(Feb.24-Mar.6, 2005) (On Pink BG Color) Written in Japanese (Compiled by Haruo Hirose)

(Mar. 6, 2005) (Mar. 3, 2005)

Steve Wynn Interview 　現在のラスベガスは エルヴィスが出ていた７０年代のラスベガスとは 全く様変わりしています。 ギャンブル都市というよりも、 一大アミューズメント都市となってます。 このラスベガスに変化をもたらしたのが スティーヴ・ウィンなのです。 1989年に ミラージュをオープンさせ、 ホテル前に 大きな火山を作り 客寄せの起爆剤にしました。 トレジャー・アイランドでは 海賊のショーを無料公開し、 レビューや歌手のコンサートが中心のショールームに代わり、 ジーグフリード＆ロイのイリュージョンや シルク・ド・ソレイユの サーカス・ショーを誘致し、 エンターテイメントの世界をも一変させました。 「オーシャンズ１１」のロケが行なわれたベラージオは ラスベガス最高のホテルと言われています。 ４月28日にラスベガスに新しくウィン・ホテルをオープンさせるスティーヴ・ウィンは エルヴィスとも親しかったのです。

Steve Wynn Interview Q: When was the first time you heard of Elvis Presley? A: "Heartbreak Hotel" or "Hound Dog," the music when I was in high school. He just exploded into everybody's consciousness with "Hound Dog." With "Hound Dog" before that was it forever. And then Elvis was just part of our world. There was music and there was Elvis Presley, and there was no such thing as not knowing Elvis, and not knowing his songs. It wasn't even a matter of taste. It just was. Q: Were you a fan when it first came out? A: Well, I was in military school. It was a prep school for West Point, and everything was pretty tight there. And all of us in the school fell in love with Elvis Presley because he was so 'against the grain.' It was so non-military, it was so free. I think that was probably true of all kids, so I became a fan right away. Q: How did you first get to meet Elvis in Las Vegas? A: I met Joe Esposito when Elvis started doing live performances. I knew Jerry Weintraub, but I first met Joe with my brother Kenny when Elvis were getting ready to start his live performances at the Hilton. I guess the year was 1969. And Joe Esposito were there working on it. And the first thing I thought of was my brother Kenny because his life was Elvis Presley. I was 27 years old and he was 17 or 18. He was going to Swathmore college, and he was walking Elvis encyclopedia. He knew everything about Elvis before RCA. He could tell you the exact date of release of every single. And I'm talking about the singles that were not "Hound Dog" and the rest or "Don't Be Cruel." The songs that were somewhat obscure by historical standards. He knew everything about Elvis and about Tom Parker, my brother carried on his fingertips. The two things in his life that mattered most were Arnold Palmer and Elvis Presley. I knew Alex Shoofey I was selling the hotel liquor and wine. I said to Alex, "My brother coming out this summer from college, do you need any help here?" Now, Elvis was going to do his first gig in August. He would come twice a year and do a month each time. And Alex Shoofey said, "I could use a guy, I need some help with all of the merchandise were gonna sell. Maybe your kid brother can work for us in the Elvis department?" I said, "he'll think he's died and gone to heaven." Alex said, "well, let me think about it and we'll talk to your brother Kenny, and we'll see." Kenny came out for spring break and I introduced him to Alex, and Alex was impressed enough because my brother had always worked, and he attached him to Colonel Parker with the specific aspect of representing the hotel and the accounting and all of the coordination of the merchandise sales. Elvis material was sold everywhere in the hotel, in the lobby, outside the showroom, there were numerous outlets, all of which had to be heavily staffed, completely secured, there had to be inventory control. Kenny was given that job. Naturally, it was near and dear to Colonel Parker's heart, so he called Kenny the Sergeant, because Kenny had gone to military school, too. So, all of a sudden my kid brother found himself in the middle of the Elvis world. That meant that he saw Joe Esposito everyday, and he and Joe got friendly, and that led to me. And then my brother said, "it's time that you go to see Elvis' show and you meet him. I've arranged with Joe Esposito that you and Elaine, my wife and I, would go to the show, be your guest, we're gonna sit in the front row, center booth." This is Elvis in his prime. And I remember that I went to the show with Elaine, just the two of us, and then they came to get me after the show and took me downstairs. One of the most unforgettable moments, my first time with Elvis. A guy said, "Right there, Mr Wynn." So, I knock on the door of the dressing room. I figure there's going to be a whole group in there. Door opens, and there's Elvis in an open-collar white shirt and a pair of grey slacks. I said, "Well, hello, I'm Steve Wynn." He said, "I'm really glad to meet ya, I'm a real good friend of your brother, Kenny. He's my buddy, and I'm awful glad to meet you, Steve, come on in." "This is my wife, Elaine." "Well, Elaine, it's a real honor to meet you, maam. This is my wife Priscilla. Priscilla look here, here's Steve Wynn, Kenny's brother and his wife Elaine." Just him and his wife in the dressing room that night. And there I am with this young man, who's seven years older than me. But, when you're in your 20's and he's in his early 30's, it seems like you're the same. But he was the most gentle and polite and terrific guy. We had an hour and a half in there. Elaine and Priscilla got friendly, and that relationship has survived. They're friendly to this day, our whole family. Elvis asked me how I liked the show and I said, "In particular, I really like when you finished 'Kentucky Rain' and you do that karate stuff." He said, "You like karate, Steve? Have you ever done any?" And I said, "No, I've never had a chance to do it. But it sure is fun to watch especially with somebody who knows what they're doing." And he said, "Well, I love it. I've been doing it for quite awhile, it's my favorite thing." Next thing you know, we're standing in the middle of the living room, the girls were on the couch. Elvis drops down on the floor and he's these maneuvers, these exercises...and the legs were flying. You know, he was in such great shape, he was agile like a gymnast. And I didn't know what to do with my hands. I thought wholly-molly, this is great but, you know... Elvis Presley in person...I've seen so much stuff about Elvis on television. And people talk about him in strange ways, but that's going to be great! I hope it comes across because he was the warmest, most twinkling. He made you feel comfortable and at ease, which was amazing. He did not have any of that stuff where 'it's all about me'. He was a perfect gentleman. And he made you feel comfortable right away, at least he did with me. I'd go further and say that Elvis was clearly a guy with a rural or country attitude about life. He had that simple kinda point of view that said you stand up, you're polite to people. In spite of the money and the Cadillacs and all that, it was he and his pals, he never changed. And you could see that the minute he said hello to you. He was not a guy that would talk to you and look over your shoulder to see who else was in the room. Elvis Presley had a genuineness that was very noticeable and quite impressive the first time I met him. And Elaine and I went home really liking him and thinking 'what a terrific guy.' And everytime I saw him after that, he remembered everything. He was always gracious and complimentary to people. It wasn't easy to get to see him, I mean, he had a very limited circle of friends. But when you did get in his company it was a real pleasure.

スティーヴ・ウィン・インタビュー Q: 初めてエルヴィスのことを耳にしたのは いつですか？ A: 中学生の時に聴いた 「ハートブレイク・ホテル」か 「ハウンド・ドッグ」だろう。 エルヴィスは「ハウンド・ドッグ」で 社会的論争を巻き起こしたんだ。 「ハウンド・ドッグ」が 分岐点だろう。 エルヴィスは 我々の世界の一部になったんだ。 音楽といえばエルヴィス・プレスリーだった。 エルヴィスと彼の歌を避けることは 出来なかったんだ。 好き嫌いの問題じゃ なかったんだよ。 Q: 最初からファンだったのですか? A: 私は士官学校に入ってた。 ウエスト・ポイント 陸軍士官学校の予備校だ。 全てがお固い学校で、 生徒はみんな エルヴィス・プレスリーが好きになった。 彼は反体制的というか、 軍隊とは正反対で、 自由だったからだ。 多分、 全ての子供はそう感じた筈さ。 私は直ぐにファンになったよ。 Q: ベガスでエルヴィスには、 どのようにして会われたのですか? A: 最初に ジョー・エスポジトに会ったんだ。 エルヴィスがカムバックした時だ。 ジェリー・ワイントローブも知っていたが、 弟のケニーとジョーに会った。 エルヴィスが インターナショナルに出る 準備をしていた 1969年のことだ。 ジョーもそこで仕事をしていた。 そして、最初に思ったのが 弟のケニーのことだった。 彼はエルヴィス・プレスリーに 夢中だったからだ。 私が２７才だったから、弟は１７，８だったろう。 大学に行ってた。 彼は歩くエルヴィス事典だったんだ。 エルヴィスやトム・パーカーの事は 何でも知っていた。 エルヴィスの全てのシングル盤の 正確な発売日を覚えてたよ。 彼の頭の中は アーノルド・パーマー（ゴルファー）と エルヴィスのことしかなかったんだ。 私はホテルに酒類を卸してたので アレックス・ショーフィー （インターナショナル・ホテルの社長） を知ってた。 それで アレックスに 「私の弟が大学の夏休みに来るので、 仕事がないか？」 と尋ねたんだ。 エルヴィスは 最初に８月に来て、 年に２度、 １ヶ月間ベガスに来ていた。 アレックス・ショーフィーが 「売店で売る商品の管理をする人間が必要だから、 君の弟はエルヴィス部門で働くことになるよ」 と言ったんだ。 私は 「弟は死ぬほど喜びます」 と言うと、 「じゃ、そのつもりだから、 弟のケニーに話して、 来るように」と アレックスは言ってくれた。 ケニーが夏休みでやってきたので、 アレックスに紹介した。 アレックスは弟がよく働くので 気に入ってくれたよ。 そして、 ホテルからの出向で パーカー大佐に付けられたんだ。 商品販売の担当だ。 エルヴィス・グッズは ホテルのロビーなど 至るところで売られていて、 販売員の配置や管理、 在庫管理などの仕事を ケニーは担当したんだ。 自然の成り行きで、 パーカー大佐の信用を得たケニーは 「軍曹」と呼ばれていたよ。 というのも ケニーも士官学校に行ってたからだ。 私の弟は突然に、 エルヴィス世界の真っ只中に 放り込まれた訳さ。 それで、 弟とジョー・エスポジトが 毎日顔を会わせることになり、 親しくなって、 私とも顔見知りになったんだ。 そして 弟がエルヴィスのショーを見られるように ジョー・エスポジトに頼んだんだ。 私と妻のエレインと弟が 正面のブース席に招待された。 エルヴィスの最高の時だよ。 覚えてるよ。 ショーの後で 階下に連れて行かれたんだ。 最も忘れられない思い出のひとつが、 エルヴィスと初めて会った時だよ。 「スティーヴ、ここだよ」 というので、 楽屋のドアをノックした。 全員揃ってたんじゃないかな。 ドアが開くと、 エルヴィスがいた。 オープン・カラーのホワイト・シャツに グレーのスラックスだった。 私が「ハロー、スティーヴ・ウィンです」 と言うと、 彼は「会えて嬉しいです。 あなたの弟のケニーは友達で、 我々の仲間です。 本当に会えて嬉しいです。 スティーヴ、 中に入って」 と言ったんだ。 妻のエレインを紹介すると、 「エレイン、会えて光栄です。 こちらが私の妻のプリシラです。 プリシラ、 こちらがケニーのお兄さんのスティーヴ・ウィンと 奥さんのエレインだよ」 と言ったんだ。 あの夜はプリシラとふたりだけだった。 私は彼より７才若くて２０代だった。 彼は３０代前半だったけど、 同じぐらいの歳に思えたよ。 エルヴィスは非常に紳士的で、 礼儀正しくて、 素晴らしい男だった。 私たちは１時間半程そこに居て、 エレインとプリシラは親しくなった。 それは今でも続いてて、 家族ぐるみで付き合ってるよ。 エルヴィスは私に ショーは気に入ったかと 訊いてきたので、 私が「特に 『ケンタッキー・レイン』のエンディングの カラテが気に入った」 と言うと、 「カラテが好きか、 スティーヴ。 やったことはあるか？」 と言ったので 「やる機会はなかったが、 カラテを知ってる人が側にいれば、 見るのも楽しい」 と言ったんだ。 そしたら、 「私はずっと以前からやってるよ。 私のお気に入りさ」 と言うと、 いつの間にか、 私とエルヴィスは リビング・ルームの真中に立ってたよ。 女性陣はソファに座ってた。 エルヴィスはカラテの型を始めたんだ。 足を高く蹴ったり、 彼は体調万全で、 体操選手並の敏捷さだったよ。 私は手をどうすれば良いのかさえ知らなかった。 全くお手上げだった。 でも、実際のエルヴィスは、 ＴＶで見てたエルヴィスや 噂の彼とは違ってた。 彼は温かくて、 きらきらしてた。 人を心地よくさせた。 すごいことだ。 彼には「全ては私が中心だ」みたいなところはなかった。 彼は完璧な紳士だった。 彼は直ぐに 人を和ませることができた。 少なくとも 私はそう感じたよ。 はっきり言うと、 エルヴィスは田舎風な 生活スタイルを好む男だった。 物の見方が単純で、 他人には礼儀正しくあれというように。 お金やキャデラックを持っていたにせよ、 彼と仲間は生涯変わらなかった。 彼と話した途端にわかるよ。 彼は人と話しながら、 部屋の他の連中を気にするような男ではなかった。 エルヴィスは純粋な男だった。 これは初めて会った時に気がついたし、 印象的だった。 エレインと私は 「何て素晴らしい男だろう」 と思いながら帰ったんだ。 それからも会う度に 全て覚えていてくれたよ。 彼はいつも上品で、 人を見下すことはなかった。 彼に会うのは簡単ではなかった。 彼は限られた仲間といたからだが、 でも、仲間に入れた時は、 これ以上のない喜びだった。

Q: When was the first time you met Colonel Tom Parker? A: With Alex Shoofey, about a month before the first gig. He was in Las Vegas to set up all of the events for the initial engagement. And he was busy organizing everything and he was having lunch with Alex Shoofey in the coffee shop. Alex being the president of the International Hotel at the time. And I came walking in because Shoofey wanted to see me about something, I got the message. And I saw him sitting with a man with his back to me, I didn't know who he was. There was a hat on the head, but you couldn't see the face. And I started to turn around and he went waving. And I come over and he said, "Steve Wynn, say hello to Tom Parker. Colonel Parker, this is Steve Wynn, our liquor supplier." And, of course, five seconds later you might have well have known him all of your life. He was carrying on. He was an ultimate showman, and he was also a fabulously entertaining personality. He had style, he knew it. He flaunted it. Q: Did he ask for any booze? A: No, he didn't try and promote me for any free liquor that night. That was the beginning of a long and happy relationship. My brother, Kenny, became very close to Tom Parker. Our dad had died when I was a senior in college, so when I was in my late-twenties, my brother was a teenager in college. Our father had been gone for 8 or 9 years. And Kenny latched on to Colonel Parker, and Colonel Parker sort of liked Kenny. And there was a sort-of a relationship there, it was sort of a father/son kinda thing. My brother became very close to Colonel Parker and stayed that way until his death, Kenny was one of the guys at his eulogy for Tom when he died. With Jerry Weintraub and a few other guys. And because of my brother's relationship, and the Colonel living in Las Vegas with Loanne, he was constantly calling me on the telephone and giving me advice at the Golden Nugget, at the Mirage, Treasure Island. He never made it to Bellagio. He always knew what was going on. He once called me up and said, "Steve, I want you to take out a pencil. You know I don't give you any bad steers, I can spot somebody when their coming." I said, "Sure, I know that Colonel." He says, "Well, I'm gonna tell you one. Now, you mark this down. It's a girl. First name Celine. C-E-L-I-N-E. Last name Dion. D-I-O-N. Like the singer. Now, this girl's from Canada. Got a voice like the Empire State Building. She's going to be a giant star. I fixed her up with David Foster. Trust me, she's going to be a giant star. You can count on it. I'm gonna give you some people to call. I want you to figure out how to make a connection and get this girl to work at the Mirage." I couldn't quite convince him that I had Siegfried and Roy there. You know, I couldn't just push them out. But the Colonel...this is before anybody knew who that girl was. He said, "I tried to explain that to these Hilton people, but they don't want to listen." And Hilton could have used her in those days. They had a big, big showroom where Elvis worked and Barbra Streisand worked. And that was the kind of thing...the Colonel would come over all the time...it was our habit, my brother and I, to have him over for lunch. Once every two months, he would come over with Loanne. We would go to one of the restaurants at the Mirage, or wherever it was at the time, and the Colonel would bring me up to date on all of this stuff. Another character of giant proportions. Q: A lot of people don't realize that side of the Colonel. People always try to find the bad side? A: Did you talk to Jerry Weintraub? Did he tell the story of the split of the money? .... After they had been doing the concert tour, and Jerry had gone from being pennyless to being a wealthy guy, he met the colonel out west. And the tour had been going on for six months or five months, and Jerry had a million dollars in the bank for his part, and he was standing back stage and Elvis was on and the Colonel was there. The Colonel says, "Hey, I want to talk to you, I got something for you." They were backstage, "What is it?" "Come on in here," and they ducked into a backstage proproom or something and the Colonel says, "I got two briefcases." He opened them up and they were filled with money. Money. Jammed with money. He said, "This is the money from the sale of those novelties. Listen, you're our partner. When we're partners we're partners. One's mine and Elvis' and one's yours. Which one do you want? Take your pick". Jerry says, "But Colonel, I've already been treated generously on the concert tour. The tour operators don't generally have anything to do with the sales of the novelties." He says, "A partner's a partner. Jerry, which one do you want? You decide." Colonel took his cane and hit one of them, closed the other one and said, "That's yours." Jerry Weintraub said that's the single greatest moment of his life. How about the time when he was trying to talk him into the tour? He said, "Bring a million dollars." He finagles a check and it was from Danny Kaye. It turned out to be Danny Kaye, he found out years later. And then, when the tour was successful, Colonel Parker took out the check. He had never cashed it. He said, "This is yours." Jerry thought it was a prepayment. The Colonel was a good faith. He never cashed it! He handed him back the same piece of paper. Oh, I mean, you know...they changed the world and normal people can't do that. Q: You stayed with Priscilla after Elvis' death, didn't you? A: Yes, she and her husband come over to visit Kenny, and I always get a chance to say 'Hi', and sometimes to join them for dinner. She's a lovely and a good mom, I guess. Under the circumstances, I guess there was a lot to overcome there with all the publicity and the lifestyle. And she comes from a plain and much more low-keyed background. When you look at celebrities like Elvis that have that almost galactic fame, you know, it's not national anymore, it's global. There is no place they can go, there is nobody that desn't know them on earth. Those forces don't attack the lives of the rest of us, but they whither and break people. And how a family holds together under all that is a mystery to me. Q: Where were you when you heard Elvis died? A: I was at home and my brother called, crying. "Steve, Elvis is gone." "What do you mean 'gone'?" "He was found at home. Joe Esposito found him. He's dead." He was all shook up. Q: Why do you think 25 years later, Elvis is still so popular? A: Great question. We've lived thru a lot of celebrities in our life. Great fame has become much more easy to accomplish because of a proliferation of worldwide telecommunications and the media outlets that have proliferated on cable and magazines that make everybody read and hear about everybody else. Realizing that when Elvis did it, the channels of communication with the rest of the world were a fraction of what they are today. That it took a hundred times more energy and talent to fill everybody's mind around the world the way he did than it would today. A gal like Britney Spears and other young kids get to be known everywhere because of the media. When Elvis did it, these channels didn't exist. He jumped the ocean before you could watch CNN around the world, or MTV existed. Let's face it. Elvis had a great singing voice that fooled everybody. He had great range and he could sing. It wasn't a gimmick. He had a style that was extraordinarily unique. But he could also flat-out sing a song. So, we take this talent. We take physical beauty. He was the most stunning guy that anybody ever saw, and every man noticed that in his prime. And that pixie-ish, self-effacing manner. He said, "I do this because I like the sound of the music but I don't take that seriously, you know..." With that grin on his face, that crooked smile. Elvis Presley was just a combination of ingredients, so unusual, so one-off that he generated an energy that was totally unreasonable, totally irrational that you get to ask a question like the one you did. How could a guy keep this kind of presence after his life had ended, for now a generation? How is that possible? I think it's in direct relation of the energy while he was alive.

Q: 初めてパーカー大佐に会われたのは いつですか？. A: エルヴィスのラスベガス初出演の １ヶ月前頃だ。 アレックス・ショーフィーと一緒だった。 パーカーは初公演に向けて ラスベガスで準備してたんだ。 そんな忙しい中、 パーカーとアレックス・ショーフィーが コーヒー・ショップで ランチを食べていた。 アレックスは 当時のインターナショナル・ホテルの社長で、 何か会う用件があって、 コーヒー・ショップで 待ち合わせした。 アレックスは 一人の男性と一緒だった。 顔が見えなくて 誰だか分らなかった。 帽子をかぶっていた。 私が捜してると、 アレックスがこっちだよと手を振ったので、 行くと、 アレックスが 「スティーヴ・ウィン、 トム・パーカーに挨拶を。 パーカー大佐。 こちらはスティーヴ・ウィン。 酒屋さんだよ」と。 もちろん、直ぐに 彼が誰だか分った。 彼は最高のショーマンだったし、 個性的な楽しい人物だった。 彼なりのスタイルを知ったうえで、 見栄をはっていた。 Q: 彼は 酒をせがみませんでしたか? A: いや、 あの夜は ただ酒は要求されなかったよ。 あの時以来、 彼とは良い関係が続いた。 弟のケニーと トム・パーカーは とても親しくなったんだ。 私の父親は 私が大学生の時に亡くなった。 私が２０代後半で、 ケニーが１０代。 父親が亡くなって ８、９年目さ。 それで、 ケニーはパーカー大佐を 慕うようになった。 そして 大佐もケニーを気に入っていた。 親子に似た関係さ。 弟はパーカー大佐と親しくなって、 彼が亡くなるまで傍にいたんだ。 ジェリー・ワイントローブや他の連中と共に ケニーはパーカー大佐の葬式で 弔辞を読んだよ。 弟との関係と、 大佐はロアンヌ（パーカーの後妻）と ラスベガスに住んでたから、 彼はしょっちゅう私に 電話で助言してくれたよ。 ゴールデン・ナゲットでも、 ミラージュでも、 トレジャー・アイランドでもだ。 ベラージオはまだ無かったけど。 彼はいつも芸能界に精通していた。 ある時、 電話をかけてきて言った。 「スティーヴ、 鉛筆を用意しろ。 私の情報に間違いがないのは 知ってるだろう。 私は成功しそうな人間が 見えるんだよ。」 私が「ええ、分ってます、大佐」 と言うと、 彼は言った。 「ひとり教えてやろう。 書き留めておくように。 女性シンガーで 名前がセリーヌ・ディオンと言うんだ。 カナダ出身で、 エンパイア・ ステイト・ビルディングのような 声の持ち主だ。 彼女は大スターになるよ。 私が彼女をデビッド・フォスターに預けた。 信じろよ。 彼女が将来大スターになるのは 間違いない。 電話番号を教えるから、 君から連絡して、 彼女をミラージュに出演さすといいよ。」 あの時は ジーグフリード＆ロイがいたので、 彼の忠告を訊き入れることが出来なかった。 しかし大佐は、 誰よりも早く彼女に気付いていたんだ。 彼は 「ヒルトンの人間にも話そうとしたが、 聞こうともしなかった」 と言っていた。 ヒルトンは 彼女を出演させとけばよかったんだよ。 エルヴィスや バーブラ・ストライサンドが出演した 大きなショールームがあったんだから。 そのようなことで、 大佐とは よく会っていた。 大佐とランチを食べるのが、 私と弟の習慣になった。 ２ヶ月に１度ぐらいかな、 ロアンヌと一緒に、 ミラージュか その辺りのレストランに行った。 大佐は私に最新情報を 教えてくれたよ。 そんな面も大いにあったんだ。 Q: 大佐のそういった面に、 ほとんどの人は気がついてなかった。 いつも悪い面ばかり探されていた。 A: ジェリー・ワイントローブとは話したかい? お金を山分けしたことを話したか? コンサート・ツアーを成功させて、 ジェリーは一文無しから 大金持ちになった。 ツアーを始めて ５，６ヶ月も経つと、 ジェリーは銀行に 自分の取り分の １００万ドルを預けるほどになっていた。 彼はバックステージにいて、 エルヴィスはステージ。 そして もちろん大佐もいた。 ある時、 大佐がバックステージで、 「君に話がある。 渡したいものがあるんだ」 と言ったんだ。 「何ですか？」 「こちらに来て」と言ったので、 楽屋か何処かに入ると、 「ここに２つの書類カバンがある」と言って、 大佐はカバンを開けたんだ。 それにはお金が詰まっていた。 カバン一杯の紙幣だ。 彼は説明した。 「これはエルヴィス・グッズの売上げだよ。 よく聞くんだ。 君は私のパートナーだ。 我々がパートナーってことは、 パートナーなんだ。 そこで、 このひとつは私とエルヴィスのもので、 ひとつは君のものだ。 どちらか好きな方のカバンを選べ。」 ジェリーが 「でも大佐、 私はツアーで良くしてもらってます。 ツアー会社は 一般には グッズの売上げには 関らないんです」 と言うと、 彼は 「パートナーはパートナーだよ、 ジェリー、 どちらにする？ 決めろよ」と言って、 大佐は杖でひとつのカバンを叩いて、 もう片方を閉じ 「これが君のだ」 と言って渡したんだ。 ジェリー・ワイントローブは、 あの時が彼の人生最高の時だったと 言ってたよ。 ジェリー・ワイントローブが 大佐とツアーの件で 話しをつけた時のことは知ってるか? 大佐はジェリーに 「１００万ドル持って来い」 と要求したんだ。 ジェリーは 何とか小切手を手に入れた。 それは、 あとになって分ったんだが、 ダニー・ケイ （５０年代の人気俳優で、 ７０年代はユニセフ親善大使としても活躍した） の金だったんだ。 そして、 ツアーが成功して終わると、 パーカー大佐はその小切手を取り出して、 「これは君のだよ」 と言って ジェリーに返した。 彼は小切手を換金しなかった。 ジェリーはそれを 前払い金だと考えていたんだ。 大佐は誠実な人間で、 換金しないで、 小切手をそのままジェリーに返した。 私が言いたいのは、 彼らだからこそ、 世の中を変えることができたんだよ。 普通の人間には出来ないことさ。 Q: エルヴィスが亡くなった後、 プリシラと会われましたか? A: 彼女と新しい亭主が ケニーを訪ねてきてたので、 よく会う機会が有ったんだ。 時々、 ディナーを一緒に食べたよ。 彼女は可愛くて 良い母親だと思うよ。 あのような環境で、 彼女はよくやってきたよ。 彼女は田舎の貧しい環境から 出てきたんだ。 エルヴィスのような有名人は、 国内だけでなく、 世界中に知れ渡ってるから、 出歩くことさえ出来ない。 知らない人はいないんだから。 あのような脅かされる生活は 我々とは縁がないが、 あのような状況下で 家族がうまくやって行く方法を 私は思いつかないよ。 Q: エルヴィスが亡くなったと 何処で聞きましたか? A: 私は家にいた。 弟が泣いて電話してきたんだ。 「スティーヴ、 エルヴィスが逝った。」 「『いった』って どういうことだ？」 「ジョー・エスポジトが見つけたんだ。 彼は死んでたんだ。」 弟の声は震えていたよ。 Q: 亡くなって２５年、 今なお エルヴィスに人気があるのは 何故でしょう? A: 良い質問だ。 私は多くの有名人も知ってる。 世界的通信手段の拡大で 名声を得るのは簡単になった。 ケーブルＴＶや雑誌で 誰でも情報が得られるようになったからだ。 しかし エルヴィスの時代は 外の世界との通信手段が 僅かしかなかった。 皆の心に入り込むには 今より何百倍ものエネルギーや才能を必要とした。 ブリトニー・スピアーズや 若い連中が 何処でも知られるようになったのは メディアのおかげだ。 エルヴィスの時代は何もなかった。 CNN や MTVが出来る前に エルヴィスは海を飛び越えて行った。 実際のところ、 エルヴィスは 皆を熱中させるだけの歌唱力を持っていた。 音域が広くて、 歌が上手だった。 ごまかしじゃない。 彼のスタイルは 特にユニークだったが、 歌は上手だったんだ。 才能があって、 外見も美しかった。 彼は今まで会った中で最も美しい男だったし、 それは皆な知っていた。 それに加えて、 お茶目で、 謙虚だったんだ。 彼はニコっとして 「この曲はサウンドが気に入ってるだけで、 深い意味はないんだよ」 と言ったよ。 エルヴィス・プレスリーとは 色んな物が混ざったものだ。 普通ではなく、 他に類も無い。 彼の生み出すエネルギーは 全く理解できないものだから、 このような質問をしたくなるんだ。 亡くなってからも 彼のこのような存在感って何だろう？ 世代を超えて 何故可能なのか？ 私は彼が生きてた時のエネルギーが 今も続いてると思う。

(Feb.27, 2005)

Ben Weisman Interview Ben Weisman Interview Q: Theres a photograph of you and Elvis here that looked like a plaque. Can you tell us a little background about what happened there? A: Well, Elvis and I took a picture together, because we wrote a song called "I'll Be Back," which was voted as the top ten in the motion picture category. The first time a rock and roll picture was up for a possible Oscar. So It was done as a promo, where we stood there. And we got pretty close. We were voted to top ten. Didn't quite make the five. But there's one song that that Elvis got in the top ten in the motion picture academy. So we posed. That was the picture we posed for. Promo. Q: Is there a certain category for that? A: It was for the best song in a motion picture. Q: When did you first start writing songs for Elvis? A: I was under contract to a gentleman name of Jean Aberbach. And Hill and Range publishing company. I was in New York at the time. And he said, "Ben, we have a new talent, we want to be publishing his work. We want you to listen to him." So in 1956, I watched the Tommy Dorsey show where Elvis performed for the first time. And it was fantastic. And then I went back to the publisher and he said, "Okay Ben, now I want you to write for him." He wanted me to write different styles. So I was able to write for any style. So when I studied Elvis, I knew just how to approach it. And so in 56 I wrote a thing called "First in Line" which he recorded. And I was very pleased about that. Q: Tell us about your first meeting with Elvis. A: I first met Elvis in Hollywood. I flew from New York to Hollywood, and they were doing a movie called "Loving You." And I wanted to meet him. So we sat in the control room. Aaron Schroeder, who was my co-writer, and we just sat there and waiting for him. So he was recording, he wasn't doing my song, called "Got a Lot of Living to Do," so I got scared. So what happened was, in between the takes, I ran out. He was playing his guitar next to the piano. And we sat down, and started playing the blues with him. And he looked up and said, "Who are you?" I said my name is Ben Weisman. He said, "Wait a minute, didn't you write a song called 'Got a Lot of Living to Do'?" He says, "Hold it Ben." And he got his musicians together, and they recorded the song right on the spot. Q: When Elvis did "Loving You," did you meet his mother? A: No, I didn't meet his mother. But in the movie of "Loving You," you see her in the scene at the end, where he does "Got a Lot of Living to Do," you see her, stamping his feet. And he come down the aisle, hed look around, he was looking at her. It was a kick. Q: You wrote quite a few songs for each picture. How did that come about? A: Well, what happened is that living in New York, they would mail the scripts to myself, Lieber & Stoller, a lot of writers. And we all had to fight for each song in the movie. So we'd all make our demos, and then a gentleman named Freddy Beanstock would take all these demos and go to Hollywood. And they would play for the producers. And the producers picked maybe seven or eight songs for each scene. And then they would present them to Elvis, Elvis would pick maybe two or three and decide which one he would try first. So it was really a scramble. It was really wild times in those years. A: You wrote "Don't Leave Me Now." Did you take inspirations from everyday life, or was it always towards the type of thing Elvis would be doing in the movie? A: Well, each scene called for a certain type of song. And I would try to fit the song to fit the scene. That's why Elvis did 50 of my tunes. I'd look at the scene, and I would study in the script. And I would produce it in such a way where it would fit that scene. And so I had a good chance to get the song in. And "Don't Leave Me Now" was in "Jailhouse Rock." He did that. Q: Did Elvis tell you what type of songs he really liked to sing? A: No, what I did was I studied his albums. And I kind of got into his head and what he wanted to hear. And so, also the songs I wrote -- I tried to stretch him a little bit. Instead of the typical rock and roll things. He loved ballads. He loved singers like Perry Como and Dean Martin. So I wrote songs that would fit in that style. And he wanted them. He recorded most of them. Q: You also wrote some title songs, such as "Follow That Dream." Could you touch on those? A: Yes, well, let me see. I wrote "Frankie and Johnny," it was an old folk song which we adapted for the movie. And matter of fact, that was a funny story. Because the conductor didn't show up for the session the day Elvis was supposed to cut that song. Elvis says, you better come in here. So I actually directed the band so Elvis could do "Frankie and Johnny." It was one of the few times that I actually got in the studio and conducted the band. And then he has a funny story, which became "King Creole." "King Creole" was called "Danny." It was an Elvis cover song I wrote called "Danny." They decided to change the picture to "King Creole." So "Danny" was left out. It was released many years later in an album. Q: When did you get the chance to see Elvis? Was it quite frequently? A: Well, I usually saw Elvis in the studios. Because in case something didn't go right, you know, it didn't go right, I'd have to come and help out. The demos in the studio. And they listened to them. And they would actually emulate what they heard. And so I made sure that the demos were pretty good. Q: How was Elvis to work with? A: Elvis, well he had different moods. He'd kid around sometimes. Sometimes very serious. Many times he would cut as much as 32 takes just to get the right feel for it. He was very serious. But he also kidded around. So it was -- he had different moods to him, in the studio. Q: Were you ever privy to any of Elvis practical jokes? A: He used to call me the mad professor. And a few times he'd tickle me when we were in the studio, fool around a little bit. Terrific guy. I really miss him a lot. Q: Why did he call you the mad professor? A: Well, I don't look like a rock and roll guy. Typically you know, with the looks. Actually my background was actually classical music. Which helped me to write a lot of songs. 'Cause Elvis liked the classics. He used to play "Clair de Lune" on the piano. And he loved the classics, which helped me a lot. Q: He liked upbeat songs like "Pocketful of Rainbows"? A: Yes. "Pocketful of Rainbows." And he liked it. And it was in a cable car with Juliet Prowse. And I tried to get him to do some high notes, some falsetto notes. And I tried different things with him. And he went along with it. He seemed to like it. And so it was really one song he didn't like, called "A Dog's Life." He couldn't stand that song. But they needed it for the movie, or the scene. And he would try to sing it, he'd be cracking up. He couldn't sing it. Finally got through, he was laughing through half the song. Q: One of the most beloved Elvis songs is "Wooden Heart." Can you tell us a little about that? A: Well, theres a scene where Elvis with Juliet Prowse watching a puppet scene. They needed a song to fit it. So we had the idea of wooden heart, which is a puppet. And so it was based on an old German folk song, which is what they wanted. So it worked out great. As a matter of fact, when I was in Gstad in Switzerland, I did an Elvis concert thing there. And we did that song, and it actually tore down the house. They just wouldn't let me off the stage. They loved that song. Q: Did you get to see Elvis perform live? A: Well, it was mostly when he did Vegas. He was fantastic, kidded around a lot, and he was a terrific talent. I really miss him a lot. Q: How was Elvis with his audience? A: Well, Elvis loved his audience. You could tell. It was like a romance. You know, when he went onstage, he seemed to just -- he could relate to them. That's why people loved him. He, he just could relate. It was like a love affair between him and the audience. So you could feel it when he sang. He had a very great contact with the people. Q: How did the audience respond to Elvis in Las Vegas? A: They loved him. Matter of fact, the women used to throw keys on the stage of their rooms, you know. The key to their rooms at the Hilton. And they just loved him. And I've never seen such a love between women and Elvis. Q: How was the mood in Las Vegas? Was there an electricity? A: He'd walk into a room and people, you could feel it when he walked in. He had that, that charisma. He just had a charisma people could just feel when he walked in the room. Q: What set Elvis apart from other performers? A: Well, first of all, Elvis never forgot his roots. You know, he was a truck driver as a kid. And he worked in different jobs and things. And he never changed. He never forgot his roots. Matter of fact, his friends that worked with him, half of them I think were from that area where he lived. And he wanted to keep that part of it around with him so he could still have the feeling of being at home. So great relations to people, and people just loved him. Q: Could you talk about Elvis friends from Memphis? A: Well, one of my favorite guys was Joe Esposito. He was the righthand man. He protected him. I think he was one of my favorites among his friends. And a few others, but Joe was actually my favorite. Q: Did you get to see Elvis between takes on the movie set? A: The movie sets? Yeah, I saw him in between the takes. And he was very kind to me. Very, very warm and, like I said, we had a great rapport. Q: You wrote 57 songs for Elvis. Which ones are you the most proud of? A: Well, there's a movie called "King Creole" was my favorite movie. And I wrote a song called "Crawfish," "As Long As I Have You," "Don't Ask Me Why." Those are my favorite songs. I think one of the best pictures he ever did. You know, he could've been a fantastic -- he could've done much more, acting-wise. But they wanted to keep him kind of lightweight. People would criticize his movies, but they shouldn't, because he did what he was asked to do. And besides that, all his movies were big sellers. They sold very, very big and very successful. So I think his movies are very, very clean. They were wholesome. No cursing or anything. They were really very inspiring movies, as far as Im concerned. Q: Did Elvis ever talk to you about films he was making? A: Not too much, no. He was -- you know, like I say, there was a lot of time in the studio. And also I met him at the Hilton years ago. After one of the shows. A year before he passed away. I was invited to go upstairs into the suite. I went upstairs and I sat down. And one of his friends. And a lot of celebrities were there. And I sat there, and I didn't have too much to say. He noticed me, and he called me over, and he said, Ben, how many records did I record of yours? And I said, 57. Fifty-seven, come here, and he pulled me in front of the crowd, says, Ben wrote 57 of my songs and I'm gonna -- let's hear it for him. And he picked me up, and had a lot of fun with me. He was very good-natured. Q: Could you talk about Elvis spiritual side and the songs you wrote for him in that vein? A: Elvis was a very spiritual gentleman. And he had a great love for God. Very spiritual. And what happened was, he was gonna do a movie called "Change of Habit." And it was about three nuns, and he was a doctor. So I wanted to make sure that I got the right songs for him. So there was a church in Westwood called St. Pauls Church. And I went there with my wife and I listened to songs, and to how they would pray. And they would say -- one of the ministers would say let us pray. I said, what a wonderful title. So I used that as one of the songs. And also "Change of Habit." And "Let Us Pray" was, I think, one of my favorite gospel songs I wrote for Elvis. It was terrific. And "We Call On Him" was another song which he did a beautiful job on. And I was able to capture what he wanted to hear. Q: Were you ever privy to when Elvis would do little gospel sings here and there? A: No, I wasn't with him when he did "Change of Habit." But I would listen to his albums of his different songs he sang. And was so thrilled, because he loved spiritual music. And "Let Us Pray" was one of my favorites. And "We Call On Him," he did a beautiful job on that. Very spiritual gentleman. And people don't realize what a good heart he had. You know, there's too many things about him. Not the right things. And he was just a good-natured man, and loved God. A very, very spiritual man. Q: Why is Elvis still so popular? A: You know, Elvis is a phenomena. We don't have many singers like that anymore. I mean, they're wonderful singers today, but I don't think they reach the stature of Elvis. Because he had that certain magic about him, that comes once in a lifetime. Like you have Marilyn Monroe, Shirley Temple, you know. Very few come along. He had that certain magic about him that you won't find nowadays. He'll probably live forever. Q: How has Elvis affected your life? A: Well, actually, I keep him locked downstairs. No, he actually has been supporting me all these years. All of his records have been doing so well. He's been wonderful. And I've been happy that he's done so many of my songs. And I have a lot to thank him for. Q: You must be happy that so many people continue to love your songs. A: Well, through Elvis singing of my songs, it's been all through Europe. And, like I say, I went to, I went to Switzerland and to Germany. And they rolled out the red carpet. Because they're very happy to see me. And I was so thrilled. You know, also I was in Italy. And all, all different parts of the world. And when they heard I worked for Elvis, like wow, they rolled out the red carpet. I was -- opened up many doors for me. And made me worldwide, which I really appreciate. Q: Could you describe Elvis in one word? A: I would say a phenomena. Phenomenon. And, and just love for people, and people loved him. You can't find that very often nowadays. Q: Where were you when you found out he passed away? A: I was doing a TV show called "The Young and the Restless," believe it or not. No one even knew I was a songwriter. And I was -- I had a few lines to do. And I was playing. And then in between the takes, one of the cameramen said, Ben, we've got news for you. You'd better sit down. I said, why? They said, well, Elvis is gone. He passed. I was, come on, that's enough. And he says, he's gone. I said, I can't believe it. So I ran to the phone. And my wife says it's on all the TV stations. And I actually broke down. And it was hard for me to play. They had to do me a few times over to I could play my part of the role. It was pretty -- it was a pretty bad time for me. Q: Do you have anything to say to Elvis fans? A: I would tell them thanks for everything. Thanks for recording my songs. And made me friends throughout the world. I really miss him a lot too. Q: What are your memories of Colonel Parker? A: Well I also have a couple of funny stories about the Colonel. At that time he was in MGM studios. We had a hangar there. We had his different publicity people. And I always wanted to be friends with him. He was kind of hard to get to. So I walked over to the office, and I said, Colonel, you don't like me, do you? He says, what? Cause very few people were afraid of him. I wasn't afraid, cause he didn't pick the songs. I wanted to be his friend. So I said, Colonel, I said I wanna be your friend. I mean, Elvis has cut so many -- he says, I'm a businessman. And he said, tell you what I'm gonna do with you. He took out big paper, and he put -- circled ten percent. And he said, what's this? He said, Ben, I have an idea for you. I said, what? He says, dogs. I says, dogs? Yeah, he says, well run an album about dogs. Different names of dogs. And people are gonna buy it. If you do, I want ten percent, right? I says, right. But somehow I got to him, and he took me out to lunch once. Which was unusual, because he wouldn't take you out to lunch. And I took him out to lunch, and he was very warm and friendly. And actually I signed him a thank you plaque, thanking him for working with Elvis, and being such a big success. Q: Tell us how Colonel Parker actually was. A: Well, actually, the Colonel Parker, to me, was like, without him, there might not have been an Elvis. That's how I feel about it. He was such a great promoter. He had great vision. And I think without the Colonel, Elvis -- I don't know if he would've made it. He might have made it in time, but it was a perfect team between the Colonel and Elvis. It was a perfect, perfect team. Q: What impressed you about Colonel Parker? A: Well, he was a terrific businessman. He was a great businessman, and he had vision. He can -- he could see where Elvis was gonna go. And he kind of planned all the things that Elvis did. So he was really very important to Elvis life. I think, like I say, without the Colonel, I don't know how far Elvis would've gone. Q: He was managing Elvis all the time, wasn't he? A: Like I say, without the Colonels promotion and vision, I don't know if Elvis could've made it. That's how important he was. And that's pretty important.

(Feb.26, 2005)

Elvis Today The King lives on - but he's not who you always thought he was by Will Friedwald The year 2005 contains two major anniversaries in american popular music. It marks 50 years since 1955, when rock 'n' roll first conquered the pop singles chart, and also what would have been the seventieth birthday of Elvis Presley (who was so young when he made his initial breakthrough that his father had to co-sign his first contract with RCA Records for him). For Elvis, the timing was perfect. However, in terms of my own appreciation of both occurrences, the timing was completely off. My father was born the same year as Elvis Aron Presley, and I came along a season or so after the King returned from the Army. My dad was slightly too old to be part of the demographic that made Elvis a superstar, and I was too young to get it. When I was first starting to notice pop music, in the 1970s, it was in a fallow period. I was caught between disco and punk, and neither appealed to me. Rock 'n' roll was music that my parents' generation liked. It meant the Stones, the Dead, Hendrix, Dylan, and other figures whose attraction still remains beyond my comprehension. (To this day the only records I have by them are LPs from my late dad's collection.) By 1977, the year both Elvis and Bing Crosby died, I had already infiltrated my father's jazz stash and begun working forward from Armstrong's Hot Fives and Bix through Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, and John Coltrane. Along the way I also discovered Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and the great American songbook. Rock 'n' roll remained for me a bizarre thing that held some strange fascination for zillions of people but that I just couldn't get started with. One thing that I did have in common with most rock fans of my generation was that none of us knew what to make of Elvis Presley. By the time of his death he was a joke to high school kids born in the sixties and who listened to the Sex Pistols (whose Sid Vicious savaged both Sinatra and Presley in his parody of "My Way"), David Bowie, Kiss, or, in my case, Bing. Elvis Presley seemed like a caricature in his last few years, but a caricature of what we didn't know, since we had never experienced him in his glory days (which had been only, in fact, a few years earlier). With those capes and jump suits, he appeared to belong with Liberace. His demotion from king to laughingstock was confirmed for me in the eighties and nineties, when he was increasingly spotted walking the earth, always by hayseeds: Elvis pumping gas, Elvis driving a pickup truck, Elvis ordering a bucket of chicken from the Colonel (Sanders, not Parker). But for years two people I revered, the critic Gary Giddins and the writer and editor Robert Gottlieb, kept telling me I was wrong to dismiss Presley so offhandedly. Finally, in the summer of 2004, I decided to see what all the shaking was about. I got hold of RCA Records' four big Essential Masters boxes. By the time I finished listening to them, I was completely hooked. Seventeen CDs were hardly enough. I was amazed by what I heard. After a lifetime of not getting it, I finally experienced my very own Elvis epiphany, and the mystery of why he is considered one of the great pop performers of all time was revealed to me. It was a vision straight from Graceland of a transcendental being, not in a white robe but in a white jump suit, with guitar rather than harp. My perspective on Presley is therefore different from that of most newcomers to his music. Most people look at him as the beginning of something, from the vantage point of what came after him. There's John Lennon's famous statement that "before Elvis, there was nothing." Since my orientation was Frank Sinatra and Louis Jordan, rather than the Beatles or the Kinks, my long-delayed experience of Elvis and his music comes from a completely different place. First of all, Lennon (who survived Presley by only three years) was just plain wrong. Before Elvis, there was plenty. Documentary histories of rock 'n' roll generally write off pre-rock popular music as strictly white bread, represented by Patti Page's bland love songs and treacly novelties until Presley and the other first-generation rockers came along and left America "All Shook Up." Yet even if you ignore artists like Sinatra and Nat King Cole, whose music was considerably more exciting than "How Much Is That Doggie in the Window," it's plain that both rhythm and blues (and black artists in general) and country and western had been making significant inroads into the pop mainstream long before the Presley explosion of 1956. He has almost nothing in common, vocally, with later rock stars. Sam Phillips, who owned and operated Sun Records and more than anyone deserves credit for "discovering" Elvis Presley, is supposed to have said that he could make a fortune if he could find a white man who sang black. Actually, there were already all manner of white singers who patterned themselves after black R&B singers. The pop-music historian Arnold Shaw quotes Frankie Laine as saying that he wasn't going to make it in this business until he started "singing like a spook." Likewise, Johnnie Ray was a white singer who enjoyed a brief vogue for a vocal style that simultaneously anticipated rock 'n' roll and caricatured it. The early fifties also saw a number of mainstream pop stars who drew on some of the appeal of country music. Patti Page was best known in her day for straddling both the pop and country charts, and her "Tennessee Waltz" was a blockbuster because it appealed to New Yorkers and Okies alike. There was also Guy Mitchell, who had a vaguely Western sound and made hits out of manufactured folk songs. And Jo Stafford had a basically folkish timbre that sounded more rural than urban. Presley's innovation wasn't that he sounded either black or like a hillbilly; it was the brilliant way he drew on all three strains of pop music: blues, country, and traditional "classic" pop (that of the crooners, big bands, and Broadway shows). And though the country and blues influences were probably what most attracted the teenagers of 1956, in retrospect Presley is clearly a crooner. He comes out of a very clear tradition of great male singers of the great American songbook, especially Bing Crosby, Al Jolson, Billy Eckstine, Dean Martin, and, to an extent, Frank Sinatra - as well as the leading crooners of the idioms of the blues, like Louis Jordan, and of country, like Eddy Arnold. Presley's most obvious roots lie in Dean Martin and Bing Crosby. If you start with Crosby, and you add occasional Italian curse words and mannerisms intended to suggest various states of inebriation, then you've got Dean Martin. Take away those Neapolitanisms, replace with a whole lot o' shakin', and essentially you've got Elvis. Those gyrations, the physical ones more than the vocal, simultaneously thrilled teenagers, annoyed adults, and gave satirists grist for the parody mill. Crosby directly anticipates Elvis's voice on his 1950 "Sunshine Cake," and when Martin does folkish material, the similarities to Presley are unmistakable. On his 1956 "Memories Are Made of This" (by the folkpop songwriter Terry Gilkyson) Martin sounds exactly like Elvis; when Presley sings "Angel" in his 1962 film Follow That Dream, he sounds exactly like Dino. Whether he was drawing on Nashville, Mississippi Delta, or Tin Pan Alley traditions, Presley's greatest strength lay in ballads and love songs, of both the country and the city varieties. It would be foolish to deny that he was the King of Rock 'n' Roll, the idiom's first and greatest superstar. Yet who, exactly, are his children? He has almost nothing in common, vocally, with subsequent rock stars. To me, he doesn't sound anything like Ozzy Osbourne, David Bowie, Radiohead, or even the Beatles. But he does sound a lot like the previous generation of great male pop singers. If there is a split between Presley and what came before him, it is mainly in the sense of demographics. Presley represents a point of demarcation in that his music was directed almost exclusively at kids. Except, strangely, when Presley was a kid himself. His first sessions, done for the Memphis independent Sun Records when he was 19 and 20, offer a fascinating vision of the Elvis that might have been. He sings mainly classic blues ("That's All Right," "Mystery Train"), country ("Blue Moon of Kentucky," "Just Because"), and pop ("Harbor Lights"). It’s hard to imagine anyone else doing both Rodgers and Hart's "Blue Moon" and Bill Monroe's bluegrass classic "Blue Moon of Kentucky" within a heartbeat of each other. It was only when RCA realized he was selling zillions of records to teenagers that a portion of his material was dumbed down to appeal to adolescents and no one else. Such ephemera as "Teddy Bear," "Good Luck Charm," "Wear My Ring Around Your Neck," and many others represent the most forgettable aspect of his legacy. In my head I can hear Louis Jordan or Ray Charles doing "Blue Suede Shoes" but not "His Latest Flame" or "The Girl of My Best Friend." These last titles are particularly puerile. It was part of the Presley legend that he was anointed to instigate the generation gap, but it didn't have to be that way. Elvis's longtime friend Larry Geller has written, "Contrary to myth, not every adult found Elvis shocking. I recall my parents watching him on Ed Sullivan and enjoying it quite a bit." Yet that was the very definition of rock 'n' roll. What made it different from all other earlier kinds of pop was not the music itself but the marketing. Like big-band swing and Sinatra-era pop, rock was aimed at young people, but unlike other kinds of pop, it was also specifically designed to annoy their parents. Nearly every television documentary on early rock or Presley devotes too much time to inflating the reaction of the older generation. In fact, rock bashing by church and school officials was mild compared with the hostility toward jazz in the twenties. Still, parents, teachers, and clergy did condemn rock 'n' roll, and the more they excoriated it, the more the entertainment business embraced it as a way to make money. It was characterized as subversive, the sound of rebellion, while being enthusiastically underwritten by corporate America. There was only one kind of music that Presley sang with more conviction than love ballads: songs of religious devotion. As for Presley, he never considered himself a rebel. Far from wanting to antagonize the grownups, he addressed everybody older than he was as "mister" and "ma'am." He was a sweet-natured, levelheaded boy, before prescription medications screwed him up, and he deported himself more like Perry Como than like Jim Morrison. He also shared several qualities with Louis Armstrong, not all of them positive. Each was the first and greatest, larger-than-life exemplar of a new kind of music, yet the majority of their output - everything but the earliest work - is almost universally dismissed. Somehow, a kind of radical, extreme purism has become the norm with regard to their music. Certain puritans apparently can't stand the idea that Armstrong made music other than jazz or that by 1960 Presley, tired of doing one rehash of "Don't Be Cruel" after another, was similarly broadening his horizons. He and Sinatra were kindred spirits, both their own tastemakers. Presley's early work shows that he was already capable of more diversity than previous pop stars at comparable points in their careers. Crosby and Nat Cole specialized in rhythm songs in their early years, while Sinatra primarily sang ballads. Yet Presley's strength wasn't necessarily that he could switch from Hank Williams to Big Joe Turner in a matter of seconds but that he was equally versed in doing fast, elemental rockers and in tearing his heart out in slow romantic songs. We could love him telling us about hound dogs, teddy bears, and hardheaded women, or we could love him tender. He continued to grow as an artist after 1960, and to my ears his post-Army work continued to get better and better. The best elements of those early 12-bar blues rockers like "Long Tall Sally" and "Ready Teddy" remained part of his foundation, but considerably more got built on that foundation. In a broad sense, his exploration of different genres of pop was like Bing Crosby's, embracing European songs (from "Muss I' Den," a.k.a. "Wooden Heart," to adaptations of Italian folk and pop tunes), Hawaiian (starting with Crosby's hit "Blue Hawaii"), a smattering of samba and bossa nova ("Viva Las Vegas"), Christmas hits (specifically "I'll Be Home on Christmas Day," learned from two of his heroes, Ernest Tubb and Billy Eckstine), and gospel albums, which represented probably his greatest work. At about the time he upgraded from the Memphis independent label Sun Records to the multinational corporation RCA, a music publisher named Hill and Range set him up with his own publishing imprint. As his biographer Peter Guralnick discusses in detail, from that time on Presley practically never sang a song that wasn't Hill and Range's. Sinatra had also owned publishing houses, as had most big bandleaders. But unlike Presley, that hadn't stopped Sinatra from consistently recording the best songs he could find. Yet like Sinatra, and unlike subsequent rock stars, Presley never made any claims for himself as a songwriter. The strength of both was that they could interpret a song written by someone else and make it into something considerably more magical, and even personal, than the guy who wrote it. Eddy Arnold was a first-rate country singer, but even he can't touch Presley's reading of his own "You Don't Know Me." Unfortunately, Presley was importuned to waste too much energy making mediocre songs - which he usually owned a piece of - sound better than they were. One of the easiest ways to make money in publishing is to copyright something that already exists. People were always taking traditional melodies and folk songs, putting new lyrics and titles to them, and sitting back and collecting the royalties. Presley seems to have gotten stuck with more half-baked folk rehashes than anyone, yet he rarely failed to transform second-rate material into first-rate pop. The upside, however, was that he could do a number of songs from Italian and other European folk sources, transformed via new words into a Hill and Range product. "Can't Help Falling in Love," "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me," "Surrender," and "It's Now or Never" are some of his finest ballads, all informed by his love of the great Italian crooners, starting with Enrico Caruso and including two singers who were culturally rather than genetically Italian, Bing Crosby and Tony Martin. Likewise, there are all manner of buried gems among the sixties movie songs: "A House That Has Everything (Everything but Love)," which he croons to his costar, Shelley Fabares, in Clambake, is simple, direct, and beautiful, one of his most effective ballads ever, and he imbues it with a plaintive quality and a yearning that the finest male pop singers would have admired. It's easy to single out the inferior songs in Presley's films, but there are just as many minor classics, like "All That I Am" in Spinout, and "Almost in Love" in Live a Little, Love a Little, the latter a superior song that would have suited Tony Bennett. "Everything but Love" is one of the prettiest things Presley ever sang. It's worth at least half a dozen of the three-chord rock numbers he was cutting 10 years earlier. He recorded what might be his greatest ballad at his second session after coming home from Germany. To me, it makes perfect sense that "Are You Lonesome Tonight" was a holdover from an earlier generation (it was actually old-fashioned even in 1927), and a waltz to boot. In Elvis lore, "Lonesome" is regarded as the first song that Colonel Parker recommended to his client - especially notable since they didn’t own the publishing rights. Parker (and his wife, Marie) had apparently grown to love "Lonesome" because of his first client, Gene Austin, the biggest-selling vocalist of the 1920s. Accordingly, Presley sings it in a tenor voice very much like Austin's (Presley occasionally employed a falsetto register that was even higher, in the tradition of Bill Kenny of the Ink Spots, as in "I'm Yours"). Yet other aspects of Presley's arrangement, such as the use of the choir and the placement and editing of the monologue, strongly suggest that he learned the song from Al Jolson's 1950 recording. The spoken recitation was included in the original sheet music, but Jolson seems to have been the first singer to record it, and Presley's conviction while both singing and reciting recalls no one so much as Jolson at the very top of his game. There's only one kind of music that Presley sang with more conviction than love ballads: songs of religious devotion. The two central expressions of African-American music are the blues and gospel, and they are flip sides of each other. In their purest forms, blues deals with the darkness and gospel with the light, blues with the flesh and gospel with the spirit, blues with the earth and gospel with the sky. Presley unfailingly said that gospel was his favorite music, and as a teenager he assumed that the highest he could possibly go in show biz was to join a first-rate quartet like his heroes the Blackwoods. The expected trajectory of a successful blues-and-pop singer in the mid-twentieth century was out of the church and into the jukebox: from Dinah Washington and Sarah Vaughan in the forties, and Sam Cooke and Lou Rawls in the fifties, to Aretha Franklin and Gladys Knight in the sixties. But it would be hard to think of another singer, black or white, who became a star in mainstream pop before beginning to concentrate on spiritual music. In that aspect of his career, Presley is like Duke Ellington and Leonard Bernstein, who began exploring their spiritual sides later, rather than earlier, in their careers. Presley's gospel recordings represent perhaps the most consistently excellent work of his entire career. He made three albums of gospel songs, nearly all of which are on the essential two-CD package Amazing Grace - His Greatest Sacred Performances. He hadn't grown up thrilling his fellow parishioners - he rarely sang in church as a child - yet this was the music that was the most real and tangible to him. He heard the blues, country, and urban pop over the radio, but gospel he could reach out and touch. Presley brings to singing the praises of the Lord both a conviction and an intensity unmatched almost anywhere in his work. He takes religious songs from every sub-tradition: white, black, even Broadway show tunes, among them a gospel treatment of "You'll Never Walk Alone" (which he once called his favorite song) that uses countrified chord substitutions that would have horrified Rodgers and Hammerstein. It's impossible not to feel the spirit when he sings, and he does more than convince you that he believes; he makes you yourself believe. Frank Sinatra's daughter Nancy was a good friend of Presley and costarred with him in the 1968 film Speedway. She once reported a conversation she had about Elvis with her father. Frank Sinatra disparaged Elvis not on the basis of his talent or his taste but because he felt he'd never grown as an artist. Nancy protested that the people around Elvis wouldn't let him grow. Sinatra rejected that excuse. From his perspective, we can't blame him. The old man would have never let anybody stand in his way in terms of choosing a song or finessing an arrangement or a recording mix to perfection. And this conversation represents a rare occasion in which Frank Sinatra discussed Presley as even potentially an equal or kindred spirit. But he was. They both were only children who demanded the company of an entourage around them when they grew up; they both were extremely devoted to their mothers; they were among the relatively few singers who attained superstardom in Hollywood; and they both had a lot of comebacks. Most important, both Sinatra and Presley were their own tastemakers. Joe Esposito, leader of Presley's entourage, the "Memphis Mafia," has described how Elvis would work with his recording engineers to mix his own master tapes. He would have a one-off acetate pressed of his mix and later compare it with the mix that RCA released. When the label tampered with his intentions, he'd be annoyed, but rarely to the degree that he did anything about it. He was constantly irked by the idea that the people he worked with on films and record sessions were unimportant because all the audience cared about was Elvis. Like Sinatra before him, he wanted to work only with the best actors and musicians and with superior songs. The difference between him and Sinatra was one of temperament. Sinatra, like Ray Charles, constantly made his own opportunities, and heaven help you if you got in his way. Perhaps Presley was too nice and civil a guy. Perhaps to stick to your standards in Hollywood, you had to be something of a gangster. Unlike Sinatra's, Presley's recorded output looks meager when compared with what it could have been. There are so many songs he should have done: "There Must Be a Better World Somewhere" (a Doc Pomus song for B. B. King that's far superior to anything he wrote for Presley), "I Wonder Where Our Love Has Gone," "A Rainy Night in Georgia," "Everybody's Somebody's Fool," Louis Jordan's "Early in the Morning," "What a Wonderful World," "Empty Bed Blues," "Stand by Me," "On Broadway," "I Pity the Fool," Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come," "Work Song," "Don't Go to Strangers," "At Last," "Teach Me Tonight," Robert Johnson's "Hellhound on My Trail." He could have sung entire songbook albums of the works of Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer, and Hoagy Carmichael, three old-school songwriters who also bridged the worlds of jazz, pop, and country music. When the Elvis sightings of the early nineties reached a peak, I couldn't help wondering how much interest there would be when he really left the building. His death obviously left a gap that no one has been able to fill. And after all these years it seems clear that Elvis Presley was not the beginning of something but the end. John Lennon had it the wrong way around: After Elvis, there was nothing. Will Friedwald is the jazz reviewer for the New York Sun and the author of seven books on music and popular culture.

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