Elvis power #1 and 2

Kush · Post by **Kush** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 8:50 pm

My Way

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRUej62Amqw

Unchained Nelody

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdEJbPx76WA

lightning · Post by **lightning** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 6:20 am

Unchained was one of the last songs he sang before he died. The way he sang it he must have been thinking of his mamma. He looked like he was turning into her, then he joined her.

lizzytysh · Post by **lizzytysh** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 4:29 pm

I was really looking forward to watching and listening, but Barracuda is stopping nearly everything nowdays

. At home, I can watch but not listen.

~ Lizzy

Kush · Post by **Kush** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 5:13 pm

I was quite surprised he had such a beautiful singing voice. To me he's more like a historical figure in popular culture from the 50s but then I guess he's the same age as Leonard Cohen who's a contemporary figure, rather an elder contemporary.
I remember though reading an interview with Johnny Cash where he says that he (i.e. Cash) and Elvis along with 2 others I think demo'd together for Sun records and it was obvious even then that Elvis was the most talented and charismatic performer of the lot.

lightning · Post by **lightning** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 6:14 pm

Elvis burned the brightest at the start of his career and at the end. He does have a beautiful voice, charisma,etc, etc but was corrupted by show business, fell in with the wrong manager, lacked education and taste, you know the rest. Acting teacher Sanford Meisner said if he could have gotten a hold of Elvis he would have been as great an actor as Marlon Brando. Instead, he made a bunch of terrible movies with sound tracks just as bad. Guaralnick's books are considered the best on Elvis but they bog down in detail. I prefer watching videos.

lizzytysh · Post by **lizzytysh** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 7:09 pm

I wish acting teacher Sanford Meisner had gotten hold of him. When I see what he said, I can imagine the potential. Elvis was very emotive and with his voice, even more so. Another Marlon Brando ~ that would've been tremendous. His talent beyond recording on records really was wasted.

margaret · Post by **margaret** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 7:49 pm

Elvis was my first great love when I was much younger. It is so sad that he was controlled by a greedy and corrupt manager who determined all those terrible movies. For all his natural talent and charisma he was not the sharpest knife in the drawer, and people around him took advantage. A tragic life.

Margaret

Bobbie · Post by **Bobbie** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 6:37 am

When I was watching the video of Unchained Melody, I was struck by how unwell he looked,and it didn't have anything to do with his weight gain. I guess that was just a few weeks before he died. I remember that he died the same year I moved back to my home state of Maine from Connecticut., and he was scheduled to perform in Portland the following evening. It's one of those things you hear about when you remember exactly what you were doing, like Kennedy. In the video Kush sent, Elvis just kept looking straight ahead, singing into the mic, which was held by someone else, no interaction with the audience. Then, all of a sudden, he looked at the audience for a moment and smiled - and just at that very instant, my video relay seized up for several seconds, and I had a really good look at that smile, still as it was, and that face, for all that time. I was never a big fan of Elvis, and for some reason, I didn't fall into the fan glorification of him the same way my peers did at the time.. (I was into Louis Armstrong then.. always did love raspy voices) :--) ... but I do remember his hip swaying appearance on The Ed Sullivan "Shew"..... and for the past few years, I've been thinking I really should get one of Elvis' records so I can have a good listen.. one that has "Love Me" on it, which I think is an absolutely gorgeous song. But in the instant of that frozen smile, and I still can't quite put my finger on it.. he looked sweet, so completely childlike and vulnerable, so much in need, and so much wanting to give...and I was quite touched, in a way that I'd never been before about Elvis. Gillian Welch has a wonderful song about Elvis, on her record, "Time - The Revelator". "I dreamed last night about Elvis. Didn't he die? Didn't he die??"

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 12:03 pm

I think most people of a certain age can remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news of his death.

lightning · Post by **lightning** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 4:34 pm

I can remember where I was when I first heard Heartbreak Hotel. I sat up and stared at my radio . Wow.

lizzytysh · Post by **lizzytysh** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 5:59 pm

For some reason, I can't remember any of those moments... except seeing him on Ed Sullivan. Yours is cool, Lightning

. I've always loved Elvis's voice and songs, but I never got into fandom regarding him as a singer-celebrity. Ironically, yesterday, I borrowed some cds from a co-worker for listening to here, and there was Elvis singing Christmas songs. So, of course, listened to that. I'm glad your screen froze, Bobbie. What you saw beneath it all really was there... though I understand he was rather controlling/abusive of Priscilla.

I've never seen all of his movies. I gave up after realizing that they weren't worth suffering through to hear the music [which generally had the 'too fast' for my taste songs, anyway]. I remember "Old Shep" as one of my favourites.

~ Lizzy