Living only 42 years is the 20th century, in Western society, it was very little, even less in the 21st century.
When you are between 15 and 20 years old, you may think that living only 42 is not bad at all. When you’re 42, you think it would be terrible to die then. When you’re over 50, you think with horror that dying at 42 is practically doing it in your youth, that there’s still a long way to go, a lot of things to do, a lot to live for.
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Elvis Presley did not turn 43. He died sick, sad, tired and alone? At least that’s the majority perception among us, his fans. Why did he have to live that tragedy and die like this while still so young? We tend to think that he was in bad company, badly advised, badly taken care of… Around him, despite being a very closed circle, there were many people: his manager, Thomas Parker; his wife-divorcee, Priscilla; her father, Vernon; his doctor, Dr. Nick; the West brothers (Red and Sonny), Charlie Hodge, Joe Esposito, Jerry Schilling, Larry Geller, Felton Jarvis, their regular musicians,…
Posthumously, the figure of Elvis has been taken care of through Elvis Presley Enterprises (EPE) with Priscilla Beaulieu, his ex-wife, at the helm, while record care has fallen on the shoulders, fundamentally, of Ernst Jorgensen and Roger Semon. On both sides there have been successes and failures, but the general balance is very positive because Elvis Presley is still in force and more than 4 decades have passed since his death.
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The fans thought that we would have known how to take care of him and advise him, but what makes us think that he would have paid more attention to us than to those mentioned above? What makes us think that our love for him exceeds that of his regulars? And besides, why do we think our advice would have been good?
To motivate your thoughts, or for you to discuss mine, I present what I would have liked to suggest:
Artistically
– If one of your ambitions, if not your biggest, was to be a good movie actor, why didn’t you take acting classes?
– Having tried to compose their own material. Undoubtedly at first it would not have done wonders, nobody does, but little by little, who knows?
– He could have recorded discs, let’s say, thematic, such as:
– A good blues album in the 60/70
– An album only with songs by Chuck Berry and backed by a powerful rhythmic band. Why not Led Zeppelin? I understand that he was offered to work in a support band studio
– A record with material by Buddy Holly, someone he ignored and I don’t understand why.
– Collaborations with artists of the time who, deep down, were looking forward to it: George Harrison, Aretha, McCartney, Lennon, Cash, Dylan, Dolly Parton, B.B. King, Tom Jones, etc.
– Change of producer (for me Felton Jarvis was very successful in his treatment of the musical “product” “Elvis Presley”, even though he was a very nice guy)
– A world tour, at least in Europe
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Personally:
– Give up your nocturnal lifestyle
– Reduce your drug intake
– Expand your social circle and not be surrounded only by clappers
– Hire a good lawyer and have fired Parker in 1973, after Aloha, as was his intention
– Hire someone to take care of your finances, not your father
What would you have advised?
I return, however, to insist on: would you have paid attention to us? Are my possible suggestions so original and extreme that they could not have been made by those close to you? Not just one, I’m sure they suggested all of them and even more.
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Elvis Presley was probably a distrustful man who did not accept much advice and who preferred to be guided by his own instinct, which sometimes worked for him and sometimes not so much. Perhaps he was also insecure (not facing the Colonel, but not because of the confrontation itself, but because of the “and then?”), capricious (cars, planes, women,…) and vulnerable.
Sadly, I think that I would not have been able to help him either, even if I wanted to and tried with all my might, but, without a doubt, I would have given a hand for having been his friend!
Article written and donated by Jesús Oliver Marquina (JOMair) and extracted from the blog of Club Elvis Spain http://www.clubelvis.org
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