Thirty years ago today, I left work early, went home to my studio apartment and turned on the news. The newsman said, “The man who sang this song is dead.” I thought, “Bing Crosby has been ill”, so I expected to hear “White Christmas”. Instead, I heard “You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog”.
I can’t quote what he said precisely, but some time after Elvis died, Colonel Tom Parker was quoted as saying something like, “Elvis has died, but we’re still selling records and memorabilia. Nothing has changed.” The saddest thing to me is that Elvis somehow ceased to be a human being even before he died, but he continued to be an industrial commodity long afterwords, and the colonel and others raked in more and more cash based on his talent, not theirs. I don’t blame the individual people who visit Graceland or who buy Elvis records, because many of them probably did at least try to care about Elvis the man, not just Elvis the performer. But for Elvis himself, life was too short, there were too many drugs, probably too much casual sex, too much money, but far too few of the best things in life, which are supposed to be free. I don’t think Elvis ever recovered from the stillbirth of his twin brother, the early death of his mother, or the way he was manipulated by others to have a career which often served their interests better than his. In the end, Elvis was just a sad reminder that it’s possible to have everything and simultaneously have nothing. He was a Cleveland Browns fan, and he probably could have afforded to buy the Cleveland Browns if he had wanted to, but I doubt if Elvis had one single genuine friend.
Yet I remember Elvis as polite and gracious, a far more real person than today’s celebrities. It’s true that the Beatles were far more clever than Elvis, but even in his opulence Elvis retained some of the virtues of industrious, conservative, faith-based blue-collar Americans, virtues the Beatles never had. He deserved a better fate. In his honor, I left work early again today. The king is dead, and even though I’m not all shook up, Elvis deserves to be remembered from time to time because his mortality reminds us of our own, and the brevity of life compells us to do something good while we’re here.
