PAUL
We met
Elvis Presley at the end
of our stay in L.A. We'd
tried for years to, but we
could never get to him. He
was our greatest idol, but
the styles were changing
in favor of us. He was a
pretty powerful image to
British people. You'd look
at photos of him doing
American concerts, and the
audience would not even be
jumping up and down. We
used to be amazed, seeing
them sitting in the front
row - not even dancing.
JOHN LENNON
: When I first heard "Heartbreak
Hotel," I could hardly make out what
was being said. It was just the
experience of hearing it and having my
hair stand on end. We'd never heard
American voices singing like that.
They'd always sung like Sinatra who
enunciated well. Suddenly, there's
this hillbilly hiccupping with echo
and all this bluesy background going
on. We didn't know what the hell
Presley was singing about or Little
Richard or Chuck Berry. It took a long
time to work out what was going on. To
us, it just sounded like great noise.
PAUL
We tried many times to
meet Elvis, Colonel Tom
Parker, his manager would
just show up with a few
souvenirs, and that would
have to do us for a while.
We didn't feel brushed off
we felt we deserved to be
brushed off. After all, he
was Elvis, and who were we
to dare to want to meet
him? But we finally
received an invitation to
go round and see him when
he was making a film in
Hollywood.
GEORGE
HARRISON
Meeting Elvis was one of
the high-lights of the
tour. It was funny,
because by the time we got
near his house we'd
forgotten where we were
going. We were in a
Cadillac going round and
round along Mulholland,
and we'd had a couple of
"cups of tea" in the back
of the car. It didn't
really matter where we
were going - it's like the
comedian Lord Buckley
says, "We go into a native
village and take a couple
of peyote buds, we might
not find out where we is,
but we'll sure find out
who we is." Anyway, we
were just having fun, we
were all in hysterics. (We
laughed a lot. That's one
thing we forgot about for
a few years - laughing.
When we went through all
the lawsuits, it looked as
if everything was bleak,
but when I think back to
before that, I remember we
used to laugh all the
time.) We pulled up at
some big gates and someone
said, "Oh yeah, we're
going to see Elvis," and
we all fell out of the car
laughing, trying to
pretend we weren't silly,
just like a Beatles
cartoon.
JOHN
It was very exciting, we
were all nervous as hell,
and we met him in his big
house in L.A. - probably
as big as the one we were
staying in, but it still
felt like "big house, big
Elvis." He had lots of
guys around him, all these
guys that used to live
near him (like we did from
Liverpool, we always had
thousands of Liverpool
people around us, so I
guess he was the same.)
And he had pool tables!
Maybe a lot of American
houses are like that, but
it seemed amazing to us.
It was like a nightclub.
RINGO
STARR
I
was pretty excited. We
were lucky because it was
the four of us and we had
each other to be with. The
house was very big. We
walked in, and Elvis was
sitting down on a settee
in front of the TV. He was
playing a bass guitar,
which even to this day I
find very strange. He had
all his guys around him,
and we said, "Hi, Elvis."
He was pretty shy, and we
were a little shy, but
between the five of us we
kept it rolling. I felt I
was more thrilled to meet
him than he was to meet
me.
PAUL
He showed us in. He
just looked like Elvis -
we were all major fans, so
it was hero worship of a
high degree. He said,
"Hello, lads - do you want
a drink?" We sat down and
watched telly, and he had
the first remote any of us
had ever seen. You just
aimed it at the telly and
- wow! That's Elvis! He
was playing Charlie Rich's
"Mohair Sam" all evening -
he had it on a jukebox.
JOHN He had his TV
going all the time, which
is what I do; we always
have TV on. We never watch
it - it's just there with
no sound on, and we listen
to records. In front of
the TV, he had a massive
amplifier with a bass
plugged into it, and he
was up playing bass all
the time with the picture
up on the TV. So we just
got in there and played
with him. We all plugged
in whatever was around,
and we played and sang. He
had a jukebox, like I do,
but I think he had all his
hits on it. But if I'd
made as many as him, maybe
I'd have all mine on.
PAUL
That was the greatest.
Elvis was into the bass,
So there I was, "Well, let
me show you a thing or
two, El..." Suddenly he
was a mate. It was a great
conversation piece for me.
I could actually talk
about the bass, and we sat
around and just enjoyed
ourselves. He was great.
Talkative. Friendly and a
little bit shy. But that
was his image. We expected
that, we hoped for that.
JOHN
At first we couldn't make him out. I
asked him if he was preparing new
ideas for his next film and he
drawled, "Ah sure am. Ah play a
country boy with a guitar who meets a
few gals along the way, and ah sing a
few songs." We all looked at one
another. Finally Presley and Colonel
Parker laughed and explained that the
only time they departed from that
formula - for Wild in the Country -
they lost money.
PAUL
She
came in, and I got this picture of her
as a sort of a Barbie doll - with a
purple gingham dress and a gingham bow
in her very beehive hair, with lots of
makeup. We all said hello, and then it
was, "Right, lads, hands off - she's
going." She didn't stay long. I can't
blame him, although I don't think any
of us would have made a pass at her.
That was definitely not on - Elvis's
wife, you know! That was unthinkable -
she didn't need to be put away quite
so quickly, we thought.
GEORGE
I
don't remember even seeing Priscilla.
I spent most of the party trying to
suss out from the gang if anybody had
any reefers. But they were uppers and
whiskey people. They weren't really
into reefer smoking in the South.
JOHN
It was nice meeting Elvis. He was just
Elvis, you know? He seemed normal to
us, and we were asking about his
making movies and not doing any
personal appearances or TV. I think he
enjoys making movies so much, We
couldn't stand not doing personal
appearances, we'd get bored - we get
bored quickly. He says he misses it a
bit.We never talked about anything
else - we just played music. He wasn't
bigger than us, but he was "the
thing." He just wasn't articulate,
that's all.
