Thursday, January 07, 2010

HAPPY 75TH TO THE KING!


I  LOVED Elvis Presley!  I mean, I really, really LOVED Elvis!   Back in the day, I was a young teen,  living with my family out in the country in northeastern Iowa where my dad was the pastor of two small country churches.  I know, a PK (preacher's kid) shouldn't be crazy about a rock and roll singer, but I was.  I collected pictures of him and had them pasted to pieces of cardboard that I had set up on a table in my bedroom.  I saved every picture I could find of him in the Des Moines Register, Life Magazine, Saturday Evening Post, Newsweek, or the occasional teen magazine that I could convince my parents I just had to have.  I went a little overboard, I know, but I really, really loved him!

The radio in the kitchen was usually tuned to WHO in Des Moines so mom could listen to Arthur Godfrey and As The World Turns, but when it was my turn to do the dishes I would tune in WDGY in Minneapolis and catch the latest rock tunes, always listening closely for the sweet voice of Elvis singing my favorite Love Me Tender, or the playful Hound Dog or Don't Be Cruel or Jailhouse Rock.  And on Saturday night after we finally got television, I would watch Your Hit Parade with Russell Arms, Snooky Lanson, Gisile MacKenzie and Dorothy Collins, waiting to see if Elvis would again have more than one song in the top 10, and would yet another reach the coveted number one spot!

Please tell me that it isn't true that The King would be 75 tomorrow!  Impossible to think of that handsome young man as 75 years old. You notice I say 'that handsome young man.'  He stayed young and innocent to me.  I never liked the older Elvis, the fat blubbery man stuffed into a jeweled jumpsuit.  He remained as the picture above shows, young, clean and innocent, his mama's baby, singing Love Me Tender just for me.

Happy Birthday Elvis!

6 comments:

Rick and LuAnn said...

I was fortunate enough to see Elvis in concert in 1976 in Mpls. The next year he would be gone. To me he was at his best in his 1968 comeback special in that black leather suit. I would go to see his movies, despite the fact that my parents were very opposed to it. Later I would become a huge Beatle fan, but my parent's never opposed that, probably because at the time they were so innocent, and only shook their moptop heads and nother below the waist, ha!

Russell said...

You had a lot of company! Elvis is the King of Rock and Roll for a reason!

In the early 70s I worked with a man in Mason City when I attended the community college there who was a HUGE Elvis fan. He always wore Elvis t-shirts and knew every bit of trivia about him.

Hard to believe he would be 75!

Take care and be glad you are not in Minnesota or Iowa -- it is beyond cold this week!

DynamicDuo said...

I too am a fan of Elvis - my Mom is the same age, well actually a week younger than him ;0)
Our girls were seven and just starting school and there teacher was an Elvis fan, they had very deep voices back then and just starting to learn English - she taught them to roll up there shirt collars and say "Thank you, Thank you very much" it was and still is hilarious to have them do it "in sync" I'm pretty sure I still have it on video.
Enjoy your warmth - only gonna get to -3 today up here!

Lisa said...

I liked his music, but not a real big fan. I grew up country and that is all my parents had on the radio. But I knew who he was, knew he was good in the movies, and knew I liked his voice. But that is about it. Sorry. But really that is good, one less girl to fight for his attentions huh? Oh the days of youth!

L'Adelaide said...

good morn, black irish marge ;)
so you liked elvis...when i was reading your post i thought you had written "the fat blueberry man stuffed..." hahahaha ... ah well, you know....age...

thank you dear woman, for keeping up with my trials and tribs, and your sweet comments..they uplift the soul and give me a bit of hope or at least acceptance;;;

and no , we don't have sun, i live in the clouds quite literally and it's been gray for days... but it's a nice thought.♥

Joni said...

I used to love to watch the Elvis Presley movies, but my mom was the big Elvis fan. When he died she was very sad.