- A live concert
to me is exciting because of all the electricity that is generated
- in the crowd and
on stage. It's my
favorite part of the business.
I happened to
come along in the music business when there was no trend.
The colored
folks been singing it and playing it just like I'm doin' now,
man, for more
years than I know. I got it from them.
Some people tap
their feet, some people snap their fingers, and some people
sway back and
forth. I just shorta do'em all together, I guess.
Ambition is a dream with a V8 engine.
From the time I
was a kid, I always knew something was going
to happen to me.
Didn't know exactly what.
I learned how
important it is to entertain people and give them
a reason to come
and watch you play.
I'll never make
it, it will never happen, because they're never going
to hear me
'cause they're screaming all the time.
Rhythm is
something you either have or don't have,
but when you
have it, you have it all over.
I don't know
anything about music. In my line you don't have to.
I don't think
I'm bad for people. If I did think I was bad for people,
I would go back
to driving a truck, and I really mean this.
I think I have
something tonight that's not quite correct for evening wear.
Blue suede
shoes.
I was an only
child, and Mother was always right with me all my life.
I used to get
very angry at her when I was growing up-it's a natural thing.
I was training
to be an electrician. I suppose I got wired the
wrong way round
somewhere along the line.
I'm not trying to be sexy. It's just my way of expressing myself when I move
around.
When I got outta
High School I was driving a truck. I was just a poor boy from Memphis.
Rock and roll
music, if you like it, if you feel it, you can't help but move to it.
That's what
happens to me. I can't help it.'
That's why I
hate to get started in these jam sessions. I'm always the last one to leave.
The closest I
ever came to getting married was just before I started singing.
In fact, my
first record saved my neck.
The image is one
thing and the human being is another.
It's very hard
to live up to an image, put it that way.
I get tired of playing a guy who gets into a fight,
then starts singing to the guy he`s just beat up.
When I was a
boy, I always saw myself as a hero in comic books and in movies.
I grew up
believing this dream.
Music should be something that makes you gotta move, inside or outside.
I believe in the
Bible. I believe that all good things come from God.
I don't believe
I'd sing the way I do if God hadn't wanted me to.
Look guys, if you're just going to stare at me, I'm going to bed!
The first time
that I appeared on stage, it scared me to death.
I really didn't
know what all the yelling was about.
I didn't realize
that my body was moving.
It's a natural
thing to me. So to the manager backstage I said
'What'd I do?
What'd I do?
We do two shows
a night for five weeks. A lotta times we’ll go upstairs and sing
until daylight -
gospel songs. It more or less puts your mind at ease. It does mine.
I knew by heart
all the dialogue of James Dean's films; I could
watch "Rebel
Without a Cause" a hundred times over.
The police
filmed a show one time in Florida because of the P.G.A, Y.M.C.A., or
somebody.
They thought
that I was... something. They said, `Man, he`s got to be crazy`. So they,
the police,
came out and
filmed the show. I couldn`t move. I had to stand still.
I don`t like
being called Elvis The Pelvis. That`s gotta be one of the most childish
expressions I`ve
ever heard coming from an adult.
People say i'm vulgar.
They say i use my hips
disgustingly.
But that's my way of
putting over a song.
I have to move.
When i have a lot of
energy, i move more.
i lose three to four
pounds a performance.
i've always done it this
way.
