All language subtitles for Elvis Presley The Searcher (2018) - 1-

Priscilla Presley:
Elvis was a searcher.

It's a part of him
that never left.

Announcer:
The following program
is brought to you

in living color, on NBC.

Singer presents Elvis,

starring Elvis Presley
in his first TV special,

his first personal performance
on TV in nearly ten years.

? If you're lookin'
for trouble ?

You came to the right place

? If you're lookin'
for trouble ?

Just look right in my face

I was born standin' up

And talkin' back

My daddy was
a green-eyed mountain jack

Because I'm evil

My middle name is Misery

Well, I'm evil

Ah, so don't you
mess around with me

Priscilla:
In '68, he was
a nervous wreck.

Nervous because he didn't know

if his audience was
going to accept him.

People had not seen him
perform in so long.

It felt like his record career
was over as well.

It was intense.

The '68 Special,
it was either the beginning
or the end of his career.

Tom Petty:
You know, God bless him.

He was a light for all of us.

We all owe him
for going first into battle.

He had no road map,

and he forged a path
of what to do
and what not to do.

We shouldn't
make the mistake

of writing off
a great artist

by all the clatter
that came later.

We should dwell in what he did

that was so beautiful
and everlasting,

which was that
great, great music.

Elvis:
Yes, my baby left me

Never said a word

Was it something I done

Something that she heard?

My baby left me,
my baby left me

My baby even left me

Never said a word

Lord, I stand at my window

Wring my hands and cry

I hate to lose that woman

Hate to say goodbye

You know, she left me

Yeah, she left me

My baby even left me

Never said a word

Play it blues, boy

Jerry Schilling:
Elvis always remembered

what it was like
to have nothing,

and to have no respect,
to be looked down upon.

Priscilla:
Elvis never forgot
the experience

of being in poverty, ever.

It stuck with him
all his life.

When I look at photos of Elvis
when he was young,

I see that little boy in him,

that playfulness,
the curiosity in his eyes.

But I also see how he felt
responsibility for his mother.

Bill Ferris:
Elvis was born
in a shotgun house.

The poorest of the poor
lived in those houses.

His twin brother
did not survive birth.

And it's said that
his mother would tell him

that if he sang when
the moon was full at night,

his twin brother
could hear him.

Priscilla:
Gladys was a doting mother,

but she could be
quite firm as well.

Always very protective of him.

He was her only child.

She lived for him, and...

he lived for her.

When Elvis was
three years old in 1938,

his father was sentenced
to three years in prison

for forging a check.

The check was to buy food
to put on the table.

Gladys would take him
to see his father.

Vernon was so embarrassed.

John Jackson:
Thankfully, he doesn't have
to spend the three years.

He only spends
six months in prison.

But what it does is

it starts a pattern
of Vernon being away

and Elvis and Gladys being
left to their own devices.

And they move around and live
in different boarding houses.

Schilling:
This was the end
of the Depression.

Vernon, after that experience
at Parchman Prison,

he had a hard time
finding jobs.

Priscilla:
Elvis told me that his father
really lost his spirit.

And his mother had to work
really hard during that time.

Man:
Yes, that's it.

Ready here for the slate. 802.

Steve Binder:
When I first got
the phone call

to get involved with Elvis...

my partner at the time,
Bones Howe,

who was a very successful
record producer,

was really flabbergasted
when I said no.

And he came over to me
right after I hung up
the phone,

and he said,
Steve, I engineered
an Elvis Presley album.

I know Elvis Presley,
and I think you guys
would hit it off great.

Bones Howe:
Elvis was a guy
who sang from his gut.

This is something
you're born with.

You're born with that
commitment to the music.

The one thing I remember

that stuck with me
all these years,
was Binder said,

People need to see him
the way he really is.

He had to dig back
to find his real self,

and it was like looking
back into the past.

Red West:
Vernon and Gladys
heard this loud roar,

half in their sleep.

They picked Elvis up.

Thought they were putting
him out a window

to get him away
from the train
that was coming.

Threw him right into a wall,

and he bounced off
and fell on the floor.

His cryin' woke them up,

and they saw it was no train.

It was a tornado
that went through Tupelo.

Ferris:
Southern religion
reminds its believers

that we're here
for a short time.

If you lost your life
or you were spared,

it was because
of divine providence.

The loss of life,
the destruction of property,

it was a reminder
of the fragility of life.

(piano playing on record)

Priscilla:
Going to church
with his parents,

hearing gospel music,

being a part of people
getting in touch,

moving with the music,
getting lost in the music.

Record:
I've got that
old-time religion

Got that old-time religion

That is why I'm satisfied

Larry Strickland:
If you lived in a rural area,

there wasn't much else
but the music and the church.

It wasn't like you'd be
going there and sitting back

and crossin' your legs
and relaxing.

You know, you get very involved
and very energetic.

It's as much a feeling
as it is a hearing.

Elvis Presley:
I've always liked music.

My mother and dad
both loved to sing.

They'd tell me that when I was
about three or four years old,

I got away from
them in church
and walked up

in front of the choir
and started beatin' time.

Man:
Have you seen

Where the Lord's gone?
Tell me now

Where he's gone
Where he's gone

Ferris:
The hymns were more
than religious.

They were fundamental
building blocks of music.

Rhythmic, hard-hitting,

you had the foundation
of rock and roll bands,

playing in churches.

When I sit down
Lord, sit down

Something will be over ?
Lord, sit down ?

When I sit down
Lord, sit down

Gonna say come over here

Man: I'm so glad!

I'm working over here!

Ferris:
People came to be excited,

and taken out
of their daily experience.

Elvis was like
Huck Finn exploring.

At night, he would slip
in to black churches.

He would listen
to gospel music

and to the sermons.

Priscilla:
Gladys let him
pursue the music

that he could
surround himself with.

Petty:
Elvis was very different.

Color lines were
rarely crossed.

You just didn't find
white people

that tuned into black music

and stayed there

and found it interesting

and studied it.

David Porter:
A time where the country

was into racism
and segregation,

and here was a young kid.

He was not afraid to go
and be exposed to it,

so he could learn
even more about it.

Schilling:
He was doing what
he enjoyed doing.

I don't think
it was conscious,

but he absorbed
everything that he saw.

Man:
That's all right

Jackson:
He would seek out people
in his neighborhood

who could play music
or had records,

or had a radio.

Man:
Any way you do

Bruce Springsteen:
You could turn a dial
and hear gospel.

Well, my mama,
she done told me

Springsteen:
Turn a dial
and hear country.

Turn a dial and hear blues.

Turn the dial and hear
Sunday Night Creatures,
you know?

I mean, it was all just there

in the Southern atmosphere
he grew up in.

That's all right now, mama

Elvis:
If today

Was not an endless highway

If tonight

Was not an endless trail

If tomorrow

Wasn't such a long time

Then lonesome
would mean nothing

? To me at all ?

Yes, and only

Elvis:
I always felt that
someday, somehow,

something would happen
to change everything for me.

And I'd daydream
about how it would be.

If I could hear her heart

Priscilla:
Once he moved to Memphis,

everything started
opening up for him.

He was 13.

Ferris:
As BB King once said,
when he moved to Memphis,

It was like moving to Paris.

It was a different culture,

and a sense in which

things were connected
and happening,

that someone like Elvis

could not even
imagine in Tupelo.

The wealth, the affluence,

the scale of buildings,

the power of that river
flowing by.

Jackson:
Memphis is
a very diverse city,

not an integrated city,
but a very diverse city.

So you had a lot
of people moving there

after the war.

Man:
? Well, you know
I love my baby ?

Jackson:
It was really the hub
for people from that Southern

cotton plantation area

to either stay or use it
as a stepping stone
to go somewhere else.

Ferris:
Like many Southern families,

the Presleys moved
to the big city

seeking a little better
opportunity.

Portia Maultsby:
Memphis developed a very
vibrant entertainment district,

'cause, you know,
people brought with them
their music, their culture.

Petty:
You've got that spill
there of the blues,

of gospel, pop music,
country music.

All those things,
they cross over each other,

and radio definitely
had to play

a big role in his influences,

because I don't think he was
carrying the kind of dough

to have an enormous
record collection.

Porter:
WDIA, it was a 50,000 watt
African-American radio station

that artists like
Bobby Blue Bland
were being played

'cause the whole emphasis
was black music.

Black music was just beginning
to take root in our area,

and there's no doubt in mind

that Elvis Presley
listened to WDIA.

Percy Mayfield (on radio):
It's a real pleasure
to invite you

to keep your radio
dial turned to 1070.

That means WDIA.

That's 50,000 watts
of powered entertainment
for your pleasure.

West:
We were both just
above the poverty level.

I lived in one housing project,

and he lived in
Lauderdale Courts

about three or four
miles away.

We grew up the hard way.

Alan Light:
The apartment
in Lauderdale Courts

that the Presleys moved into

was part of the early
New Deal housing program.

It was affordable,
but it was bigger than
anything they were used to.

They gave him everything.

They let him sleep
in the big bedroom.

They saved what
little money they had

so that he could buy a guitar,
he could buy a record player.

And they gave him that
same sort of independence

to go out in the city
and be exposed to other musics.

Train I ride

Priscilla:
He loved the bright lights.

He loved the music in the city.

He loved hearing people
in the street.

He loved listening to music
coming from the bars.

And he'd study them.

Porter:
Elvis was a student.

As a kid, I would go
to the Flamingo Room,

myself and Elvis would hang
at the Flamingo Room.

When you realize that Elvis
knew where Beale Street was,

and knew what that all meant,

you could sense
that he was different.

You walk in the Flamingo Room
on a Saturday night

or a Friday night,
you're in another world.

It's like a Mardi Gras
celebration,

except the music is soulful.

There was so much color
in clothing, in dress, in vibe,

and the music
was tremendously upbeat.

Comin' on 'round the bend

You're not seeing
that for one night.

You're seeing that
everytime you go there.

Rufus Thomas:
Beale Street was
the black man's haven.

When he'd come here,
everything lit up.

Lit up like a slot machine.
Everything was fired up!

Beale Street was the place.

Porter:
You'd go out
on your weekend night,

and you were
an African-American,
at that time,

you're making small wages.

You were in a racially
prejudiced time,

and you had to have an escape.

And the legitimacy of the
Flamingo Room experience,

and the Beale Street
experience,

was something
that took your mind

totally away
from those things.

But if you had
the right kind of personality

and spirit about you,
regardless of who you were,

you could come in
and check out the music.

Train, train

Preston Lauterbach:
BB King, Rufus Thomas,

Johnny Ace,
Bobby Blue" Bland.

You know, these giants
were playing

little neighborhood
juke joints.

Porter:
Looking at that,
you would see

how powerful it would be
connecting to an audience.

Oh-oh,
stop your train, darlin'

Let a

A poor boy ride

Why don't you hear
me cryin'?

? Woo-hoo ?

Porter:
If you're a young kid,
a black kid or a white kid,

you were not
analytical about it,

but you certainly knew
the difference

between feeling
and not feeling.

And you heard it,
and you felt it.

Ike Turner:
Elvis, he would park his truck
in the alley behind the club,

and he used to come around
to the back of this place,

and he would watch me play
the old upright piano.

When you see him stand up
and he'd be doing his legs,

when he'd be playing
with the guitar,

all this came
from back in those days
when we used to do it.

Howlin' Wolf:
Don't you hear me
talkin' to you, woman?

Whoo-hoo

Whoo-oo

Since I've been gone

Schilling:
Elvis picked up everything.

He was the most
eclectic human being

I have ever been around.

He would pick up something
from another singer,

or he would pick up something

from a guy
walking down the street,

and say, "Jerry,
look at that walk.

I'm gonna use that walk."

Warren Zanes:
He's looking around
for pockets of expression

and putting together
his version of himself

based on these
highly expressive models
that are often quite different.

You know, the Dean Martins
of the world,

the Mario Lanzas,
the black church.

Jackson:
At this point,
Elvis and his parents

are going to a lot
of gospel services,

musical events around
the town in Memphis,

both black and white.

Rock my soul
in the bosom of Abraham

Tony Brown:
Quartets were the alter ego

of the Christian people
back in those days.

In the bosom of Abraham,
Oh, rock my soul...

Brown:
'Cause they wore
really tight, cool suits,

and they had slick-back hair
and sideburns.

Rock my soul
in the bosom of Abraham

Brown:
We looked at those people

like they were our
pop stars in a way,

which is what Elvis
really wanted to do.

You know, he wanted to be
in the Blackwood Brothers.

Petty:
Elvis, he longed to be
a great gospel singer.

I think he wanted to be
in a gospel group.

He wold have been
a great tenor.

I'm glad I've got

That old-time religion ?

It helps me on my journey...

Bill Malone:
Those Pentecostal preachers

were pretty dynamic
individuals, you know.

Back and forth
across the stage

and shouting
and raising their hands

and being very theatrical.

Oh, I couldn't get along

Without Jesus ?
I couldn't sing my song

Without Jesus
I wouldn't know
how to pray

Without Jesus
I wouldn't know
what to say

Without Jesus
Joy bells couldn't ring

Without Jesus
Angels couldn't sing

Without Jesus
My life wouldn't
mean a thing

Without Jesus
I couldn't reach my goal

Without Jesus
With no one to keep
my soul

Hey, tell me,
what can I do without...

Springsteen:
Front man is something
that was derived from preacher,

you know, fronting
the choir in church.

So whether you're
James Brown or Elvis

or anyone out there,

your position, basically,

is always proto-religious,
you know?

Those are its roots.

Oh, tell me what
would I do without Jesus

In my life

Jackson:
Elvis always was
seeking a way

to manifest his musical
interest in some way.

Elvis:
And I went to Humes
High School in Memphis.

I was taking music.
I flunked music.

Just flat, man. Whew!

F. The only thing
I ever failed.

West:
They had a little
talent show every year.

People would sing,
dance, whatever.

West:
I had a little
four-piece band,

I was playing the trumpet.

And Elvis had a guitar,

and he got up
and he sang, Old Shep.

Red Foley's sad song
about his old dog that died.

Elvis:
And one day

The doctor looked at me

And said

I can do no more
for him, Jim

Petty:
I think that's the moment
where the school

sort of throws down and goes,

That's what this
weird kid's about.

The moment that
applause broke through,

that's probably the first
real validation that he's had.

West:
Singing that tearjerker,
he put emotion into it.

Sang the heck out of it,
and he won first place!

And my little band
didn't do shit.

Petty:
That's a big step
for a young man.

At that moment, he had to see
the power of the material.

He had to go,
This is what I am.

This is what
I'm going to do.

Elvis:
It was amazing how--

how popular I became
in school after that.

Just walking in the rain...

James Tipler:
When he wasn't
driving the truck,

he'd help the electricians
pull wire

or whatever they
needed him to do.

Gladys Tipler:
He had long hair.

It was real thick,

and looked like it was
pasted down really.

James:
We all laughed at him
about that.

Gladys:
He just what
he wanted to do

is to get in some
kind of business

where he could make
his mother a living,

where she would not have
to struggle for it anymore.

Shake their heads...

Ernst Jorgensen:
At that time,

The Prisonaires had
recorded their big hit,

Walking in the Rain.

Jackson:
The Prisonaires
were a group

that Sam Phillips
was recording.

Sam Phillips, he grew to be
one of the most famous

and celebrated
record producers of all time,

but at first,
he started his own label.

Schilling:
The Prisonaires.

They were brought out
with handcuffs

into Sun Records to record.

Light:
To even conceive of that

as a possible source
for great music

that people should hear,

there's just a
democratization of...

of art,
of the possibilities for art.

Walkin' in the rain

Ferris:
What happened in
Memphis at that time

was a convergence
of forces.

The emergence of radio,

deejays, and artists.

And then you add
to that concoction,

the genius of producers

like Sam Phillips.

Lauterbach:
There wasn't much
in the way of rhythm and blues,

black music recording
infrastructure.

It was very much
a do-it-yourself,
mom-and-pop business.

Maultsby:
Sam Phillips loved the blues,

and he was interested
in recording

as many blues
performers as he could.

Schilling:
Elvis was aware
of what Sam had recorded

at Sun Studios.

Rufus Thomas.

Ike Turner.

The Prisonaires.

Petty:
I really believe Sam Phillips,
for a long time,

had the idea of finding
a white singer

that could bring black music

into the white mainstream.

For a lot of noble reasons,

not just commercial.

Schilling:
Everybody thinks that Sam
was looking for a white boy

to do black music.

But Elvis was looking
for Sam Phillips.

Sam Phillips:
I had seen him go by
in his Crown Electric truck

a number of different times,

'cause we had
an open storefront.

He'd go by and go back,

and go by and go back.

This guy would not
come in the studio

and ask me to audition him
for nothin'.

Elvis had never
been in a studio.

Jorgensen:
There was a newspaper story

about how you could
get lucky at Sun Records,

and Elvis just went for it.

Elvis:
If you

Find your sweetheart

In the arms of a friend ?

Schilling:
Elvis went in to do

what he thought
he should do

to get a record deal.

West:
He had this beautiful voice,

a high voice, singing
slow love longs, ballads.

Schilling:
And he sang Dean Martin.

He sang Ink Spots--

black but white-accepted music.

There was nothing
that was exciting Sam.

Phillips:
I didn't want that.

It had to have a feel.

I did have the feeling

that this guy had
something in the raw

that we could
do something with

if we even knew
what the hell we were doing.

Brought in Scotty Moore,

he was working at his
brother's dry cleaning plant,

and Scotty played the guitar

and was not afraid
to experiment.

Bill Black, I knew could
play a good slap bass.

Black was working
in an appliance store
repairing appliances.

And I said,
Go and woodshed, boys.

Scotty Moore:
Sam said, "All I need is just
a little background noise.

You don't have
to worry about
arrangements or anything.

Don't need the whole band,
just a little rhythm stuff.

I knew Sam was looking
for something,

but he couldn't tell you
what he was looking for,
you know?

Phillips:
This day we had wound up

just about ready to give up

on having any success
on a session.

About ready to bag up
the instruments and go home.

I knew Sun Records
had to make it

on something that
was a little bit
out of the ordinary

or we may as well forget it.

Jackson:
Things aren't going well.

Elvis is nervous.

Moore:
We'd been there
two, three hours,

and it was starting
to get late

and we were getting tired.

And, uh, we stopped
and had a Coke or something.

Jackson:
Elvis was just about
a year out of high school,

19 years old.

Moore:
He wanted to please Sam,

and he knew he had
to prove himself.

Robbie Robertson:
It was in that moment

that the world changed.

Moore:
Elvis sets his Coke down,
picks up the guitar,

starts just frailing,
you know, fire out of it.

I mean, he was beating
his rhythm thing.

Well, Bill picked his bass,
started slapping,

playing along with him.
Just-- just all rhythm.

Guitar was leaning up
on the amp and I picked it up

and started just kinda
vamping along with him.

Elvis:
Well, Mama,
she done told me

Papa done told me too

Son, that gal
you fooling with

She ain't no good for you

Well, that's all right

Phillips:
Although Elvis knew
a lot of blues,

country and pop,
it shocked me,

because here is
a classic blues number,

and here is a white cat
not imitating

or mimicking or anything,

but just putting
his feel into it.

Blew me away!

Springsteen:
You hear performers
in the thrall

of the beauty of invention,

not knowing quite
where they're going to go,

not knowing exactly
what they're doing.

Elvis:
I'm leaving town, baby

I'm leaving town for sure

Springsteen:
Just discovering it
and doing it

literally as the music
is being played.

You're out on the frontier,

and it's a very pristine
and exciting place to be.

Elvis:
That's all right now, mama

Any way you do

That's all right

It's all right

That's all right, now, mama

Any way you do

One more time, baby.

One more!

Ha!

Yeah, baby

Well, my Mama
she done told me

Papa done told me too

They said, Son,
this gal you foolin' with

She ain't no good for you

That's all right,
little mama

Any way you do

Give it all, baby!

That's all right

That's all right,
little mama

Any way you do

Whoo!

Moore:
We knew it was
a little different.

We didn't know
what it was really.

There was no mention
of, you know,
get this out or anything,

'cause we didn't know.

Write me a letter

Just flat fixin' to bring you

the hottest thing
in the country.

Red, Hot, and Blue coming
to you, WHBQ,

in Memphis, Tennessee
and it's Friday night.

Tomorrow's payday
and bath day.
That's a good deal.

Schilling:
Growing up in Memphis,

I'd been listening
to Dewey Phillips

and his Red, Hot,
and Blue show

for two years
before Elvis came on.

DJ Fontana:
He was the number one jock
in Memphis at the time.

Schilling:
When Elvis was played,

it was just different.

It wasn't really
rhythm and blues,

and it wasn't country.

Moore:
Dewey's program,
he started playing it

and phones was
ringing off the wall.

In fact, they went,
took Elvis out of the movie
he was at,

and told him that, uh,

that Dewey wanted
to talk to him on the radio.

Schilling:
He came on,
did the interview.

He was nervous
and he stuttered.

Phillips:
That's All Right, Mama
was a hit

in Memphis, Tennessee,
overnight.

Moore:
It was quite
phenomenal, really,

getting that kinda response
off a local radio station.

Fontana:
Dewey played it on the air,
just the one side,

and Sam got
ahold of us, and,

Gotta get back in here.

We got to have another
side for this record.

Phillips:
I said, "Do you know
anything else

that's as wild as that?"

Man:
Blue moon of Kentucky

Keep on shining

Shine on the one
that's gone

And proved untrue

Elvis:
Blue moon

Blue moon

Blue moon
keep shining bright

Blue moon, keep on
shining bright

You're gonna bring me
back my baby tonight

Blue moon

Keep shining bright

Ferris:
That one record
summed up his roots--

the very best of
both black blues

and white bluegrass.

Elvis:
Blue moon of Kentucky
keep on shining

Petty:
He knew the blues.

He knew Arthur Crudup,
Bill Munroe.

He knew that stuff by memory.

Elvis:
Stars shinnin' bright

Phillips:
The elements there
that came together

were things that I had
prayed for so long:

To record a black low-down
almost gut-bucket blues,

and turn around
and put a classic,
classic bluegrass number,

Blue Moon of Kentucky,
on the other side.

It didn't have
to have a color.

It didn't need a color.

Petty:
I don't know if Elvis
was looking at it

all in that noble of a light.

It was just music he liked.

Elvis:
? Oh, well, I said,
blue moon of Kentucky ?

? Just keep on shining ?

Petty:
Blue Moon of Kentucky,

he has got this entirely
original take on the bluegrass

and it transforms into

what would later
be called rock and roll.

Elvis:
Shine on the one
who's gone and left me blue

Emmylou Harris:
There's no one that
creates music in a vacuum.

We're all influenced
by what we've heard

and what has come before.

But occasionally, you have
those crossroads moments

when something
completely new is born.

Petty:
It was a beautiful,
beautiful thing.

It was high art,

in the greatest degree,
you know, this is Picasso.

I mean, this is really
taking your influences

and going somewhere with them,

to a place that's new.

West:
Now, Elvis had a hit record,

and he was touring
every night somewhere,

each night a different place.

Jorgensen:
The basic mistake
people make about Elvis

was that he came along
and got lucky.

No, he didn't get lucky.

He worked hard
and he created the music

with great musicians.

He had a drive
that motivated him,

and it was there
from day one.

Elvis:
Well, what a fool I was

To think that you
could love me too

Bill Malone:
In those early days,

whether it was Slim Whitman
or Jim Reeves

or Elvis Presley,

if they wanted to survive,

they had to hit the road.

Springsteen:
It's an old-fashioned
experience

in the sense that he was
part of a touring band.

Which meant that
night after night,

he was putting on his act.

And there's something
that happens

through extensive touring

that you can't
get anywhere else.

Jackson:
You look back at the
calendar of his dates,

and he's literally playing
dates every single night.

The circuit that
they're working

is probably one
of the most thankless

and low-paying,

just grind-of-a-circuit
that you could imagine.

Springsteen:
There's a depth of craft
that's attained

through simply constantly
doing it night after night,

having to satisfy all
different types of audiences.

West:
You know, you have
the stereotype

of the bass being
tied on top of the car.

That was true.
They really did that.

Man:
May I ask, where did you
pick up your style?

Elvis:
My very first appearance
after I started recording.

I was on a show
and I was scared stiff.

And I came out and I was
doing a fast type tune.

Everybody was hollering,
and I didn't know what
they were hollering at.

Everybody was screaming
and then I came offstage,

and my manager told me
that they was hollering

because I was
wiggling my legs.

I was unaware, and so
I went back out for an encore,

and I did a little more.

And the more I did,
the louder they went.

Jackson:
Sam Phillips was able to get
Elvis on the Opry in Nashville,

which was massive.

I mean, you don't just
get on the Grand Ole Opry.

The Opry, you had to be
a member, be in this club,

the traditional
Nashville establishment.

You had to dress the way
that they wanted you to dress

and sing the way
they wanted you to sing.

The Opry was very,
very segregated.

Moore:
This was an older audience.

They had their artists
that they went to see.

And here's a kid
dressed funny,

coming out, doing one
of their idols' songs

in a blasphemous way.

They didn't get up
and cheer and holler.

Phillips:
Now, if you are fainthearted,

you're gonna
give up in a hurry

on a situation like that.

We were not fainthearted.

But we certainly didn't know
whether we would win it.

We knew in time
that something this great

could not be kept
under a bushel.

Ferris:
You cannot understand Elvis

apart from country music,

but he was pulling it away

from the traditional
Grand Ole Opry sound

and shaping it as a new,
bluesier version.

While country music
could recognize it,

they also knew it was
a threatening sound

that would ultimately
destroy the power

of the Grand Ole Opry.

Jackson:
So four months after

the release
of the first single,

they play their first
Louisiana Hayride show.

Elvis:
Tweedle, tweedle,
tweedle, dee

I'm as happy as can be

Fontana:
The Louisiana Hayride was
strictly a country show.

Webb Pierce, Faron Young,
Nat Stuckey, George Jones,

just about everybody
played the Hayride.

Robertson:
The Louisiana Hayride
was really the place

where country music and blues

hit one another and exploded.

Ferris:
It was a critical moment
in his career.

The radio broadcasts

had an enormous
impact in Memphis,

but the Louisiana Hayride was
a whole different audience.

Malone:
Hayride could be heard

all through the western
part of the South,

so it had a pretty wide
geographical audience.

Ferris:
That was a kind of
testing of his ability

to reach audiences

beyond his own home
in Memphis.

Malone:
The Louisiana Hayride
did send out

road tours
to surrounding towns.

The entire show would move.

Jackson:
They'd start to build
these touring routes

that bring them back
to Shreveport once a week.

That's a big turning point,

not only from
a financial perspective

but also from
a exposure perspective.

Jorgensen:
Elvis played a lot
of these first shows

with Jim Ed and Maxine Brown,
Bud Deckelman,

uh, Betty Amos--
successful country artists,

but not on a real top level.

Zanes:
Those performers are
competing with one another.

Somebody wants to leave there
feeling like they won.

And being on bills like that,

you are amongst people
who are gonna
teach you things.

And that's a big part
of what made Elvis

in those early becoming years

was that he had
an antenna that was up,

and he was stealing tricks,
he was learning lessons.

He was bringing it all in
without it seeming like

he was just doing
somebody else's act.

Fontana:
He could go out there,
and the audience

wouldn't be on his side
for maybe five minutes.

But all of a sudden,
somehow or another,
he'd turn 'em around.

Moore:
He could read
an audience very well.

He could tell
if it didn't seem

like he was going
or just right,

he'd do something,

something you wouldn't
even expect.

Jorgensen:
He often started
a song by like a wail

and then left it
hanging there,

so people were like,
What's going on?

He would stop
in the middle of a song

and turn around
or walk away,

and then go back,
or do something with
a microphone stand.

Schilling:
And he would grab
that microphone,

and he would drag it
across the stage.

He was so
sophisticated already

about making contact
with an audience.

If the audience reacted
a lot to something he did,

he did it again.

He just had this look,

like a wild, captured animal.

Shook his head and his hair
was down in his face,

and just to watch him
walk from that curtain

to the microphone,
you felt a part of it.

Jorgensen:
He gets presence
on the charts,

and his records
kept doing well,

and eventually, he gets voted
the Most Promising New Artist.

Fontana:
And he finally got a Cadillac.

Elvis:
And when I was
driving a truck,

every time a big,
shiny car drove by,

it started me
sorta daydreaming.

I'd daydream...

about how it would be.

And the first car
I ever bought

was the most beautiful car
I've ever seen.

It was secondhand,
but I parked it

outside of my hotel
the day I got it.

Elvis:
I sat up all night
just looking at it.

And the next day,
well the thing caught fire

and burned up on the road.

Uh, I've got a lot of cars,

but none of 'em would take
the place of that first one.

Zanes:
The story that we hear
about early rock and roll

is that the major labels,
in the main,

passed on rock and roll.

And so the indie
labels took it up,

and it took the
major labels a while

to see that rock and roll
wasn't going away.

Man:
Now if you've got a woman

Victor Linn:
The RCAs, the Capitols,
the Columbias, the Deccas,

they were called the majors.

All the other people,
these were independent
businessmen

who sold records to stores.

Phillips:
I have a small
record company,

been in business five years,

worked the lower
of my anatomy off,

peddling days of me
on the road

to the tune of
70,000 miles a year.

Linn:
When we say independent,

Sam was connected to no one

at the major labels
in any way.

He would produce what
he wanted to produce.

Dog that bite your hand

It means record it.
It means edit it.

They went into the lab
and did the mastering.

Packaging was already done,

and then they put a bunch
of singles in the car,

and got on the road
and went into the hills
of Tennessee.

And this is really a very
traditional way of doing it.

I went down to the river

Linn:
Now what the record company
would like to see happen

is they could spread
that regionality,

get it from northern
Georgia to Alabama,

and from Alabama
across to Mississippi.

You know, then they've got
national distribution.

Phillips:
I knew, really, so little
about the business

when it came
to merchandising records
and this sort of thing.

The main thing that
did more for us
than anything else

was it created excitement
amongst the major labels.

A lot of hard work
went into this thing,

both on the part of Elvis

and the part of Scotty,
and Bill, and myself.

Schilling:
Elvis, when he was
19 years old,

he knew what he had to do

to get where he wanted to.

He was a very driven man.

Every two months,
he was releasing

another single
at Sun Records.

Robertson:
Sam knew what to ask for,
what to push for,

and all of those pieces,
the way they fit together,

it was like Sam Phillips
was the other member
of that group.

Springsteen:
The Sun space was
pretty indicative

of most small recording
studios of the era.

You know, they were intimate.

They were small.

You were up close
with everybody and everything.

Harris:
And those early records,

they almost knock you
off your heels,

because all that big sound
is coming from so little.

Springsteen:
I think people
make the mistake

that when they think
of rock and roll,
they think of drums.

Elvis:
? Oh, baby, baby, baby ?

Springsteen:
If you listen to a lot
of the early rock and roll,

rhythm came out
of the slap bass,

rhythmic hitting
of the guitar,

and the swing
of the singer's voice.

Come back, baby,
I wanna play house with you

Jon Landau:
There was only a couple
of microphones.

It was-- it was pretty
straightforward.

You may have
a pink Cadillac

But don't you be
nobody's fool

Now, baby, come back

Porter:
You could feel the true
artistry in that period,

because there was not
a lot of recording equipment

to sonically make records
sound a certain kind of way.

Elvis:
I say meet me in a hurry
behind the barn

Lauterbach:
Elvis listened to everything
that came his way.

Sam was the same way,
only he was...

he was into
the technical aspect of it,

but very much a natural.

Elvis:
I heard the news

Lauterbach:
He didn't want to
overproduce anything.

He wanted to capture raw sound.

In Elvis, he found
a combination

of rawness with that vision.

The drive of the black music,

you can hear just as well,

the twang on the
white side of music.

Landau:
Scotty Moore,
he and Bill Black

and DJ Fontana

were an enormous
blessing for Elvis

and the coherence of the
records they made together.

Elvis:
Well, if I had
to do it over

Moore:
I tried to play what
I thought would fit

the way he was
singing the song.

Tried to do solos
and fills that--

that made sense
on that song.

Elvis:
Baby, trying to get to you

Petty:
Scotty is brilliant,

one of the great
musicians of all time.

Never plays
unless it's necessary.

Elvis:
Could keep me
away from you

When your
loving letter told me

Petty:
Bill Black, the bassist,
the way he pops the strings,

it's him plucking
the bass string,

rather than just striking it.

Elvis:
Brought me through

Robertson:
But the basic setup,

when it was just
Elvis, Scotty, Bill

and a beautiful
echo tape delay,

it was all you needed.

With that voice,
you could do anything.

Elvis
Blue moon

You saw me standing alone

Without a dream in my heart

Elvis's early recordings are
marked by, one of the things,

the freedom of not having
heard yourself very often.

So, they're very,
very un-self-conscious.

Blue moon

You knew just
what I was there for

You heard me saying...

Springsteen:
Elvis's voice has
plenty of space

and beautiful
geography to it.

Elvis:
Someone I really
could care for

Springsteen:
And the way he was
recorded by Sam Phillips

is tremendously pure.

You know, there's a looseness,

as there usually is,
in your early recordings.

You're excited about
a sudden discovery of self...

of your powers,
your abilities,

and what you can
do with them.

Elvis:
You saw me standing alone

Without a dream
in my heart

Without a love of my own

Springsteen:
I hear all that on
the Sun sessions.

Elvis:
Without a love of my own

Vernon Presley:
In 1955,

Colonel Parker was booking
shows down through Florida.

People like Hank Snow,
Marty Robbins.

Mike Stoller:
He knew he had
something very special

and he knew from
the audience reaction.

He promoted him.
He dropped his other artists

and devoted himself
entirely to Elvis.

Elvis:
Keep my eyes on you

Schilling:
The Colonel, he's a very
hard guy to understand.

His past was complicated.

I think there was
a real respect

between Elvis
and the Colonel,

but he was a promoter,
he wasn't a creative guy.

He was a brilliant promoter.

Jorgensen:
There was a big tour
in February '55.

Hank Snow was the headliner,

and Colonel Parker
had managed

as a favor and a plot,

to get Elvis on as
an extra added thing.

Being on a Hank Snow show
was a real big step forward.

The Colonel planned it
to be a big step forward.

He wanted to see
how far Elvis could go.

Elvis:
? Gimme, gimme, gimme
all the love you got ?

Jorgensen:
Just three months later,

they realized that
the star, Hank Snow,

couldn't close
the show anymore.

After Elvis had performed,
people left.

From June of '55,

you know, basically a year
into Elvis's stay at Sun,

people are making offers
to buy Elvis's contract.

The Colonel was afraid

that if Elvis became
much more successful

than he already was,

that he was eventually
not gonna be able

to take over his management.

He would be so big

that he was no longer needed
to bring it further.

So over the next month,

he actually starts
manipulating everything.

And after that,
it became obvious

between the management
of Bob Neal

and Sam's little independent
record company,

they couldn't
push a record

the way the big
companies could.

Elvis starts worrying
about that element.

Mae Axton:
A lot of my listeners
have seen you

and they've heard
your records,

and they think
they're very wonderful.

And of course, you really
skyrocketed to fame

on "That's All right, Mama,"
wasn't that the one?

Elvis:
Well, yes, ma'am.
That was the one

that got me on my way
and everything.

I wasn't very
well-known down here.

I mean, you know,
I'm just with a small company,

and, uh, my records
don't have the distribution

that they should have,
but, uh...

Axton:
Oh, of course that--
that's coming, you know.

It takes a little bit
of time for that

and to get distribution
all over the United States,

but I think you are one of
the fastest rising young stars

perhaps in the field.

Do you know what
I can't understand,

is how you keep that leg
shaking just as-- just at...

Schilling:
Elvis, he knew,
I've got to make a choice.

He and Sam spoke the same
language creatively.

And they loved each other.

But he knew
that Colonel Parker

was about national,

about movies,
and about television.

And that if he chose
Colonel Parker,

Sam would be gone.

Priscilla:
Sam Phillips saw in Elvis

what Elvis dreamed of

and no one else
could understand.

West:
Elvis was still underage,

under 21.

The Colonel set up
an appointment

with Vernon Presley
and Gladys and talked to 'em.

"I'd like to buy
his contract from Bob.

I think he has
a lot of potential.

They were suspicious
of everybody,

and they should've been
suspicious of the Colonel,

but the Colonel filled 'em
with all kinda hope.

They said, Well, okay.

Jorgensen:
In that whole
scenario here,

we have the Colonel
locked in on the idea

that he wanted RCA.

Because he knew RCA
from Hank Snow,

and he even puts up
money of his own

as an opening
to the dealings with RCA,

which he would lose
if he didn't bring in
the RCA contract.

He really believed
in Elvis's potential.

Linn:
When I got into
the music business

in, uh, November of 1956,

in those days,
most of the-- most, not all,

but most of the records
that were being recorded
were ballads.

Just walkin' in the rain

Getting soaking wet

Torture in my heart

Linn:
You know, they weren't stuff
like Elvis was doing.

It wasn't what, unfortunately,

had the nomer of "race music"
and rock and roll,

and they released as little
of it as they possibly could.

They felt they had
the shareholders

of the company
to worry about.

They had distributors
to worry about.

They had stores
to worry about.

They had radio stations
to worry about.

They said, "Our whole world
is tied up in white music."

People come to their windows

They always...

Linn:
They were very,
very reluctant

to expose black music

until such times they
couldn't avoid it anymore.

Elvis:
You know what it takes,
you got it, baby

? You are the only one
I've chose ?

Don't leave me here
with all these heartaches

Jorgensen:
After a lot of going
back and forth,

eventually the Colonel
pushes RCA

to buy the contract,

and all the recordings
that were made,

both that were released
and those that weren't.

Elvis:
When it rains,
it really pours

Linn:
I think he's the test object

for the majors to really
get in the game,

and it worked.

Phillips:
People have asked
me repeatedly,

Do you regret
selling Elvis Presley?

Elvis:
I got a feeling
for you, baby

Phillips:
I do not.

Elvis:
And you're the only one
who knows

About my troubles,
troubles, troubles

Man: It'll just be
one second, Elvis.
All right.

Elvis:
My boy, my boy,
got my guitar.

Man:
Uh, Steve?

Can we have a lot of gain
on this playback?

Steve: More gain.
Man: Right.

Are we on television?

Binder: Huh?
Are we on television?

Just a minute.

Binder: One day
in the middle of taping
a production number...

...we're called into
Colonel Parker's office.

Elvis:
I'll have a blue

Christmas
Binder: Colonel says,

It's been called
to my attention

that we don't have a
Christmas song in the show.

And when those blue

Binder:
Elvis wants a Christmas
song in the show.

Don't you, Elvis?

Man: Aw, yeah!
You'll be doing...

His hands cross,

his head goes down,

and I hear Elvis
mumble, Yes, sir.

I watched Elvis
cower to Parker.

Elvis:
Blue, blue Christmas

I said, If that's
what Elvis wants,

that's what I'll do.

The Colonel says, Okay,
then we're all in agreement.

Elvis walks out the door.

Head goes up, lot of energy,

and he jams me in the ribs,

and says, Fuck him.

Blue, blue, blue Christmas

Decorations of red

On a green Christmas tree

Won't be the same dear

If you're not here with me

And when those blue

Snowflakes start fallin'

That's when those blue

Memories start callin'

You'll be doin' all right

With your Christmas of white

Petty:
Elvis was one of
the first artists

that actually
produced himself.

By the time he lands at RCA,

he's in charge.

They're a rock and roll band,

and Steve Sholes
didn't know

how to make
one of those records.

Elvis did.

Light:
Elvis was a very
different person

and a very different artist

going in to make
the first RCA record

than he was walking in
as an absolute rookie at Sun.

He'd been out touring
and playing in front of people

for those months in-between.

He had experience
in the studio.

He had had the inspiration
of Sam Phillips,

watching, pick the songs
and the arrangements
and all of that.

Petty:
You can hear
Heartbreak Hotel

has got echo chamber,

because he's clearly
asking for echo.

And they don't know
how to give him the slapbacks,

so they're turning up
the chamber,

and he's just like,
Okay, I'll make this work.

And he does.

Petty (imitating Elvis):
Heartbreak Hotel,
where I will be

So lonesome, baby

I'll be so lonely, baby

Elvis:
They're so lonely,
they could die

Now, the bellhop's
tears keep flowing

Howe:
My function was in the booth.

But I always spent a lot
of time out in the studio.

What you saw from Elvis

was that being in
a recording studio

or being on stage was
exactly the same thing to him.

Elvis:
They're so lonely

Howe:
He was always a real

organic part
of the music physically.

Extremely animated
when he sang.

He never stood still.

Elvis:
Take a walk down
Lonely Street to

Heartbreak Hotel

Where you will be,
you will be so lonely

And the guys, they just
shifted right into that mode

that Elvis was in.

Elvis:
So lonely, you could die

Howe:
If something wasn't
working right

or it was too slow
or too fast,

they all looked to him,

and then he would
move to the music.

If the music was right,

he was a show out there.

He was a captivating person,

and nobody made
suggestions to Elvis.

Elvis:
Although it's always crowded

You still can find some room

For brokenhearted lovers
to cry when they're blue

Where they'll be so

They'll be so lonely, baby

Well, they're so lonely ?

? They'll be so lonely
they could die

Springsteen:
Elvis's music was shot
through with the blues,

which he played
quite a bit of.

But he was always
mixing genres.

Zanes:
Elvis, by the
first RCA record,

is already showing
that he can pull in

a wide range of genres,

but they all come out Elvis.

Petty:
He didn't invent
rock and roll, per se.

I mean, you've got
Little Richard and Joe Turner

and all these people
on that tip,

but what Elvis did isn't that.

You know what--

What he did is different.

It's bringing
the country music in,

bringing white
gospel music in,

and it becomes pop music.

Maultsby:
Most of Presley's
first recordings

were basically covers
of black singers.
(piano playing)

Little Richard, Arthur Crudup,
Joe Turner, Lloyd Price.

Lloyd Price:
Well, now, lawdy,
lawdy, lawdy, Miss Clawdy

Girl, you sure
look good to me

Please don't
excite me, baby

Know it can't be me

Elvis:
Because I give you
all of my money

Yeah, but you just
won't treat me right

Springsteen:
Elvis and Elvis's music

pointed to black culture
and said,

This is something that's
filled with the force of life.

If you want to be a complete
and fulfilled person,

if you want to be
an American,

this is something
you need to pay attention to.

Petty:
The American teen
just knew it rocked.

No white music
had ever done that.

Plenty of black music had.

Tell my mama

Lord, I swear to God,
what you been doin' to me

I'm gonna tell everybody...

Porter:
Elvis was able
to bring a value

to the presentation
of black music,

African-American artists,

at a period that
they were being ignored

by the great artists,
in a credible way,

because he learned it
from the source.

Girl, I don't be
comin' no more

Goodbye to little darlin'

Down the road I go

Can't stop me now, man.
We can't stop.

Man:
All right, all right.

I said, bye

Bye, bye, baby

Girl, I won't...

In the Colonel's view,

whatever the songs were,

whoever played on it
didn't matter.

It was Elvis.

It was, in his mind,
about the merchandise.

He always called it
the merchandise.

And that's what it was
to him and to RCA.

Announcer:
We think tonight
that he's going to make

television history for you.

We'd like you
to meet him now.
Elvis Presley!

West:
Colonel knew how to do it,

and had the contacts
with the--

the show in New York,

the Tommy Dorsey Show.

Jorgensen:
RCA didn't seem to be able
to secure TV performances,

and eventually,
Colonel Parker secures
Elvis for shows

to coincide with the release
of the record in January.

Light:
The earliest shows,

he doesn't have that much
material to draw from.

What he's doing really
are the-- the covers.

These songs
initially recorded

by black songwriters,
black performers:

Shake, Rattle, and Roll"
and "Money Honey

and Flip, Flop and Fly.

Petty:
He was an
incredible performer

in that his body
really picked up

all the intricacies
of the rhythm.

It's so lighthearted,

but it's so deep
and meaningful
at the same time.

It's such a magical
thing to see.

He looks really supernatural,

'cause of the kinescopes,

just the way
it distorts the image.

There's some beautiful thing
going down there,

you know, and it must
have been really incredible

to see it with no warning.

I'm like
a Mississippi bullfrog

Sittin' on a hollow stump

I'm like
a Mississippi bullfrog

Sittin' on a hollow stump

I got so many women

I don't know
which way to jump

Well, I said
flip, flop and fly

I don't care if I die

I said flip, flop and fly

Don't care if I die

Don't ever leave me,
don't ever say goodbye

West:
He just did all those
Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey shows.

That was nationwide TV.

And it all went through
the roof from then on.

Robertson:
That's when
we saw somebody

that could sing better
than other people,

could move better
than other people,

had style that was better
than other people.

In the pop world,

when this came along
it broke glass.

Elvis:
You ain't nothin'
but a hound dog

Cryin' all the time

You ain't nothin'
but a hound dog

Springsteen:
When you look at those
television performances,

you see the band
watching Elvis.

They all got their
eyes on Elvis.

Well, they said
you was high class

Springsteen:
That was essential
to the way the band swung.

Elvis is simply
swinging your world

with the way
he's swinging his hips

and moving his legs
and his shoulders.

He's pushing and pushing
his musicians.

? You ain't nothin'
but a hound dog ?

Cryin' all the time

You ain't nothin'
but a hound dog

Fontana:
We were doing
The Milton Berle Show,

and we was doing "Hound Dog."

Right at the end,
we usually go out.

You ain't
no friend of mine

Fontana:
All of a sudden, he went
into this half-time bluesy

You ain't nothin'
but a hound dog, slow.

And we had never
did it that way.

We all looked at each other.
What do we do now?

We'd better follow him.

You ain't nothin' but a...

I just figured, well,
I better catch his blues licks

and his legs and arms
and do everything I can.

It was like every man
for himself, actually.

Well

Fontana:
Everytime he'd move
a finger, a leg, an arm,

or run across the stage
like a machine gun.

Just every lick
I could catch, you know?

Priscilla:
My parents are watching it.

They don't know
I'm watching it.

They're looking,
and...

My mother's saying,
That's disgusting!

Crying all the time

Well, you ain't never
caught a rabbit

You ain't no...

Petty:
As a little kid,
I can remember

the living room discussion.

His appearances on TV
were of a sexual nature.

He had really
stepped over the line

of what's decent
on television.

Priscilla:
After that, our parents
wouldn't let us see him.

The ministers, reverends
told our parents,

Keep him away
from your children.

He's the devil.

So, he's forbidden fruit.

On your personal
appearances,

you create
a sort of mass hysteria

amongst your audiences
of teenagers.

Is your shaking
and quaking in the nature

of an involuntary response
to this hysteria?

Elvis: Involuntary?
Man: Yeah.

Uh, well, I'm aware
of everything I do at all times,

but, uh, it's just
the way I feel.

Man:
And do you think
you've learned anything

from the criticism
leveled at you?

Elvis: No, I haven't.
Man: You haven't, huh?

Because, uh, I don't--
I don't feel I'm doing
anything wrong.

Man:
Do you read the stuff?

Nik Cohn:
One of the paradoxes
with Elvis is

how could a boy
so in love with God,

so obsessively in love
with his mother,

so decent,

and yes, ma'am,
and yes, sir
and all of that,

how could he be so
unconfined on the stage?

How could he do this?

Maultsby:
That was just totally
unacceptable,

because the mid '50s being

the beginning of the
civil rights movement,

the biggest fear that
most Southerners had

was so-called race mixing.

Elvis's first television
appearances

were earth-shattering.

He sang at a moment
in the history of the South

in the early '50s,

when his music was truly
a revolutionary sound

that bridged the black
and white musics
of Southern worlds

in a way that had
never been heard before.

Petty:
I don't think
he was, necessarily,

trying to shake
the world in that sense,

but I think he...
he knew what he was onto.

He knew it
made him feel great,

and he knew there was
a rebellious streak in it.

He had to know that,

and it made him powerful.

They're clearly
afraid of him...

...to some degree.

Zanes:
If you see a large social
anxiety on the horizon,

there's probably issues
of bodies in control involved.

Young people,

whether they were
physically mixing

black and white or not,

they were culturally
mixing black and white,

the way they were
expressing themselves,

the movements in space
as that mixing happened

were sexual in nature.

Zanes:
And I think,
in the case of Elvis,

the fearful response,

it had a racial component

and a sexual component.

You know, it's all about
fear and the body.

Cohn:
I and millions of other
kids growing up,

we all had this feeling

that Elvis was,
sort of, sent to us,

to lead us out of the darkness
of our own confusion,

sexual confusion,

social confusion,

ineptitude.

Robertson:
Here's what it was for me.

Elvis came along,

and this soundwave came out

that ran right through me.

Priscilla:
You felt like
he was looking at you.

I mean, he had these eyes,

and he was connecting
with his audience.

As teenagers,
it was liberating.

Now we had something
to claim for ours.

Light:
I don't think there
was any context

for the kind of shift
that Elvis represented.

I don't think there was
any-- any possible way

to know that that
was going to resonate

and shake young people
to their core

in such a profound way.

Steve Allen:
The reason I booked him,
I recognized right away

that he had something,
a cuteness.

It was chiefly his face,

but a beautiful sound,
he really never had.

Landau:
The thing is that it was
well-known that Steve Allen,

who fancied himself
a major songwriter,

hated rock and roll.

And his purpose
in having Elvis was,

first and foremost,
he needed the ratings,

but secondly,
to be sarcastic

and condescending to Elvis

and to the music
he openly despised.

Elvis:
? You ain't nothin'
but a hound dog ?

? Cryin' all the time ?

? You ain't nothin'
but a hound dog ?

? Cryin' all the time ?

Dave Marsh:
Steve Allen, he was out
to humiliate an entire culture

of what he would've
called hillbillies.

It was all a sneer.

It's a control thing.

It was humiliating.

After that, he didn't
like Steve Allen at all.

Well, that was just a lie

Marsh:
As a child,
I was deeply offended.

There was something
wrong there.

Elvis, why are you
letting him do this to you?

Ferris:
We can look at Elvis
as a Southern trickster figure.

You deal with power
by yes-ing them to death,

and that's what Elvis did.

Very polite, very deferential,

but with his eye
on the sparrow.

He was basically
a good-natured Southern kid,

but he was on a mission
to deliver this music.

Schilling:
By 1956,

Elvis was coming
into his own.

The RCA singles were enormous.

Hound Dog,
Don't Be Cruel.

They sold
three million copies.

Light:
When Elvis's
first album came out,

that sold 300,000 copies.

Heartbreak Hotel topped
all three Billboard charts:

country, pop, and R&B.

This was now a career

that was going to these
unimaginable heights.

Petty:
I often wonder

if there had ever
been a 21-year-old

that had that power,

that could mobilize
millions of youths

with the wave of his hand.

Priscilla:
His mother worried
so much about him.

He always wanted
to be a good son,

mostly to his mom,

and didn't want
to give her fears.

They would talk
every single day,

and he was comforting her

that he'd be okay
and not to worry so much.

Light:
By the time Elvis made
the first appearance

on The Ed Sullivan Show,

it was already something
everybody was waiting for,
watching for.

There was all kinds
of pressure

and all kinds of expectation.

The Sullivan Show
was the crown jewel,

that was the biggest
game in town.

Priscilla:
It was almost like,
okay, you know,

I'll do these shows,
I'm doing my song,
I'm doing my thing.

But he's not letting go
of his roots.

Well, the morning'
so bright

And the lamp...

He wanted to do
Peace in the Valley

on The Ed Sullivan Show.

They said, No, we've
never had a religious song
on this show,

and you're not going
to sing one now.

That's one of the songs
his mother loved

was Peace in the Valley.

He fought for that song.

No one wanted him
to do that song.

Elvis:
There will be peace

In the valley

For me

Priscilla:
But it was important for him
to sing it for his mother,

to his mother,
and keep his roots intact.

Elvis:
Peace in the valley

For me

Schilling:
If you really look at Elvis
on the Dorsey shows,

that's the rebel.

But then you see him
doing Peace in the Valley

on The Sullivan Show,

that's the good-natured
Southern kid.

Trouble I see

There will be peace

In the valley

For me

Okay, Elvis, this is
sort of off-the-cuff,

but how does it feel to be
right up there on top,

right with the best of 'em,

since you are
one of that class,
how does that feel?

Elvis:
Uh, it all happened so fast,
so I don't know.

I'm afraid to wake up,
afraid it's liable to be
a dream, you know?

Man:
Mm-hmm.

Elvis:
We got a seven-year contract
with Paramount Pictures.

It's a dream come true,
you know?

I've had people ask me
was I gonna sing

in the movies, I'm-- I'm not.

Man: I see you're signed
by Hal Wallis and company,
out of Paramount.

Yes.
Can you
tell us anything

about the first movie
that will be made?

We'll have
a movie coming out,

uh, we start making it
in June. It's, uh...

It's a movie
with Burt Lancaster
and Katharine Hepburn

called The Rainmaker.

Schilling:
He didn't get
The Rainmaker.

They talked him into
doing Love Me Tender.

And then talked him
into four songs.

Jorgensen:
I think that Elvis brought
a lot of insecurity with him.

He wanted to be a movie star,

that was much bigger
than being a recording star,

and he was fairly disheartened
when he learned

that he had to sing
for these movies.

Priscilla:
In the first four movies,

you see him so into the part,

and you see him really
taking the role seriously.

He learned everyone's lines.

He thought that's
what an actor did.

Training himself to be
more like a Marlon Brando

or a James Dean
or a Humphrey Bogart.

He respected
these actors very much,

and this is where he thought
his future was going.

Landau:
The movie people
took him very seriously.

These were
carefully made films.

They had scripts.

They had emotion.

King Creole,
Love Me Tender,
Jailhouse Rock.

They assigned him
stellar people.

Michael Curtiz,
who directed King Creole,

is the same Michael Curtiz
who directed Casablanca.

So they treated him
with respect.

Schilling:
King Creole, it was being
prepped for James Dean...

before the fatal crash.

Woman:
Crawfish

Fresh and ready ?

To cook

Elvis:
Crawfish

Crawfish

See, I got 'em

See the size

Stripped and cleaned ?

Before your eyes

Sweet meat, look
Sweet meat, look

Fresh and ready to cook
Fresh and ready to cook

Crawfish

Now take Mr. Crawfish
in your hand

He's gonna look good
in your frying pan

If you fry him crisp

? Or you boil him right ?

? He'll be sweeter than sugar
with every bite ?

Crawfish

See I got 'em

See the size

Stripped and cleaned
Stripped and cleaned

Before your eyes

Sweet meat, look
Sweet meat, look

Fresh and ready to cook
Fresh and ready to cook

Crawfish...

Priscilla:
Out of all those movies,

King Creole was
really his favorite.

It was Leiber
and Stoller songs.

It was songs that he loved.

Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller,

they were two of the greatest
songwriters in Americas

during the late '50s
and early '60s.

If you're lookin'
for trouble

You came to
the right place

If you're lookin'
for trouble

Just look right in my face

Stoller:
When we first met him,
we hit it off.

We were talking
about different records
that we knew.

My daddy was a green-eyed
mountain jack

That's why I'm evil

Stoller:
Elvis was into blues.

We thought we were
the only white guys
who were into blues.

Well, I'm evil

So don't you
mess around with me

Jorgensen:
In order to control music,

and in order
to make more money,

Colonel Parker set up
music companies

that would deliver songs.

Stoller:
We were given assignments,

but they also went
to all the other writers

who were assigned
to Hill & Range Songs.

Thus the owners
of Hill & Range

controlled
Elvis Presley music.

Elvis:
Flesh, blood and bone

Stoller: Hill & Range was
one of the biggest publishers
in the United States.

And if you wanted
to be on an Elvis record,

you were gonna play ball.

The publisher gets half,
and the writer gets half.

Light:
As Elvis is becoming
an A-list superstar,

he's reaching
a level of success

that nobody had
ever had before.

In fact, several big pop hits
into his career,

he makes a feature film,

and then, very soon
signs a contract

for a bunch of feature films.

Nobody had ever done that.

There's nobody, who
this early in their career,

is given all
of this territory

between the radio,

the television
and the movie screen.

There was no blueprint

for how you navigate
something like that.

Actually, it was
Vernon and Gladys

that found Graceland
and showed it to him.

He fell in love with it,
but more than that,

it was to give
a beautiful home to his mom.

And of course, his father too,
but really for his mother,

because he saw her
working so hard.

He wanted to be a great son.

Schilling: He was living
the most hectic time
of his life, career-wise.

This was his
controlled escape.

Springsteen:
Graceland.

Just the name of it itself

pulled directly out
of gospel tradition.

It's an idealized home.

The perfect symbol of someone
who's come up from the bottom

and-- and enjoyed the best
the country has to offer.

It was a huge moment for Elvis
to walk through those doors

and call that place his home.

Ferris:
It had all of the things

that Elvis had never
known as a kid.

It's not a lavish home.

It's not Tara.

But it is everything
that money and fame

could deliver according
to his specifications.

Man:
Yeah, I understand that you
bought a home for your folks.

And even though
your father is only 39,

you've insisted
that he retire.
Is that true?

Uh, yes.

Well, he's more help, I mean,

he's more help at home
than he is anywhere else,

because, uh...

he can take care
of all my business.

He can, uh, look after
things when I'm gone.

Man:
Well, I think that's--
I think that's very smart.

I, of course...

Priscilla:
Elvis gave Vernon
a huge obligation.

Take care of me.

He had an office.

It gave him a job.

It gave him something to do,

and it was for his son.

They made sure that
they kept everything in order,

because he was really in fear
of not doing the right thing.

Schilling:
Vernon's office,
you can tell,

didn't come from
a sophisticated
business manager.

It came from a poor man
from Tupelo, Mississippi.

Harris:
Elvis had all the
money in the world.

He had anything he wanted.

He built Graceland,

and yet, he had
some sweetness about him

that kind of
breaks your heart.

I mean, really.
I don't think he--
he ever lost that.

Elvis never wanted to go back

to the days
where they struggled,

the days of poverty.

Light:
In 1958, Elvis was
drafted into the Army.

And no matter how much
he'd been through

on the road
and making movies,

the notion of going
to another continent

away from his family,

was a difficult thing
for him to consider.

Jorgensen:
The idea was, of course,
that Elvis would do his duty,

so he could come back
and be respectable

in the Colonel's new vision
of the future Elvis Presley,

which was a brilliant vision.

He knew exactly where
he wanted to take Elvis.

West:
Colonel said,
We don't want any favors.

He's not gonna be
in entertainment.

He's gonna be a soldier.

Reporter:
Elvis, you don't get out
of the Army until 1960.

If rock and roll should
diminish in popularity,

or even disappear,
what would you do?

Well, uh...

I would probably try acting.

I mean, you know, I, uh...

Being drafted
was something

he never thought
about happening to him.

Petty:
The Army, which is odd,

because there was no war on.

There's not a lot
of people being drafted.

But Elvis, he goes
along with it.

Zanes:
The biggest star in the world

going into the Army.

You know, from our
historical perspective,

that's a very
strange episode.

But then if you try
to get in to his experience,

having gone through this
profound rise to fame,

there's total uncertainty

as to what
he will return home to,

if he returns.

Springsteen:
Elvis in his 20s,

he was still inventing
all the rules.

In those days,
there was no perception

that a rock and roll musician

could have a long
and lasting career.

People expected
that kind of a career

to be over within moments.

Jorgensen:
RCA panicked.

The pushed the Colonel
to set up recording sessions

before Elvis left,
so they could record
a lot of material.

Light:
The impulse was
to flood the market,

give the fans
as much as possible,

and keep riding this
as hard as you can.

Jorgensen:
And the Colonel works it
the opposite way.

His idea was to have
just enough material

to keep Elvis's name alive.

Priscilla:
He wanted to keep the mystery.

He kept Elvis away
from performing,

serving for his country
like a good soldier.

He had fans waiting
for him to come back.

Man: I...
I, Elvis Presley...

do solemnly swear...

do solemnly swear...

that I will bear
true faith and allegiance,

that I will bear
true faith and allegiance,

to the United States
of America.

to the United States
of America.

Priscilla:
His mother was concerned
about him going to Germany,

'cause all they heard
at that time was Russia.

She thought
he was going to war.

Her son was leaving
for two years,

and he'd never been
out of the United States.

When he went
to basic training in Texas,

they talked every day.

And kept saying, Mama,
I'm gonna be okay.
I'm gonna be okay.

I'm gonna be fighting.

But she just couldn't
get it into her head.

Oh, by and by

Tempted and tried

We're oft made

To wonder

Why it should be thus

Before he left
to serve in Germany,

Gladys suddenly got sick
and she passed.

West:
When those things
happen like that,

you don't do
a lot of talking.

Elvis and his mother,

that's the closest
I've ever seen anybody

as far as that goes.

Sure was.

Priscilla:
She worried about him
night and day,

because he was
such a sensitive boy.

And yes, she was
overly protective,

but because of the loss
of the twin brother,

that protectiveness
really lingered

until the day she--
she passed.

Elvis:
Farther along

We'll know

All about it

Farther along

Easy to sneer that Elvis
was a mama's boy and so on,

but it wasn't that.

It was one of those relations
between a mother and son

where you could hardly say
where the mother ends

and where the son begins.

And when his mother died,
it left a hole in him.

He was never whole again
as it were.

He deeply feared
not being a good man,

being a godly man.

He needed her there
to say, I love you,

and you're doing
the right thing,

and I know you're good.

He needed her. Absolutely.

By and by

Priscilla:
The loss was the most
devastating time in his life.

It was all fun before that.

It was the skating rink,
it was the theater.

It was making a movie,
then going back to Memphis

being with his friends
and playing.

And then, of course,
having Graceland
as the center.

Fixing all that up
for the family,

and so, he matured a lot

because of the loss
of his mother.

It was unbearable
for him during that time.

Then do we...

Now, as we're getting
closer and closer

to the time that
they're gonna pull
that gangplank away,

and you'll be on your way.

Since this is probably
the last chance

that you'll have to say
something to your fans,

do you have any
particular message?

Elvis:
Well...

I'm gonna be very
honest about it.

Uh, in spite of the fact
that I am going away

and that I'll be
out of their eyes
for some time,

I hope that I'm not
out of their minds.

And, uh, I'll be
looking forward

to the time
when I can come back

and entertain
again like I did, and...

Man:
All we can do is
wish you a wonderful trip

and all the best
luck in the world
and come home soon.

Well, thank you very much.
I'll do my very best.

Jorgensen:
Elvis hadn't had
much time to himself

between that summer day when
he recorded "That's All Right"

and when he was
shipped to Germany.

Suddenly, on a boat
to Germany,

there was lots of time.

That's where he meets
Charlie Hodge,

and they start talking
about music together.

They start singing.

Mona Lisa

Mona Lisa,
men have named you

Charlie Hodge had
been a gospel singer,

who Elvis had heard sing.

He liked Charlie

because Charlie was
in the music business

and somebody he could
relate to that way.

Elvis was so down that
Charlie would tell jokes

and try to keep him up.

Elvis:
Do you smile to tempt
a lover, Mona Lisa

To have somebody who
he felt understood him,

that he could lean on,

and also to be able
to turn to that music

was tremendously important

for him to get
through that time

and everything
that was going on.

Brought to your doorstep

They just lie there

And they die

Are you warm?

Are you real, Mona Lisa?

Or just a cold and lonely

Lovely work of art?

Jorgensen:
When he gets to Germany,
yes, he's--

he's obviously, uh, committed
to, uh, the hours every day,

but there's, again,
a lot of spare time

in an apartment
or at a house in Germany

where he doesn't know anybody.

So there's a lot of time
for reflection.

Petty:
He goes into the Army,

which is where
he gets the, um,

the pep pills
for the first time,
the methadrine,

to stay up on watch.

That was the beginning.

He started with the uppers
to get him through the Army,

to get him through
the cold days,

to get him through
the lonely nights.

Man:
Do you have any time
for, uh, music anymore?

Elvis:
Well, uh, only at night.

You see, I get off work
at five o'clock
in the afternoon...

...and, uh, I have a guitar
up here in the room,

and I sit around,
and you know, up here.

I don't want to get out
of practice, you know,
if I can help it.

Man:
I sure hope not.
Let me tell you...

Light:
The struggle while
Elvis was in the Army

was a mandate
from Colonel Parker