Saturday, October 10, 2015

Why Read Elvis Presley Books

By Deana Norton


There may be uncountable books on the King, and maybe they are in the thousands. Elvis Presley books are always in high demand and new ones appear all the time out of nowhere. It is a subject of top interest indeed. Voracious readers will always have something new to devour about his magical life. There is always something else they want to know.

The young Elvis was an usher at the Loews State Theater in his neighborhood and was also a truck driver. As a matter of fact, Jailhouse Rock premiered at the very same cinema. He was born a twin, but his brother Jesse died at birth, leaving the impressionable child with a hole in his heart. He compensated by, according to his mother, having the energy of two people!

Elvis thus was on a constant quest to find himself and the meaning of his life. He was successful, married the love of his life, divorced her, and made a fortune. He did inauspiciously on the john. It is ironic that he was reading a book entitled, Search for the Face of Jesus by Frank Adams.

Many lived to tell his unseemly tale at the end in their own books. They remember his remarks about his money losses, "Don't worry about the money, I'll just go out on the road and make more." His last words allegedly were that "this is gonna be my best tour ever."

This is the stuff of legends and we eat it all up. We cry at the story about losing a key role opposite Barbra Streisand in A Star is Born. Colonel Tom Parker, his perennial manager, refused to let him take second billing, but he lost a major opportunity to jump start a serious film career. He was always subjected to such whims. No wonder he lost much of his fortune to bad business deals.

The fact that he died in the bathroom is not surprising. After all, he had a real barber chair ensconced there. He was wont to read for periods of time. He died sadly and suddenly with no warning, rhyme, or reason. He had just finished a stint at the piano (still in the racquetball court at Graceland to this day) and was not in bad spirits. He had just crooned "Blue Eyes Cryin' in the Rain" and "Unchained Melody, " two favorites.

If you are looking for hidden meanings, they aren't in these books. It is the same story time and again about a Tennessee lad who made it bigger than big. But he was often lonely, even in a room full of people like his grand room at the Hilton in Los Vegas. You can see a note displayed at Graceland that reveals his soul, "I'm the only person I know who can walk into a room full of people and be alone."

Elvis' grave is found there at his homeland, alongside his mother's. Both had been moved from Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis in 1977 due to a grave robbery attempt. It's now all there at Graceland for his fans to see and experience. Elvis indeed has come home.




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