I have spoken with Red West at some length about this and I do believe that he genuinely cared for Elvis. Also that he regrets his involvement. There is ample evidence he and others tried to stop the drugs getting to Elvis over the years. When he says the book was to try to challenge Elvis, to help him, I believe he is partly correct. But I think/suspect that there were other motives that were not so good. The bit about Red wanting to help Elvis I have no doubt about but I agree it is not the right way to go about it.
I discussed with Red one principal of psychology that I have learned that would have led to a better approach and he acknowledged my point. But he did not know that then. Few do today.
The problem is - as I think the Doc is saying, nothing was going to help Elvis. He was to far gone health wise and was not the type of personality that was going to have people telling him what to do.
I think Elvis was a very troubled person all his life. He was born with a natural gift but the drive for success came from a dysfunctional childhood - He was a very insecure person, very troubled, like a LOT of celebrities! This is what drove him on to the to want the success he achieved so badly and also made it so that he could not walk away.
Basically the very same thing that made him great also ended his life prematurely.
I agree with Bodie and Tony
“When are Elvis fans gonna wake up and realise that the blame for Elvis's downfall was solely down to Elvis.As much as I think that Elvis was the greatest person who has ever walked this earth, no one at all is to be blamed for the way his life ended. The fact is that Elvis was slowly killing himself and he wouldn’t listen to no one.”
Tony when you say “The sad fact is that they tried and tried to stop Elvis”
you may not realize how right you are.
You see the
real SAD fact is that they tried. (Yes this is correct.) To tell someone like Elvis to
not do something is wrong. What is he going to do? He is going to do it!
I mentioned ‘one principal of psychology’ above. The correct approach would have been to not tell Elvis what to do, not rescue him let him decide, work it out for himself. If this had have been done early enough (And it could not have been done in the last few years I don’t think as he had a lifetime of being used to being ‘rescued’.) Elvis may have made the move. I don’t want to go into too much detail but this is something I have learned in dealing with people with drug problems or addictive problems. Including reading and thinking about Elvis. The problem stems from a parent being too controlling and results in a child who grows up that will not be told what to do – in his mind he is in control this way – and leads to addictions.
Also I think that when he had such a controlling mother he was never ever going to let another woman – or anyone - be so dominate or in 'control'. So his relationships always failed. He could not commit to an even relationship, he was in control. Dr. William Glasser, MD in his Choice Theory
http://www.wglasser.com/ contends that depression is caused in almost all instances (in fact I think he says all) because of a lack of, or problem with relationships. (Usuallly with the opposite sex.) Elvis never was able to form a proper relationship and his life was out of control largely as a result. There is more to this, a lot more, but this is a brief summery. I am not qualified to explain this in extreme detail so I hope you get my point.
As I said in a previous post in this forum; Johnny Cash had June Carter, Waylon Jennings had Jessi Colter. Both of these lovely ladies saved their men's lives. It is a shame Elvis did not allow Priscilla to complement their marriage in her own way, as did Johnny and Waylon, as she is obviously not only smart but talented. If he did he would be alive today!
"rehab" was in the vocabulary back then. Elvis was just not going to be open to it. Imagine ELVIS the man who’s fans thought he was God, whose friends alike thought he would never die, imagine the chance of ELVIS being willing to go to rehab. After all he was only taking what the Doctor gave him. Jerry Schilling mentions plans for rehab in his recent book. Elvis refused.
At the end of the day, we all need to be grateful for the years Elvis did have on this earth and for what he gave the world, most appreciated by his fans. In the end he gave too much of himself. He was in some ways too nice. He did not protect or look after himself. He just gave. And we love him for it. We have the privialge of being able to listen to his music as people will I suspect as long as this planet survives.
