Elvis Meeting The Beatles--Why Did He Even Do it?

[likethebike]

Elvis would have lost face if he had made a big deal out of meeting the Beatles. For more nearly a decade, he had been the center of the pop music industry. To take a back seat to anyone must have been galling. To openly accept it was too much to ask. Elvis' apparent reluctance to hold the meeting only made it that much more valuable to the Beatles and Elvis' reputation. The rest of show business was throwing itself at the Beatles' feet. At the same time, he had to have been curious about this new phenomenon that rivaled and replaced his. In this context, the contradictions of the meeting make sense.

James V. Roy thanks for printing up those anecdotes. It was interesting to see the way they don't always jibe.

[Little Darlin]

Just found this if anyone is interested!

ELVIS-PRESLEY-MEETS-THE-BEATLES Book

[Me]

this comes up from time to time and did so several times on AEK. when it did once in April of 2001 I copied the text out and reposted it two years later. It give a pretty good first hand account(s) of the meeting. Why though is not the topic, just what.
Larry Geller and Marty Lacker posted a few points and there are a few quotes from Beatles shows and books

April 2003


Larry said:


"Perhaps this might help clarify the issue, from my own experience. Before
the Beatles arrived that night, Elvis and I were in his bathroom
while I was doing his hair. Elvis was unusually quiet, even pensive, as he
drummed his fingers on the marble ledge. He looked exceptionally
great that night; wearing a blue shirt with "bolero" sleeves (he had one in
every color except for brown or tan shades, that the guys would get for him
at Fred Segal's, a specialty clothing store in Los Angeles).
All of a sudden his mood changed, and he went on about how he knew what the
Beatles were going through...being in front of a live audience, and
how he missed that experience. He also lamented about the "teeny bopper"
movies he was making, and that he needed to get back in front of
an audience again.


Elvis and I joined the rest of the group in the den. Suddenly the roaring
crowd outside told us that the Beatles had finally arrived, The
Beatles came in, along with their manager Brian Epstein and a few of their
entourage. Once they were introduced to Elvis, Elvis sat down in
a chair and the four Beatles sat down cross-legged in a semi-circle on the
floor in front of him, just staring up at him. After an
uncomfortable period of silence in the room, Elvis started to get up from
his chair, teasing "Hey, if you guys aren't going to talk to me, I'm going
up to my bedroom and call it a night." That broke the ice, everyone started
laughing and talking.


After a short period of time, I remember Ringo went into the livingroom to
play pool with Billy, Richard and a couple of other guys. George wandered
off, and Brian Epstein and Col. Parker were together in the livingroom by
the roulette wheel the Colonel had set up, apparently "talking shop." I
stayed in the den with Elvis, Paul, John - I'm pretty sure Marty and one
other guy also stayed there. Paul asked Elvis if he could play one of Elvis'
guitars - of course Elvis said yes. Then John picked up another guitar, and
then Elvis did the same. They jammed for a good twenty minutes - no
singing - and absolutely no one recorded it. The control freak Col. Parker
wouldn't even allow pictures to be taken.


Other things happened that night, but I wanted to give you a small portion
of the events, to answer questions and rumors that have been
floating around for years. I'll tell you one more thing for now. After the
Beatles left, Elvis asked me to come talk to him back in his
bedroom. What really blew his mind was the state of their teeth. He couldn't
understand why, with all their money, they didn't have them
fixed. As many people know, during the war when they were growing up milk
was hard to come by, and many English people of that generation
shared the problem with their teeth because of the lack of calcium.


I'll never forget when I left Elvis' bedroom and said goodnight - he looked
at me, with that impish grin of his, "Hey Larry, don't forget...there's four
of them...there's only one of me."


Larry"



Then Marty wrote:


"Larry,

Hate to correct you but they did sing. They sang a couple of Chuck Berry
songs and then they sang one of Elvis', John started it off and then Elvis
started to sing one of theirs. I was standing right next to Elvis at the
side of the piano, Paul played the piano and John was standing next to Paul
looking straight at Elvis and I and the guys next to me.


Because there were no drums, Ringo went to play pool with Red & Sonny.
George was busy toking down by the pool. However, I don't recall if George
left before they jammed to go to the pool or came back up during the time
they were jamming.


Marty"


I would bet that Marty ans Larry's recollections were more clearer but
here's the excerpt from the The Beatles Anthology


"The Beatles met Elvis Presley in Los Angeles at the tail end of their 1965
tour of America - the one that began with their famous concert/screamfest at
New York's Shea Stadium and peaked with their performance at the Hollywood
Bowl in Los Angeles. At the time, Elvis was making movies in Hollywood and
living in a mansion in Bel Air.
This excerpt is based on interviews, conducted over the past six years, with
the three living Beatles and their staff. The quotes from John Lennon were
taken from a variety of interviews before his death in 1980.


PAUL McCARTNEY: We met Elvis Presley at the end of our stay in L.A. We'd
tried for years to, but we could never get to him. He was our greatest idol,
but the styles were changing in favor of us. He was a pretty powerful image
to British people. You'd look at photos of him doing American concerts, and
the audience would not even be jumping up and down. We used to be amazed,
seeing them sitting in the front row - not even dancing.


JOHN LENNON: When I first heard "Heartbreak Hotel," I could hardly make out
what was being said. It was just the experience of hearing it and having my
hair stand on end. We'd never heard American voices singing like that.
They'd always sung like Sinatra or enunciated very well. Suddenly, there's
this hillbilly hiccuping on tape echo and all this bluesy background going
on. And we didn't know what the hell Presley was singing about, or Little
Richard or Chuck Berry. It took a long time to work out what was going on.
To us, it just sounded like a noise that was great.


PAUL: So although we tried many times [to meet Elvis], Colonel Tom [Parker,
his manager] would just show up with a few souvenirs, and that would have to
do us for a while. We didn't feel brushed off we felt we deserved to be
brushed off After, all, he was Elvis, and who were we to dare to want to
meet him? But we finally received an invitation to go round and see him when
he was making a film in Hollywood.


JOHN: We were always in the wrong place at the wrong time to meet him, and
we would have just gone round or something, but there was a whole lot of
palaver about where we were going and how many people should go and
everything, with the managers, Colonel Tom and Brian [Epstein], working
everything out.


GEORGE HARRISON: Meeting Elvis was one of the high- lights of the tour. It
was funny, because by the time we got near his house we'd forgotten where we
were going. We were in a Cadillac limousine, going round and round along
Mulholland, and we'd had a couple of "cups of tea" in the back of the car.
It didn't really matter where we were going - it's like the comedian Lord
Buckley says, "We go into a native village and take a couple of peyote buds,
we might not find out where we is, but we'll sure find out who we is."


Anyway, we were just having fun, we were all in hysterics. (We laughed a
lot. That's one thing we forgot about for a few years - laughing. When we
went through all the lawsuits, it looked as if everything was bleak, but
when I think hack to before that, I remember we used to laugh all the time.)
We pulled up at some big gates and some- one said, "Oh yeah, we're going to
see Elvis," and we all fell out of the car laughing, trying to pretend we
weren't silly: just like a Beatles cartoon.


JOHN: It was very exciting, we were all nervous as hell, and we met him in
his big house in L.A. - probably as big as the one we were staying in, hut
it still felt like "big house, big Elvis." He had lots of guys around him,
all these guys that used to live near him (like we did from Liverpool; we
always had thousands of Liverpool people around us, so I guess he was the
same). And he had pool tables! Maybe a lot of American houses are like that,
but it seemed amazing to us. It was like a nightcluh.


NEIL ASPINALL (road manager and future manager of Apple Records): The
Colonel was there and all of Elvis's buddies, the so- called Memphis Mafia,
and Priscilla. The first thing they did was show us their pool table that
swiveled and became a craps tahle.


We went into this other room with a television set that seemed to he twenty
feet by twenty feet. Then Brian walked in and the Colonel said, "A chair for
Mr. Epstein," and about fifteen people came with chairs.


I remember that when Brian told the Colonel that he managed bands other than
the Beatles, the Colonel was suite shocked. He said he didn't understand how
Brian could handle more than the Beatles, because it took him all his time
to handle Elvis.


Everybody was sitting around talking. Elvis was drinking water, and I think
a couple of the Beatles played guitar with him. I was up the other end of
the room with [ Beatles bodyguard] Mal [Evans], talking to a couple of the
other guys,


RINGO STARR: I was pretty excited about it all, and we were lucky because it
was the four of us and we had each other to be with. The house was very big
and dark. We walked in, and Elvis was sitting down on a settee in front of
the TV. He was playing a bass guitar, which even to this day I find very
strange. He had all his guys around him, and we said, "Hi, Elvis." He was
pretty shy, and we were a little shy, but between the five of us we kept it
rolling. I felt I was more thrilled to meet him than he was to meet me.


PAUL: He showed us in, and he was great. I mean it was Elvis. He just looked
like Elvis-we were all major fans, so it was hero worship of a high degree.
He said, "Hello, lads - do you want a drink?" We sat down, and we were
watching telly, and he had the first remote switcher any of us had ever
seen. You just aimed it at the telly and - wow! That's Elvis! He was playing
[Charlie Rich's] "Mohair Sam" all evening - he had it on a jukebox.


JOHN: He had his TV going all the time, which is what I do; we always have
TV on. We never watch it - it's just there with no sound on, and we listen
to records. In front of the TV, he had a massive amplifier with a bass
plugged into it, and he was up playing bass all the time with the picture up
on the TV. So we just got in there and played with him. We all plugged in
whatever was around, and we played and sang. He had a jukebox, like I do,
but I think he had all his hits on it. But if I'd made as many as him, maybe
I'd have all mine on.


PAUL: That was the great thing for me, that he was into the bass, So there I
was: "Well, let me show you a thing or two, El..." Suddenly he was a mate.
It was a great conversation piece for me. I could actually talk about the
bass, and we sat around and just enjoyed ourselves. He was great - talkative
and friendly and a little bit shy. But that was his image. We expected that;
we hoped for that.


MAL EVANS: Charlie Rich was there. I loved Charlie Rich, and so did Elvis.
They had a record - player with the arm up the middle, and Muddy Waters just
seemed to be playing all night. And there was Elvis playing bass, Paul and
John on guitars - I was just sitting there with my mouth open all night.


It was a thrill, but it was the biggest disappointment of my life in one
way. I really am a big Elvis fan - at six foot three, I'm one of the
biggest. So I prepare my outfit to go and meet Elvis - send the suit to the
cleaners, nice white shirt and tie - really ponce myself up. But when the
suit came back from the cleaners, they'd sewn the pockets up. Now, I always
carry plectrums - picks they call them in the States, It's just a habit.


So when we get there, Elvis asks, "Has anybody got a pick?" and Paul turns
round, says, "Yeah, Mal's got a pick. He's always got a pick. He carries
them on holiday with him!" I went to go in my pocket for one-and there they
were, all sewn up.


I ended up in the kitchen breaking plastic spoons, making picks for Elvis!
That was a disappointment. I'd have loved to have given Elvis a pick, had
him play it, then got it back and had it framed.


JOHN: At first we couldn't make him out. I asked him if he was preparing new
ideas for his next film and he drawled, "Ah sure am. Ah play a country boy
with a guitar who meets a few gals along the way, and ah sing a few songs."
We all looked at one another. Finally Presley and Colonel Parker laughed and
explained that the only time they departed from that formula - for Wild in
the Country - they lost money.


PAUL: We played a bit of pool with a few of his motorcycle mates, and at
about ten o'clock, Priscilla was brought in. To demonstrate the respect that
country-and-western people have for their wives? Sometimes it's a bit on the
surface - as maybe their situation was shown to be later. It was like,
"Here's Priscilla."


NEIL ASPINALL: I thought Priscilla had a long dress on and a tiara.


RINGO: I don't remember seeing Priscilla there at all. think it wouldn't
have mattered to me if she was there, because it was him I came to see. I
don't really remember the boys he had with him, either.


PAUL: She came in, and I got this picture of her as a sort of a Barbie
doll - with a purple gingham dress and a gingham bow in her very beehive
hair, with lots of makeup. We all said hello, and then it was, "Right, lads,
hands off - she's going." She didn't stay long.


I can't blame him, although I don't think any of us would have made a pass
at her. That was definitely not on - Elvis's wife, you know! That was
unthinkable - she didn't need to be put away quite so quickly, we thought.


GEORGE: I don't remember even seeing Priscilla. I spent most of the party
trying to suss out from the gang if anybody had any reefers. But they were
uppers and whiskey" people. They weren't really into reefer smoking in the
South.


JOHN: It was nice meeting Elvis. He was just Elvis, you know? He seemed
normal to us, and we were asking about his making movies and not doing any
personal appearances or TV. I think he enjoys making movies so much, We
couldn't stand not doing personal appearances, we'd get bored - we get bored
quickly. He says he misses it a bit.


We never talked about anything [else] - we just played music. He wasn't
bigger than us, but he was "the thing." He just wasn't articulate, that's
all.


PAUL: It was one of the great meetings of my life. I think he liked us. I
think at that time, he may have felt a little bit threatened, but he didn't
say anything. We certainly didn't feel any antagonism.


I only met him that once, and then I think the success of our career started
to push him out a little, which we were very sad about, because we wanted to
coexist with him,


RINGO: The saddest part is that years and years later, we found out that he
tried to have us banished from America, because he was very big with the
FBI. That's very sad to me, that he felt so threatened that he thought, like
a lot of people, that we were bad for Ameri- can youth. This is Mr. Hips,
the man, and he felt we were a danger. I think that the danger was mainly to
him and his career.


I saw him again. I remember one time I got really angry with him because he
just wasn't making any music. He'd stopped everything and was just playing
football with his guys. So I said, "Why don't you go into a studio and give
us some music here? What are you doing?" I can't remember what he said-he
probably just walked away and started playing football again.


PAUL: I've seen those famous Nixon transcripts where Elvis actually starts
to try to stop us - the Beatles! He's in the transcript saying - to Richard
Nixon, of all people - "Well, sir, these Beatles, they're very un-American
and they take drugs."


I felt a bit betrayed by that, I must say. The great joke was that we were
taking drugs, and look what happened to him. He was caught on the toilet
full of them! It was sad, but I still love him, particularly in his early
period. He was very influential on me.


JOHN: Up until Elvis joined the army, I thought it was beautiful music and
Elvis was for me and my generation what the Beatles were to the '60s. But
after he went into the army, I think they cut "les bollocks" off. They not
only shaved his hair off but I think they shaved between his legs, too. He
played some good stuff after the army, but it was never quite the same, It
was like something happened to him psychologically.


Elvis really died the day he joined the army. That's when they killed him,
and the rest was a living death.


PAUL: These were great times, so even if you didn't enjoy all of the events
that much, you could still go home to Liverpool and say, "Well, you know who
I met?" I mean, to meet Elvis, or anybody like that, or to say you've been
to Sunset Strip - it was very impressive."


Hope that helps,


Jim

A lot of what the Beatles say here is laughable.

[drjohncarpenter]

A lot of what the Beatles say here is laughable.

You mean like these?

"We were all major fans, so it was hero worship of a high degree."

"It was one of the great meetings of my life."

Yeah, hilarious indeed.

[Me]

No, but just about everything else they say there.

[drjohncarpenter]

No, but just about everything else they say there.

Thank God Priscilla isn't quoted as well!

[Me]

You have to admit that they say some dumbass and false things there.

[drjohncarpenter]

You have to admit that they say some dumbass and false things there.

No, they don't, really, at all.

[TJ]

As Elvis was wearing a red shirt, it's odd that Larry Geller remembers him as looking "exceptionally great that night; wearing a blue shirt with 'bolero' sleeves."

[Vissie]

As Elvis was wearing a red shirt, it's odd that Larry Geller remembers him as looking "exceptionally great that night; wearing a blue shirt with 'bolero' sleeves."

TJ, it really makes you stop and think, doesn't it?

Wait.. maybe Larry was color-blind

[GIRL HAPPY BOY]

Maybe before the meeting Elvis wore a blue shirt while Larry did Elvis hair
and then Elvis changed to the red shirt with that black jacket
Anyone could tell me please what is a BOLERO SLEEVES SHIRT ???
any clear photo of that kind of shirt worn by Elvis ?
thanks
Lior B.

[Little Darlin]

Hey Lior

Not sure but think it's something like this

[Joe Car]

As Elvis was wearing a red shirt, it's odd that Larry Geller remembers him as looking "exceptionally great that night; wearing a blue shirt with 'bolero' sleeves."

TJ, it really makes you stop and think, doesn't it?

Wait.. maybe Larry was color-blind

In the photos that were taken of them in the driveway, it looks like perhaps Elvis had a jacket on top of a red shirt.

[Vissie]

As Elvis was wearing a red shirt, it's odd that Larry Geller remembers him as looking "exceptionally great that night; wearing a blue shirt with 'bolero' sleeves."

TJ, it really makes you stop and think, doesn't it?

Wait.. maybe Larry was color-blind

In the photos that were taken of them in the driveway, it looks like perhaps Elvis had a jacket on top of a red shirt.

What I see in the photos is a dark colored jacket-type-garment over a red shirt

[JamesVRoy]

As Elvis was wearing a red shirt, it's odd that Larry Geller remembers him as looking "exceptionally great that night; wearing a blue shirt with 'bolero' sleeves."

TJ, it really makes you stop and think, doesn't it?

Wait.. maybe Larry was color-blind

In the photos that were taken of them in the driveway, it looks like perhaps Elvis had a jacket on top of a red shirt.

What I see in the photos is a dark colored jacket-type-garment over a red shirt

Actually, the highest quality image I've seen of that driveway picture was Black and white. Not sure if they were originally in color or colorised at some point which might explain the difference. no clue though.

[Me]

You have to admit that they say some dumbass and false things there.

No, they don't, really, at all.

Yes they do. The Beatles aren't perfect. Especially when it comes to Elvis. They are really off the mark on quite a few things when it comes to him.

[GIRL HAPPY BOY]

Hi LITTLE DARLIN
Thanks alot for the candid...if this is a BOLERO SLEEVES SHIRT its pretty cool , like it !
I think there are some great studio photos for the FRANKIE & JOHNNY movie that were taken in may 1965 with this kind of shirt: one in yellow & other one in purple ( great ones by the way...)
Sincerely
LIOR B.

[drjohncarpenter]

Actually, the highest quality image I've seen of that driveway picture was Black and white. Not sure if they were originally in color or colorised at some point which might explain the difference.

The BxW photo you posted James is the one AP ran over the newswire on August 28-29, 1965. It was a fan candid, taken from an adjacent tree somewhere between 2:30 and 3:30 AM.

There has never been a true-color reproduction of this shot, and it is likely the photo was shot on BxW film.

The first time it was seen in "color" was in Beatles '65 (JAT, Chicago, 2002), along with a few other images that were taken in actual color.

[Vissie]

This is just my opinion, but I believe Elvis wasn't wearing a blue shirt that night (at least, not when he was photographed). Even if the image was shot on B+W film, the color red doesn't show up dark. Blues and purples will appear as black but red will be a lighter shade of gray.

[PEP]

To jump in here, I thought some of you might want to watch and listen what Elvis was into that night, McCatney suggested Elvis was playing over an over again the song "Mohair Sam" by Charlie Rich.

I personally never heard the song myself, so this was interesting to hear what Elvis was into at the time.



Do any of you think this song would have worked for Elvis?

I'm guessing he obviously sang it at some point.

There was also suggestion Muddy Waters was played that night as well,

I'm guessing this would have been one of the songs played that night if that were the case.


PEP

[Vissie]

Do any of you think this song would have worked for Elvis?

Imo, he definitely could've sung this song very well. And, not to start a debate, but I feel he could've done it better

[drjohncarpenter]

Elvis was playing over an over again the song "Mohair Sam" by Charlie Rich ... I personally never heard the song myself ... There was also suggestion Muddy Waters was played that night as well ...

Charlie Rich was a wonderful, unique singer and musician. He could handle r&b, blues, country, rock, pop and jazz with ease, and he also got his start at Sun Records!

If you hear Charlie's 1959 Sun hit "Lonely Weekends," you will catch a major Elvis influence.

And Rich's 1961 Sun recording of "Who Will The Next Fool Be" is sheer perfection.

Charlie was on the Groove, RCA, Smash and Hi labels through the 1960s before landing at Epic Records. There, the singer hit very big in the 1970s with tracks like "Behind Closed Doors" and "The Most Beautiful Girl."

Did you know that Elvis' favorite album when he was in Baptist Memorial in October 1973, recovering from an overdose, was Charlie's Behind Closed Doors?

Charlie Rich_Behind Closed Doors.png

Note that Elvis' Stax recordings that year of "Take Good Care of Her," "Girl Of Mine" and "Thinking About You" were attempts to emulate Charlie's hit country-pop style of the time.

And Charlie released a cover of "America The Beautiful" in March 1976 -- are we detecting a pattern here?







I love the fact that at the legendary Beatles visit to the Presley home on August 27, 1965, they found that Elvis had mastered the prominent bass line that runs through "Mohair Sam" (Smash 1993), noting that he was playing it on a Fender bass when they met.

650700_Smash 1993a_Rich.JPG

Elvis also enjoyed the flip side of that Charlie Rich 45 -- "I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water" -- which is likely the "Muddy Water" reference alluded to by the group after the visit.

650700_Smash 1993b_Rich.JPG

And, of course, Elvis cut a wonderfully furious version of "I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water" in June 1970. And Presley was probably quite aware of Rich's masterful 1963 recording of "Big Boss Man," since his 1970s performances echo Rich's arrangement.

Elvis would've done a nice job on "Mohair Sam," as he cut plenty of Dallas Frazier songs with success. However, to "best" Rich, Presley would have been wise to choose a different arrangement.

[drjohncarpenter]

Elvis would've done fine with "Mohair Sam", and many other songs Charlie Rich did.

As we already know, from the examples presented above!

You gotta love that YouTube clip of "Mohair Sam" -- never saw that before.

[PEP]

For Muddy Waters if could very have been this song too that Elvis may have been listening too as well that night.


What ya think Doc?



PEP

[Vissie]

Just wondering if someone could please translate what the text says?