, said that you need to be trained in government, to exercise it, to practice it. But the American public is now satisfying itself with being interested in entertainers. I was at a seminar a few weeks ago down at the Smithsonian. They held a conference on the subject of the hero. And I guess I should have realized that this was what it was about, that the level would not be exactly my idea of a hero. And it certainly was not. It was quite weird, what they considered heroes. The real hero of the discussion was this little girl who’d fallen down a well, and everybody was rescuing her. I mean, after all, she didn’t do anything to make herself a hero. She was just in the news. And another hero they discussed was Elvis Presley"

"It was the very first day on set and I was so nervous. Everyone was having lunch and I really didn't feel like eating because I was that nervous. So I decided to go take a nap and if I was needed on set, they would call me. I went to my trailer and the air conditioner wasn't working. I was just hysterical -- really hysterical. I thought, ‘Oh no, this isn’t happening.’ You could only imagine how hot it was. And there was no one around because everyone was having lunch. There must be an air conditioner there. I thought. All of a sudden, there was a hand stopping me. I immediately apologized without even looking up. And I was told, ‘That’s Elvis’ dressing room. You can't just go in. I'm going to have to ask if you're allowed." At that moment, I didn’t see Presley, but I was given the green light to hang out in his room. Upon entering, I immediately felt the relief of a running air conditioner and collapsed on a nearby couch. When I opened my eyes after a restful sleep, I saw Presley’s face closely staring right back at me. He was putting a cold compress on my face. He thought I must have passed out or something, He was absolutely beautiful. I mean, people with great voices are attractive to me, but this was something else. I didn’t even know what to say because I was so shocked. And then he went, ‘Don’t worry about it. I just want you to feel good. Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat? Are you thirsty?’ I couldn't even talk!” I was overwhelmed by everything I was experiencing. He smelled like baby powder and milk. But he just kept insisting if I needed or wanted anything. Elvis also had told me I could stay for as long as I liked and not to worry about it. After he left, I eventually got up and stepped outside where I saw Presley surrounded by his entourage. At the time, he was fascinated by martial arts and when I told him I knew Bruce Lee, then that was another reason we bonded easily. He was a Southern Baptist and my family was very Christian, so we had already connected from that alone. He was very spiritual. I remember the last time we spoke, we were hanging out in his trailer. He just looked at me and said, ‘Keep that light burning baby.’ And that was it. I guess he lost his light. Couldn't find his way home, you know? I truly feel he just worked himself to death. It was very tragic.”"