Liane Wakabayashi, formerly Tokyo, now in Jerusalem
Being a dog lover … Ain’t Nothin’ but a Hound Dog! I’m sure Cinnamon our dauchsy pooodle wouldn’t be pleased to be called a hound dog! Here’s a very interesting story beyond dogs, about Elvis’s Jewish family history. https://aish.com/48945606/
Old friend, Karen Bell, Brisbane, Queensland
I would like to speak for someone else, for my daughter’s mother-in-law, Joey. There was an Elvis song played at her wedding in 1982. It was Can’t Help Falling in Love, recorded by Elvis in 1961. There have been over 400 cover versions, from the usual suspects like Perry Como, Val Doonican and Michael Bublé, and from less likely singers such as Bono, Shirley Bassey and Bob Dylan. Joey said it always brought back beautiful memories of their wedding day, especially the tune. She also loved Patch it up and Burning Love, adding that she found it funny now thinking back to what appealed to her as a ten-year-old … especially a song with lines like:
It’s coming closer,
The flames are reaching my body,
Please won’t you help me,
I feel like I’m slipping away,
It’s hard to breathe
And my chest is a-heaving.
Joey was recently involved in a fundraiser for mental health, providing the music for it. There was a fashion parade of wedding dresses over the years. My dress looked as good as new. Guess what song I played? Yes, the one with the lines:
Wise men say
Only fools rush in
But I can’t help falling in love with you
Shall I stay?
Would it be a sin
If I can’t help falling in love with you?
Old Tokyo Friend, Claire O’Conner, now named Lili Castille running a dog refuge in Georgia (Not the USA one!)
Claire and I taught at the same English school in Tokyo in the 1980s, and I recall she went sometimes to the Hard Rock Café in Roppongi. I’m sure there was a bunch of Elvis hits played often on their jukebox.
She said her husband, Lance likes Heartbreak Hotel because it’s such a great blues song. It was recorded with Elvis’s band, The Blue Moon Boys in early 1956 at RCA, Nashville, the guitarist Chet Atkins and on piano was Floyd Cramer. Claire’s own favourites are Don’t be Cruel, for reason such a solid danceable rock song, and You’re so Square, covered by Joni Mitchell in the 1970s.
David Gilbey (In Japanese, “Debidogirubi”), Wagga Wagga, Australia
Umm … Elvis … before I was an adolescent, in England, my mother was secretary of the local (Swindon?) Elvis fan club. I’m sure I absorbed Elvis with my shredded wheat! For her and perhaps for the growing me, Elvis represented a new, archaic hound dog energy defying the staid, conservative conventions binding us to past values.
Mum liked Jailhouse Rock and Blue Hawaii but it was the film noir, King Creole that had most impact on me: I found it a dark, moody film in which Elvis played a ‘rebel’ struggling to find his way after he dropped out of school. His father was unemployed and in trying to be a singer young Danny had to deal with seedy & violent small-time criminals and gangs. I noted later that critics saw this as a rare ‘social conscience’ movie and that Elvis regarded Danny as one of his favourite roles. For the young me, Carolyn Jones was a sultry magnet, a glimpse into adult sexual allure which I could barely understand. The songs Hard-headed Woman and Trouble struck a chord. His words and rhythms were a voice and figuration for a new generation.
As an early adolescent I remember being drawn to the lovelorn ballads: Fools Rush In, Love Me Tender, Don’t Be Cruel and Crying in the Chapel, projecting my own wistful and self-conscious desires onto the world. I also delighted in his brash, pulsating rock ‘n’ roll: he was the new enfant terrible on the block, shocking the conservative adult generation with his jiving, sensual Blue Suede Shoes. I also liked Wooden Heart, enjoying trying to pronounce the German, having no idea at all of the language.
As my tastes in music changed to reflect my own development, I preferred Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones in senior high school and university, as well as the mind-blowing worlds of classical music. Elvis seemed to belong more to a parochial 1950s American notion of masculinity & celebrity.
But later, as a visiting professor, teaching English at Miyagi Gakuin Women’s University in Sendai, Japan, I found myself playing with Elvis’s half-rhyme in Return to Sender for a poem title, Return to Sendai which focuses on a return in spring to the energetic creativity of Japanese university women students taking huge poetic licence, their ‘Jinglish’ redefining standard English with hilarious and haunting word-play. In the editing process the title changed to ‘Back Again’ and the poem was included in the Fine Line Press collection Forty Stories of Japan.
Though the grammar is different, I believe. I am unbelievably alive! The King is dead! Long live the King!
Claire Guy, Nelson, NZ
Crying in the Chapel was the first 45 rpm record I bought.
Colin MacDougall, Researcher in Public Health, Adelaide
I Can’t Help Falling in Love With You” … that’s the song not the statement!
Oz has a huge number of Elvis impersonators and an annual Elvis festival in Parkes! (See below: The Parkes Elvis Festival, New South Wales).
I heard a late Elvis “Las Vegas Live” version of “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” with the memorable ad lib of “Don’t you wish your bald head had hair.” Makes sense when you sing it!
Harvey McVeigh, Edinburgh
Easy! “Have a drink, have a drink, have a drink on me / Everybody have a drink on me!”
Oh dearie me! Maybe that wasn’t Elvis. Now I hear and see Lonnie Donegan doing it. OK, how about Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright? – glad I did a moment ago! And yes I know it’s a Bob Dylan song, probably very happy that Elvis covered it.
Judy Epstein, Lyme Regis, England
I was born in1955, so as a young child when Elvis was popular I was too young to appreciate his beautiful voice. What I knew was what little kids were attracted to, novelty songs like Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, a hit for Brian Hyland in 1960. If I heard some of Elvis’s songs now I’d probably know them, perhaps remembering them from on the radio when I was little. What a voice!
James Borowczyk, Christchurch and Wanaka, NZ
All Shook Up. There are a good few more like Suspicious Minds, You’re the Devil in Disguise, Now or Never, Return to Sender, Blue Suede Shoes. I was a member of the Elvis Fan Club way back in the early 1960s … aye, when I was at school!
I am not a huge fan. However, the one Elvis song that means a lot me is Return to Sender. It was released in Sept., 1962 and became a #1 hit. I was about 10. My father was in the Canadian army and, at that time, we were living in West Germany. I can recall it clearly. We had an Opel and it came on the radio. Dad hummed along and I was getting into it. I said, “I like the song, but what does ‘return descender’ mean?” Dad burst out laughing and tried to explain why a letter from a boyfriend to a girlfriend would not be welcomed. It was over my head. I always enjoyed getting letters from my grandmother. Ever since then, I hear the same mondegreen, and it takes me right back.
I like Jailhouse Rock because Spider Murphy played the sax.
I guess my favourite is Hound Dog.
Alan McDonald, Barnsley, England
Thanks for your message about favourite songs of “The King.” I recall his hits a very long time ago, great to remember a few of them.
Back then he was referred to as “Elvis the Pelvis” for very good reason. I remember telling this to a couple of bullies in Auchterarder during primary school days. As a result of their ignorance, I didn’t come out of that encounter well. Never mind, I don’t think they did very well in later life but I hope they liked Elvis the Pelvis!
The song that sticks with me has the line with a great melody:
“It’s only love, and love is all I have to steal your heart away.” The Bee Gees wrote it and they had the verb there as “take your heart away”. If you’re Elvis you can change words!
I thought that some of Elvis’s films were entertaining, superior to most of the musicals of the time. I recall a lot of coverage of his time in the U.S. army.
Michael Portillo, presenter on Great Train Journeys paid a visit to Memphis on one of his American tours, and of course visited Graceland, Elvis’s home. I had forgotten the abject poverty in which Elvis grew up. Still, “the kid dun good” with his distinctive voice and swivel-hip style.
Jen just said to tell you an Elvis “nugget” you might like. The Duchess of Devonshire, first name Deborah, the youngest of the Mitford sisters, was a great fan of Elvis – his rendition of “How Great Thou Art” was played at her funeral. That’s worth giving some thought to while we’re still able to! Deborah’s sister Diana Mitford married Sir Oswald Mosley, founder of the British Union of Fascists.
Here’s a good one! I came across a wee piece lately that has a slight Elvis connection. Do hope it’s not too morbid. The article was about pet cemeteries, mainly in the US. There was a photo of a large black marble headstone. Within it were embedded images of Elvis and of a basset hound dog, probably Sherlock, one of Elvis’s many dogs. Anyway, this little one was one of the doggies to whom Elvis would sing Hound Dog on stage during concerts while on tour. The dog would usually wear a top hat, a nice touch.
After Elvis died, there were reports of seeing him and also of people actually being him. “Wannabe Elvises” after he’d died! I came across a song from 1981 by Kirsty MacColl. It’s called: There’s a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis.
Margaret Stewart, Somerset, England (writer/translator French and English)
You Were Always On My Mind is one of my favourite Elvis songs, simply because it’s so poignant.
As a classical music fan, I came late to pop music: at school someone asked me whether I preferred Cliff or Elvis and I really didn’t know, as my favourite singer at that time was Renata Tebaldi. That didn’t go down well! However I soon made up for lost time and today am astonished that I clearly remember the words to any number of hits from the past, when I’ve forgotten what’s on the shopping list.
You Were Always On My Mind resonates with me as my life has seen so many partings: I married in 1970 and moved from Perth to Bristol, leaving my parents, brother and friends behind. In due course, my daughter left home and busied herself with her own family, and after a couple of years in Leeds, my son went to live in Holland; when he came back it was to Plymouth, still too far away for regular contact.
Next, I remarried and went to live in the south of France, tearing myself away from not only my family but also the dear friends I had made over my 30 years in Somerset; then 16 years later, I made the same journey in reverse, returning alone to England, where I had all but lost touch with my British pals, yet now missed my French friends just as much.
In all those years spent apart from those I loved, the worst feeling was that I couldn’t be ‘there’ for them. While I missed all the spontaneous celebrations, all the parties and simple days out or picnics – in fact all the minutiae of daily life – even worse was the fact that couldn’t be present for them in times of sadness or need.
The song’s lyrics start: “Maybe I didn’t love you quite as often as I could have; maybe I didn’t treat you quite as good as I should have” containing the supreme poignancy for me: the missed opportunities to say how much I loved and appreciated their company and their friendship; and in many cases it’s now too late, for they’ve gone forever.
So when I hear this song, while I am reminded of all the people I’ve lost, far more importantly it reminds me to tell my dear ones how much they mean to me; how well the new haircut suits them; how wise they were to change jobs, and how truly glad I am to see them.
Love makes the world go round: You Were Always On My Mind sends a powerful message to us never to neglect a chance to tell other people that we love them, whoever they are and whatever degree of love we feel. Do it now, before it’s too late!
Rhys Gwilliam, Sydney, Australia
In The Ghetto from 1969. One of Elvis’s few songs with a social message which has never lost its social relevance. Sorry, but not a song that reflects the Swinging sixties but does confirm how great the “King” was. I was in the fifth Form sitting School cert and just learning about how the world works and becoming “Political”. Keith Holyoake had just won another term and NZ still remained a blissful paradise with its head in the sand. Barry Crump had just published ‘Warm Beer and other stories” which I really liked at the time as it contrasted dramatically with what Elvis was singing about in the USA and confirmed to me what a wonderful place NZ was and how privileged I was to be born and raised in Godzone. In hindsight Warm Beer was probably one of Barry’s lesser works and certainly not in the same league as the powerful lyrics from ‘In the Ghetto”. (Dolly Parton has also done a wonderful version). Interestingly at the same time I had also discovered John A Lee (who was a friend of my Great-Grandfather) and had read his 1934 Memoir “Children of the Poor” which was more attuned to the scenario described in the lyrics of ‘In The Ghetto’” and which thankfully New Zealand with its 1950s social housing splurge had resolved, only for the problems to re-emerge in the late 1980’s with Rogernomics and as dramatized in Alan Duff’s scary 1990 novel ‘Once Were Warriors”. I wonder how many others have drawn a parallel with John A Lees 1930’s Dunedin and Elvis 1960’s Chicago. That aside both “Children of the Poor” and “In The Ghetto” are as relevant today as they were in 30’s Dunedin and 60’s Chicago.
As the snow flies
On a cold and gray Chicago mornin’
A poor little baby child is born
In the ghetto
And his mama cries
’cause if there’s one thing that she don’t need
it’s another hungry mouth to feed
In the ghetto
Harley Alexander (Film-maker, actor), Kerikeri, NZ
My most memorable memory of an Elvis song was performing ’Surrender’ as part of an amateur theatre production in Auckland many moons ago.
I was playing a motorbike-crazy narcissist with an ambitious singing voice that far exceeded its capabilities. It was a pivotal scene of tense romance in the story. Boy tries desperately to impress girl. The director insisted I wore a sequinned jacket, an acoustic guitar and showed a (?) hairy bare chest for the moment of ’Surrender’. Fortunately I was around 25 at the time and had been working out, so that, along with my campy delivery to the girl I was wooing had the desired effect on the audience. There were tears – don’t ask me if they were of joy or horror.
Ewen Fraser, Glasgow, Scotland (Sent a recording of Are You Lonesome Tonight?)
Never an Elvis fan, I’m afraid. I preferred Bob Dylan and I know that Elvis covered a couple of his: Tomorrow is a Long Time, also Don’t Think Twice, it’s All Right. Dylan was delighted that Elvis had recorded his songs. Bob Dylan also did a fine cover of an Elvis song, Can’t Help Falling in Love. Old school friend James Borowczyk was in the Elvis fan club, or “appreciation society” when we were at school.
Michel Le Brun, Béziers, France
It would be From a Jack to a King, the Ned Miller song recorded by him in 1957, covered by Elvis in 1969. Country music artist, Ricky Van Shelton took it to Number One in the US Country charts. I don’t think any French singer did it but the main line would be translated to “Du valet au roi”, so you’d have to put a repeat syllable at the end of “valet”.
Bert Loehner, Vancouver, Canada
Hound Dog, Heartbreak Hotel, Jailhouse Rock. They aren’t sixties, but mid 1950s. If one considers the state of popular and rock music at the time, Elvis certainly was the King. I only vaguely remember these songs from the 1950s, but I was reintroduced to them while taking a “Life Writing” course at Simon Fraser University. I now appreciate how ground-breaking they were. Here is a short piece I wrote based on a discussion we had in class.
Tine and Elvis by Bert Loehner
At my age, this Liberal Arts Certificate might take longer than I have left. Up until now I haven’t had much involvement in Liberal Arts study. When I did take courses it was usually for things to help at work: engineering, project management and risk management. Now that I am officially retired, anything related to work has dropped right to the bottom of the priority list.
One of my classes is called Life Writing; Exploring and Recreating the Self. One of my classmates is Tine, a charming 78 years old doll who wants to write her life story for her grandchildren. She has had a very interesting life right from the start. She was born in a Japanese internment camp in Indonesia during WWII.
She wrote a short piece about seeing Elvis Presley perform live at Empire Stadium in Vancouver. It was 1957 and she was 15 years old. When Elvis arrived in a Cadillac all the girls went crazy, screaming and crying. He started with Heartbreak Hotel and when he finished all the girls rushed the stage. He actually had to be pulled off for his own protection.
Rather than describing the wonder of seeing Elvis Presley perform his early songs live, she described how she was influenced by all the other girls around her. It was mob rule; she too started screaming and crying. She was ashamed of her actions and the other, much younger, female classmates all nodded in agreement that it was bizarre and potentially dangerous behaviour.
I disagreed. “There is nothing to be ashamed of. It was a time when this is what young girls did. You have to stop looking at your behaviour as a teenager from the perspective of a 78-year-old taking a writing course at SFU,” I said.
She actually teared up. And then, for just a few minutes, she became a teenager again. You could see it in her eyes.
“Have you ever danced the Jitterbug?” she said. “My girlfriends and I used to dance the Jitterbug to Elvis Presley records; Blue Suede Shoes. You haven’t lived until you’ve danced the Jitterbug.”
“No.” I said. “I have never danced the Jitterbug, and maybe that’s something I should be ashamed of. Perhaps I aint nothin’ but a hound dog, but I too made a minor reference to Elvis Presley in the piece I wrote. Maybe I’ll add learning the Jitterbug to the list of challenges I should face while I still can.” She let out a staccato laugh as she mopped the tears from her face with a tissue. Clearly the 78 year old Tine was back in charge.
Tine is awesome. And learning to dance the Jitterbug is no idle threat!
Barbara Berry (Bert Loener’s partner), Vancouver, BC
This is so great, I love it and I’m very glad you sent Bert’s Elvis appreciation to me. Bert used to have lots of stories for me about the characters in his many writing courses. He loved Elvis! He went to Graceland (Elvis’s estate) on one of his business trips to the deep south. Bert brought me back a book about Graceland, which he got as a memento.
He used to sing Elvis and had a few favourites. I recall he really liked “Blue Suede Shoes” (although he never owned any himself!). I asked the guitarist at Bert’s memorial service to do a bit of Elvis.
I really appreciate all of these memories and one day I still imagine an anthology of sorts with all the email stories written by a master storyteller named Bert.
Charles Harter (Stage name Greenlees), Newlands near Wellington, NZ
My favourite Elvis song is In the Ghetto – sad, beautiful and poignant.
I felt Elvis gave an empathic and understated vocal without overdoing the sentiment, Much like Paul McCartney in his pragmatic depiction of Eleanor Rigby. It would be so easy to indulge – but Elvis knew what was needed. Elvis didn’t write in the Ghetto, but he had the talent to make it his own.
I love the flow on lyrical effect of “Do we simply turn our heads and look the other way?” followed by “Well the world turns….”
The circular nature of the journey also emphasises the simple fact that nothing changes in this situation. As her young man dies, Elvis sings:
“And as her young man dies(In the ghetto)On a cold and gray Chicago mornin’Another little baby child is bornIn the ghetto”
Elvis brilliantly conveys the impression of a helpless observer.
Jillian Yorke, NZ
In the Ghetto, probably. Love Me Tender is very popular in Japan among the older crowd.
Margaret Wilkes, Margaret River, Western Australia: Love Me Tender
Jim Smiley, Sendai, Japan
I’m sorry to say that I know next to nothing about pop music and certainly don’t have a set from which to pick a favourite! Apologies. I (mis)spent my youth in the classical music and brass band worlds and never got into other musics. I know next to nothing about Elvis, except noticing his death back in the late 1970s.
Pam Crisp, Lower Hutt, NZ
She wrote, “I can’t help, I’m sorry. I’m not an Elvis fan!” I wrote to her, “Good lord! You’re the fourth person, I must be asking non fans!” Then she replied with, “As a teenager, I liked his song Wooden Heart. Not so much I’m not an Elvis fan, I just listened to other stuff. Actually, Wooden Heart is one of the few songs I can play on the piano accordion without sending everyone running! Good chords and harmonies – nice composition and song.
Tim Lawrence, Kerikeri, New Zealand
Suspicious Minds, one of Elvis’s biggest hits, a Number One in 1969. It is ranked the 91st greatest song of all time in Rolling Stone magazine’s 500 Greatest Songs.
Adair Linn Nagata, Tokyo, Writer in Forty Stories of Japan, Fine Line Press
Sorry, Graham, I was not a fan. Hope this finds you and yours safe and well, Adair.
Anne Coombes, Pomona, Queensland
Old friend from many years in Tokyo said there’s only one Elvis in her
life, and he’s not a son. He’s her dog called Elvis. And he’s definitely not a hound
dog!
Billy Atkinson, Gothenburg, Sweden (Rock’n’Roll performer with stage name Billy Jones perhaps for singing one of the following):
The Girl of my Best Friend. I’d also like to add Young and Beautiful – I was really moved by the song seeing it performed in the film Jailhouse Rock at the Regal Cinema in Bathgate, Scotland a long time ago. I’d have been about 11 years old, a good age to meet Elvis!
Jerry Winn, San Antonio, Texas
My favourite Elvis song? Heartbreak Hotel of course!
My sister, Jeanie is seven years older than me and she was quite popular in school. I remember one slicked-down guy arriving in a ’58 Chevy convertible, turquoise and white with a Continental kit on the back. She had a nice RCA bakelite 45 rpm player and liked Elvis Presley, Chubby Checker and Bill Hayley and the Comets.
Her best friend in San Antonio, Texas was Cecile DeVilbiss, and they were begging to be allowed to go see Elvis Presley. My mother said OK if my father and big Frank DeVilbiss chaperoned them.
I had no idea who Elvis was but I liked Jeanie’s choice of music and wanted to go to watch the action. At ten years old, I had no chance. She came home in swoon with a big colour photo of a young Elvis … and his autograph!
I only recently learned what a shotgun house was too. I recently drove thru Selma AL and yes right past Tupelo which is off the Interstate. A fascinating place for me that I’ve been thru 2-3 times is Muscle Shoals AL. What a unique studio & history. Harumi and I went inside Sun Records which was a step back in time.
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Sue Turner-Cray: “Elvis” (Extract from her story in “Forty Stories of Japan”).
Outside on a crisp spring morning I entered the Seven-Eleven that my new home sat above, scanning the contents of its refrigerator for potent ‘genki’, pick-me-up drinks, so popular in Japan with names like ‘Shin-Gourmontoh’, ‘Yunker Fanti’ and ‘Yunker Kotei Royal’, drinks so strong they make ‘Red Bull’ seem like orange juice.
A young Asian man with dark hair slicked back in a quiff blocked the door to the fridge. “Oh, sorry,” as he bowed. “We share, please,” he continued, inviting me to look in the fridge. Leaning up against his dinner jacket, I could catch the whiff of sweet fresh oranges, his hair the aroma of old smoke, maybe from a dinner party the night before.
“Hi, I’m Fumi” he announced, “though my friends call me Elvis.”
He accentuated the ‘s’ of Elvis dramatically.
“Sarah,” I mumbled, caught up in thoughts of what food he might have enjoyed the previous night.
“This one is sooo good, sugoi, incredible!” and he put a small yellow bottle into my hand and smiled to reveal many, many teeth, overcrowded like the subways here, I thought. I was irritated by his morning chirpiness and my not even being able to eat an orange.
“What do you think?” he asked, running to catch up with me outside as I gulped my energy concoction.
“I’ll let you know in a week,” I snapped, my words causing a sharp flicker in his eyes. Now as I looked properly into them, they seemed soothing, somewhat trustworthy.
“Sorry, I just came in from Tokyo, I’m a little tired,” I gestured with the bottle offering him some.
“Thank you, it is good, very … ”
“ I live up there, with some, well you don’t need to know…”
“Oh! Up there?” He pointed.
I nodded, squinting as the sun rose shining directly in my eyes.
“Oh, those girls are crazy!!” he giggled.
“Yeah,” I chuckled, surprised by the sudden release of my tight aching shoulders. He giggled again, I joined him laughing unabashedly. We laughed and laughed, until large tears began to well in our eyes, then poured down our cheeks, with the might of a mid-summer rain storm.
“You can’t eat anything? Nothing at all?” he quizzed me as we passed the food vendors. The aroma of octopus balls, piping hot ramen, and all the other strange foreign food I had tried to avoid, now seemed appetizing and tempting.
“Not if I want to stay in Japan.”
“It won’t be too cruel if I eat?” he tilted his head to one side as he spoke.
“No please, go ahead.”
With that, he stopped abruptly at a vendor and chose sticks of white and green dumplings, which he devoured in a few large bites.
“When you can eat again you must try these takoyaki,” he instructed, grasping another one tightly between his chopsticks.
“I will,” I answered, and I meant it.
My hair blew freely as we weaved and curved through the small streets of Osaka. I leaned with the motion of Fumi’s Honda motorbike, my arms tightly around his taught frame. I nestled into the fading citrus aroma of his jacket that now felt strangely familiar. Washing was being hung out on bleak apartment balconies as locals went about their weekend chores. We whizzed under a grove of spent cherry trees, the pink blossoms strewn on the ground like confetti; he finally slowed, stopping, at the entrance of a large temple. “Tennoji-san!” he announced dramatically. He dismounted and holding his arms high above his head, then ran energetically through the large red torii, or gateway of the shrine.
At a stone basin of water, Fumi picked up a wooden ladle to wash his hands, and then took a sip before laying it carefully back to rest. I followed his lead tossing a one hundred yen coin into a box next to a bell rope. Pulling on the rope, we bowed in unison with its deep-toned rings. Fumi squeezed his eyes tightly shut; suddenly he looked up mischievously and clapping his hands, whispered, “You too, Sarah, make a wish.”
I closed my eyes, focusing deep within on some calm silence that I had long forgotten. I made a wish. Then we walked to a flat area and lay down under an old cedar, and slept like animals in winter hibernation.
Warm sun was resting on the temple walls when I eventually awoke, golden evening light dancing on the temple’s sacred pond, which was crawling with turtles. Fumi lay propped up on his elbows silently smoking, watching the female turtle transport her young to the other side. His low exotic voice drifted into the hushed silence as I followed his gaze.
“What did you wish for Sarah-san?”
“Won’t it lose strength if I tell you?”
“No, when you share your wish it only gets stronger.”
My breath caught in my throat momentarily.
“To get back to Tokyo, and be a success, a big success.” Heat rose in my cheeks as I uttered the last three words.
“You will, Sarah, I know it.” He slowly inhaled his cigarette and passed me another small energy drink from his pocket. We watched the smoke waver and dance over our heads then disappear into the swaying branches above.
“What about you?” I asked. We sat silently listening to the gentle trickle of the waterfall behind us for some time before he finally spoke.
“The wisdom to know if I should marry the woman my parents want for me, or travel to America. I want to see Graceland sooo bad.”
He giggled nervously.
“We had our engagement party last night; it is important to my father, this marriage.”
The moving amber light created a striking backdrop. His hair draping across his forehead made me remember an old black and white picture of my father, young then, holding my mother in a sweet, loving embrace. What were they doing this particular weekend as I sat here the other side of the world with Elvis?
“Would you please your family, Sarah-san?” he continued, “Or please yourself?” His young brown eyes were hungry for an answer, as if I, this spirited gaijin he had stumbled upon that morning in a Seven-Eleven, had the only answer that he needed to hear.
Every morning that following week, hanging by the refrigerator at the Seven-Eleven I hoped that I would see Fumi again. On my last Saturday in Osaka I visited the Tennoji temple again, my heartbeat accelerating slightly every time I heard the roar of a motorbike.
Three months later, as I made my way into the Tokyo tent for the highly publicised Yogi Yamamoto fashion show when a familiar smell caught my attention. I paid the vendor and held the takoyaki to my lips, savouring the ocean tastes as they crashed on my tongue. As I fitted myself into the minuscule designer creation, the make-up artist applied the final coat of red lipstick to my mouth. I stubbed out my cigarette and blotted my lips using the yellow circle of the Sun Studio’s souvenir postcard I’d received that morning. With my hips thrust forward I headed out into the blinding lights of the catwalk.
‘Sarah-san,’ the card said, ‘I’m in Memphis. Thank you! Love, Elvis.’
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William Matheny, Japan
Good Luck Charm is one of the songs I’ve used with language students in Japan. As anyone who has worked with Japanese students knows, it is sometimes a challenge to get students to respond. The educational culture and norms of classroom behaviour can work against active participation. In “Good Luck Charm” there is a wonderful little pre- (or post- ?) verbal trope which really helps students loosen up. I would ask them to repeat “Uh-huh huh” and then gradually make it a more rhythmic call and response. When students had that, I would bellow “Oh yeah” and everyone would erupt in laughter. We would do that several times and it really helped to create a pleasing atmosphere. The lack of sense was indeed the charm.
Then there’s Love Me Tender. An article from The Japan Times may help a bit.
It might have been Japanese people singing in karaoke parlours and foreigners who reacted when they heard, “Rub Me Tenda”. That’s the old /l/ and /r/ distinction problem. Also the fact that Love Me Tender is a slow ballad and thus easy for non-native speakers to get a handle on. Former PM Koizumi is a big Elvis fan.
It isn’t easy for me to pick one favourite Elvis song. There are many
outstanding performances from every phase of his career – the 1950s
rockabilly Elvis, the early ’60s post-army Elvis, the 1968 “Comeback” Elvis,
and the Las Vegas Elvis. Maybe the way to approach picking a favourite is to
start with the Elvis number which first got under my skin – a post-army
recording released in October, 1962.
People born after 1960 have no recollection of the drama surrounding Elvis’s
stint in the U.S. Army. During those days and in the region where I was
growing up, service in the military was revered as a fundamental rite of
passage. And the changes brought on by initial basic training (“boot camp”)
were striking. I recall seeing young guys who enlisted or were drafted into
the Army when they were in their wild, late-teens. When those same guys
appeared in the neighbourhood and elsewhere after completing basic training,
the change in their demeanour and appearance was startling. The uniforms, the
erect posture and politeness, the budding maturity — all a great contrast to
the undisciplined and rebellious boys they had been previously.
A hugely popular teen idol, Elvis Presley got drafted into the post-World War
II U.S. Army in March 1958 and was essentially taken away from millions of
admirers. People knew that the army would change Elvis and many of his fans
— young, female fans particularly — swooned because they knew they were
going to lose the personality and performer that had given them so much joy.
Would the magic Elvis had as a performer evaporate? That was the topic of a
lot of chatter and I’m sure there were a lot of people who saw Elvis’ entry
into the army as the end of the line. But it wasn’t.
I was aware of Elvis’s recordings in the 1950s, but wasn’t old enough at the
time to really focus on the music and appreciate his delivery. However,
Elvis was discharged from the army in March, 1960 and he immediately resumed
recording. A couple of years after that, when I was 10 years old, post-army
Elvis put out a phenomenal string of successful recordings. Among
those was Return to Sender. The lyrical content and especially the rhythm
– a soft, lilting, very danceable beat – were irresistible for a young boy.
The backing vocals by the Jordanaires added to the ear-pleasing arrangement.
So, Return to Sender opened the door, but it wasn’t until years later that I
found another Elvis tune which I can say is a favourite. And notice, I didn’t
say “my favourite”. There are many Elvis songs that qualify as favorites.
But one I will highlight is Good Luck Charm. I don’t remember hearing it
for the first time. It just seemed to seep into my consciousness with the
passage of time. One of the attractions of the tune is, like
Return to Sender, the rhythm. That soft, lilting beat produced by
understated drumming and a “walking” bass line, accented with piano. Further
adding to the flavour of the recording is the guitar work which fills in spaces
between the vocal lines. Absolutely tasteful. There are two guitarists
indicated on the personnel list for the recording. One is the legendary
Scotty Moore.
What really pushes this performance over the top, though, is the use of voice
without sense. The recording opens with two voices singing, “Uh huh huh, uh
huh huh, uh huh huh, oh yeah”. There isn’t any real meaning in that, but as
the lyric which follows develops the context – of the singer expressing his
desire for a lover – it is terribly suggestive and precocious. Oh yeah,
indeed.
My spouse and I performed “Good Luck Charm” at a wedding party a few years ago
and I remember looking over at the bride and groom and trying to deliver that
nonsense phrase in a way that mimicked Elvis and said, “Yeah, we know what you
two are going to be up to . . . har, har, har.”
So, a favourite Elvis tune? Good Luck Charm it is. Solid gold all the way.
Jeanie (Jerry Winn’s sister), San Antonio, Texas: Love Me Tender
Geordie McBaggert, Ardnamurchan, Scotland
Well, where I hail from there’s only one choice of record, the one that features a great imitation of Elvis by Andy Stewart singing, Donald, Whaur’s Yer Troosers? If I was to be serious, my choice would be The Wonder of You.
Shannon Storey, Canada
In the Ghetto. Elvis’s less serious songs are great fun, but he was capable of depth, too, image notwithstanding.
Lesley Andrews, Kapiti Coast, NZ
In the Ghetto showed a depth of emotion, outside of himself, and possibly an understanding of disadvantage.
Also Suspicious Minds, a good piece of music and has proved the test of time. Still played on the radio.
Helen Bean, Kapiti Coast, NZ
When I was younger, I loved Return to Sender. Dad and I would sing it using a broom and mop as our microphones, and exercising our hips! As I got older the one I loved was without a doubt, In the Ghetto. So good! Also Crying in the Chapel.
Michele Keddell, Christchurch, NZ
I love That’s Alright and Suspicious Minds among others. I don’t remember much of Elvis in the ’50s since I was born in 1953. I do recall adults calling him Elvis the Pelvis, and I remember his death in 1977 – as a nurse, I was all scrubbed up in an operating theatre when someone came in and announced Elvis had died!
Iain Campbell, Cañadas Pareja, Spain
My earliest Elvis memory is at my first official party in my early teens. My brother was DJ-ing on the Dansette for Postman’s Knock. During one of the blackouts, I was interrupted in my activities by someone smashing a 78 record over my head. Jailhouse Rock by Elvis no longer existed in our house! Gone but not forgotten.
Thomas Bauerle, American in Tokyo 30 years; writer of a story in “Forty Stories of Japan” (Fine Line Press). Now on Cebu Island, Philippines.
I love many Elvis songs. Hunk of Burning Love is a favourite because it is fast moving Rock and Roll, and fun to sing and play on the guitar. I have two others that have a special meaning for me. One is Heartbreak Hotel. After I got divorced, I had my son every other weekend. He always liked to listen to my music,and he was three years old when he first heard Heartbreak Hotel. He could remember the refrain, “I’ll be lonely, I’ll be so lonely,” and he called the song So Lonely. Whenever he walked in through the door, the first thing he would say would be, “Papa, play So Lonely!” And he would sing along. Considering my state of mind after the divorce, it seemed like an appropriate theme song.
But my all time Elvis favourite is I think Elvis’s last top ten hit while he was still alive, Cold Kentucky Rain. I was a romantic when I was young, and I was taken by the story of a broken-hearted lover, searching from town to town for his lady, and always just missing her.
“They said that she’d been here, but their memory wasn’t clear. Was it yesterday? No, wait, the day before.”
I always liked the idea of his search, kind of like one of King Arthur’s Knights looking for the Holy Grail. I could imagine myself, wandering from town to town, like a reverse Fugitive, trying to find my lost love and happiness. Maybe that’s part of why I became a world wanderer later in life. I still get a wistful feeling deep in my soul when I hear Kentucky Rain.
A little bit more to my Elvis story – in 1977, I was visiting my friend who was going to Indiana University. He was renting a house, just outside the town of Bloomington, where the university is located. Living next door was a good old lady from the south who was an Elvis fanatic. She had every bit of Elvis memorabilia you could imagine in her house: black velvet paintings of Elvis, movie posters, statuettes, whiskey decanters in the shape of the King. She even had a sign in her front yard that said, “Come in and see my Elvis collection”, so she could meet other fans. My buddy and I were sitting on his front porch, drinking some cold beers, when suddenly we heard this unearthly scream. Then this middle-aged, heavy-set woman next door came running out of her front door, collapsed in a heap in her front yard, and began screaming over and over, “He’s daid! The King is daid! Oh, my God, the King is daid!” We had no idea what was going on, and were pretty shaken up, thinking that someone had just been murdered in her house. We froze at first, not knowing what to do. The lady was just lying in a helpless heap on the ground, screaming. We didn’t know if she was hurt or not. Just as we got up to go to her aid, her daughter came out of the house, weeping quietly, and picked her mother up off the ground. She was whispering words of comfort to her mom, half carrying her, as she helped her back inside. “Is everything all right?” we asked as they passed by the porch where we were sitting. “No, it’s not all right,” the daughter said, looking at us through tear-stained eyes. “Elvis Presley is dead.” Now that was certainly something worth screaming and collapsing over.
Frank Marcianti, American living in Tokyo; Allan Murphy’s friend.
I spoke to my mom about Elvis. She saw him playing live at the Paramount in New York in the late 50s. It cost a few bucks. She said she went with my aunt to Elvis’s first movie Love Me Tender which also premiered there in 1957, and she actually ran from the live-show concert hall to see Love Me Tender in the same theatre. So the same day she saw The King live and on film. In addition, she went to see every Elvis movie that followed as soon as they were was released. Mum is now 93, my aunt 84.
There was also a Paramount theatre in Brooklyn back in the late 50s early 60s. My aunt said from about 3 dollars you could watch live performances all day long.
She would go and stay all day with her friends.
For me, a favourite Elvis is just about impossible, there are too many great songs. If I have to choose, I’ll go with Suspicious Minds when Elvis made his comeback.
Elvis Rocks the Paramount (Motion Picture Herald, November 3, 1956)
Times Square looked like New Year’s Eve, with thousands of cheering fans and sightseers at the unveiling of the 40-foot figure of Elvis Presley over the marquee of the Paramount theatre, where the new 20th Century-Fox picture, Love Me Tender, opens on Nov. 15th.
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The front display at the Paramount theatre, on Broadway, photographed at dawn’s early light – these fan clubs arrived in time for breakfast. (Motion Picture Herald, November 24, 1956)
Zora Brunette, Wooden Letter Craftsperson, Kerikeri, New Zealand: She told me she loved Love Me Tender because of the delicately beautiful lines, so full of feeling. The lyrics writer, Ken Darby would have been pleased, adding words to an old American Civil War melody by George R. Poulton, an Englishman. Elvis’s song got to Number One in the US in 1956 and featured later in over 20 films.
Love me tender, love me sweet / Never let me go / You have made my life complete / And I love you so.
Love me tender, love me true / All my dreams fulfill / For my darlin’, I love you / And I always will.
Sarah Harvey, Wooden Sunglasses Seller at the Market, Kerikeri: She recalled at Intermediate School at age 11, there was a beautiful boy, named Keiran who was totally obsessed with Elvis, to the extent of trying to dress like him. He possibly grew up to become an Elvis tribute artist. We wondered what his favourite Elvis song was.
Simon Howard, Singer with Bay Windjammers, Kerikeri, New Zealand
For me personally I liked most of his early material. His gospel roots were not as widely portrayed as other elements of his life.
When he sang songs to the Lord, I believe you got the real Elvis not the manufactured version. If I had to choose one song though, it would be In the Ghetto.
Richard Litt, Los Angeles
I love music. In the 1950s and early 1960s I listened to a lot of records that my Mom and Dad had: the likes of Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, Nat King Cole, Connie Francis and Doris Day. My Mom and Dad didn’t have an Elvis Presley record in their collection so I didn’t listen to Elvis back in the 1950s. However, my Dad and his brother and their father had a Market in the San Fernando Valley that was right next door to Nudies Rodeo Tailor. When my Dad had the market in 1957, Elvis Presley had come to Nudies next door to get his famous gold lame suit. I have vivid memories of Nudies Store with the look of a beautiful western store with Levis posters – it doesn’t exist anymore. Roy Rogers and Gene Autry and many others went there.
If I were to pick an Elvis song as maybe my favourite it would be Are you Lonesome Tonight?.
I was a photographer and in 1981 I photographed a beautiful french girl who was living in Los Angeles going to school and modelling. I took photos of her and we went to see the Elvis Documentary film This is Elvis. I was crazy about this French girl. I only saw the Elvis movie once and I remember hearing Elvis sing the song, Are you Lonesome Tonight? at the end of the film and it was so sad to me that the movie was coming to an end and I never got to see the French girl ever again. So whenever I hear Elvis sing that song, I think about me sitting next to the beautiful girl from France … and time standing still.
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Extra Elvis Information
• Elvis Wannabes: If you like this kind of thing, you’ll watch the whole 12 minutes of it on Facebook link below. It’s Now or Never is an Elvis competition in which dozens of Elvis wannabes put on their Blue Suede Shoes for three days of competition to find Europe’s best Presley impersonator at the Official European Elvis Championships in Birmingham (January, 2017). It is held on the weekend that “The King” would have turned 82.
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews/videos/10154280600667217/
Half a dozen people wrote comments like this:
I love Elvis but I think Elvis impersonators are a bunch of weirdos and I can’t stomach more than a few seconds.
Of course some people totally disagreed:
For god’s sake, it’s just a bit of fun! As an avid Elvis fan I want him to be remembered! And these impersonators are ensuring that!
These are Elvis tribute artists, not impersonators for those who don’t know. There is a difference!
I think it’s telling that these guys always try to impersonate the “Vegas Elvis”. No one comes near that force of nature from the 1950s.
Canada has a huge Elvis gathering each year in Collingwood, Ontario. It’s a hoot!
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• The Porthcawl Elvis Festival in Wales, next one Sept. 26 – 28, 2025
This is the largest festival of its kind in the world!
• The Parkes Elvis Festival, New South Wales, Australia
https://www.parkeselvisfestival.com.au/events/
The Parkes Elvis Festival is back for five days 8th to 12th January, 2025.
It is recognised as one of the top three Festivals in Australia, attracting 25,000 fans and a global reach of 1.8 billion. Held in the 2nd week of January it coincides with Elvis’s birthday. Here are a few of the numerous events:
Unveiling of Elvis Wall of Fame
Elvis Art Exhibition
Rock’n’Roll Dance Workshop for Beginners
Line Dance Workshop for Beginners
One Night with You Dinner Show
Elvis at the Trots
Kiwi Elvis
John Farnham and Olivia Newton John Tribute Show
Elvis Gospel, Jordanaires Style
Elvis Poets’ Breakfast
Elvis Bingo
And many performances by various singers.
Getting to the Elvis Festival on the Elvis Express: https://www.parkeselvisfestival.com.au/plan-your-visit/getting-here/train-2/elvis-express/
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• Scotland’s Elvis Fan Club
Edinburgh Elvis Official Elvis Presley Fan Club of Edinburgh Scotland (sic)
https://www.facebook.com/edinelvisfanclub/
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• Here’s BBC personality Bryan Burnett naming as many Elvis hits as he can in 30 seconds to celebrate the King’s 90th birthday.
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1PqQWhG8rU/?mibextid=wwXIfr
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• Message put on Facebook:
Hello, Hello: Clearly I hardly do FB now but I just wanted to let everyone know I’m hoping at long last (nearly three years in making) to produce a collection of friends’ favourite Elvis songs and maybe a wee background story to go with. It will be Fine Line Press’s Xmas “book” entitled simply “My Elvis Favourites”. Would love to get your songs and when / where / how, etc. You will be “Always on my Mind” and I hope it won’t be a “Blue Christmas”! Thanks in advance, GB
• Message to try to get Cliff Richard’s favourite Elvises, put on his fan club in New Zealand’s – Sir Cliff Richard’s Movement of NZ:
I am writing a piece “My Elvis Favourites” for my publishing hobby, Fine Line Press, hopefully online by Xmas. Does anyone have any idea what Cliff’s favourite Elvis songs were/are? Many thanks. Graham Bathgate
• Elvis and President Jimmy Carter
President Jimmy Carter (1977 – 81) was a personal friend of Elvis Presley, whom he and Rosalynn met on June 30, 1973, before Presley was to perform onstage in Atlanta.[467] They remained in contact by telephone two months before Presley’s sudden death in August 1977. Carter later recalled an abrupt phone call received in June 1977 from Presley who sought a presidential pardon from Carter, to help George Klein‘s criminal case; at the time Klein had been indicted for only mail fraud, and was later found guilty of conspiracy.[468][469] According to Carter, Presley was almost incoherent because of barbiturates; although he phoned the White House several times again, this was the last time they spoke.[470] The day after Presley’s death, Carter issued a statement and explained how he had “changed the face of American popular culture”.[471]
• Elvis’s Final Concert in Indianapolis
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/elvis-presley-final-concert-indianapolis?
• Here’s a link telling about Elvis’s The Classic Christmas Album being back at Number One on the charts at the start of 2025.
Elvis Presley Charts A Top 10 Album In America Once Again
Senior Contributor
Hugh McIntyre covers music, with a focus on the global charts.
Elvis Presley can usually be located somewhere on the Billboard charts. The rocker remains popular enough in his home country for one of his compilations to find space on at least one list, but sometimes his showing is more impressive, and he fills out positions on a handful of tallies.
Around the holidays, Presley’s music surges in consumption, and he’s not the only legacy act to experience such a boon. This week may be his biggest of the year, as several of his albums and a number of individual tunes are all performing well enough to land on the Billboard charts—and one is even a top 10 smash all over again.
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Here is the request I sent a few times to over 60 possible respondents.
Your Elvis favourite
First sorry if I’m repeating to any of you, I can’t remember what letter I reached
in my email list.
Graham
To help with a piece I’m writing on “The King’s” songs I’m asking possible Elvis lovers from the Swinging Sixties and people who have loved Elvis songs in their lives.
Please tell me your favourite Elvis song(s) plus a couple of comments if you wish. “I Really do Want to Know” , really liking some good true content.
It’s not “Now or Never”, so sometime in between. Please “Return to Sender” and much appreciated with a song.
Graham
PS: So far I’ve received these:
Hold you in my Heart, Lonely Street, Blue Suede Shoes, The Girl of my
Best Friend, Love me Tender, You were Always on my Mind, All Shook Up, True Love, Travels on a Gravel Road, Crying in the Chapel, In the Ghetto (“One of Elvis’s few songs with a social message”) and Return to Sender (the friend was only ten at the time and heard “Return Descender”!)
Elvis’s grave at his home, Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee, along with his parents and grandparents.