We have to remember that this was the political atmosphere that Elvis was living in. It is a sad historical fact that even after The Beatles and the new ‘freedom of the sixties’ President Lyndon Johnson still had to force the Civil Rights Act of 1964 through Congress over fierce opposition from Southern legislators. How easy to forget that it wasn’t until the mid-sixties that The Civil Rights March and Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech occurred. While Elvis never recorded any of Bobby Bland's songs he was a very influential Beale Street Blues artist who logged over 60 hits on the R&B charts and was a longtime friend of B.B King.Īctually it should be more of a surprise that Elvis did grow up with so little prejudice, after all the Southern US States were still colour segregated into the sixties. (Elvis with, to his right, Bobby Bland & also Junior Parker who wrote 'Mystery Train') (Left, Elvis with Brook Benton who co-wrote the song, 'Doncha' Think It's Time') In the beginning of his career Elvis admitted where the roots came from, but did anybody care?" Chuck D in fact agrees & says that, "Elvis was a door, a gateway through to the roots. This is because it happened to play into the hands of a racist music industry that, at the time, was hungry for a white artist who could play black music. What Chuck D actually says - should anyone bother to ask him or check the facts – is that what he actually disliked was Elvis’ "culture-blurring genius". Secondly the Chuck D quote (from Public Enemy’s ‘Fight The Power’) is again regularly used to denigrate Elvis but is never fully explained. Elvis honestly replied, "I never said anything like that, and people who know me know that I wouldn’t have said it." In fact the rumour should have stopped then & there since, on the set of Jailhouse Rock, Elvis was directly challenged about the statement by reporter Louie Robinson from the prominent black newspaper 'Jet'. This was just an early tabloid smear of the type that would sadly continue way past his death. Let's get two things straight from the start.įirstly Elvis’ supposed 1957 "racist comment", that is often bandied about, has never been verified and seems highly unlikely considering the timing, as well as Elvis' deep involvement with the black music of the era. "On a scale of one to ten, I would rate Elvis eleven." – Sammy Davis Jnr. He opened the door for Black music." – Little Richard. There’ll never be another like that soul brother." – James Brown. I love him and hope to see him in heaven. We sang ‘Old Blind Barnabus’ together, a gospel song. Last time I saw Elvis alive was at Graceland. Please see the 2012 letter from EIN's good friend Bernard Tanner, Jr.
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