A Lonely Life Ends on Elvis Presley Blvd

[Pelvis]

You're great tommy hehe

[Tommy]

You're great tommy hehe

Thank you but this is not part of this subject. Just stay the course and talk about Elvis.

[Pelvis]

On the Topic..i agree with You Tommy..it is ok if others do not agree...but personally i think Cilla leaving Elvis was difficult for Elvis and made the big turning point in his life..

I might not be right,but in my opinion it seems obvious

[cameron]

IMO, Elvis was just a lonely kid right from the beginning.
He was a strange little fellow.
I don't feel his divorce caused him any more sadness than any of us that divorces . It just added to some of the things already on his mind. I feel he did miss Lisa very much though.

I don't feel anyone "knows" Elvis just because they were lucky enough to see him in concert. I DO feel they could come away with a more personal experience and feel of the man, rather than watching or hearing him on any DVD or video. I've never been jealous or begrudged anyone for that . I DO enjoy hearing stories from anyone that was there.Their excitement is contageous.

[SeeSeeRider777]

No one could figure out Elvis. I mean he had it all and he was still unhappy. Strange. I would love to know what was going through his mind.

[President Presley]

You're right Cameron, since he was a kid Elvis was a loner and when he got famous he couldn't go outside like we do, so he watched a lot of television instead and yeah, that'll make you lonely. His mom died, he took pills, got physical problems, Cilla leaving, The Colonel pulling the strings, nothing was spared for Elvis.

[Albert]

'A Lonely Life Ends on Elvis Presley Blvd' these words are from a newspaper headline in August 1977 (commented by midnight in the Elvis Then & Now thread).

IMO the comment is valid given what we have heard from those around him. Do you think that this was always the case?

what do you think were the causes of this loneliness?

Was the dependence of medication the problem?

Was it the divorce?

Or do you think he was tickety-boo?

What are your thoughts........

Before having read any books, I based my knowledge of Elvis on the Elvis I knew from the movies, pictures and songs. And who could think of a troubled man then?

But then came the books. Most of them were positive (written by fans, or writers serving the fans). But bit by bit it became clear that Elvis did have some huge problems in his life.

Careless Love, The Recording Sessions, The Concert Years, Elvis And Me and Elvis Day by Day showed an Elvis far from perfect. Many times unispired, little backbone to his manager, little wishes to improve himself, no urge to keep his love for one woman, the babytalk to girlfriends, his nightlife (sleeping during daytime, living in the night), no wish to expand his friendships outside the relative small clique... the list goes on and on.

It was quite shocking to read (in several books) that the Elvis during the wonderfull upbeat spring 1975 tours, was indeed in deep troubles. Kathy Westmoreland, the Sweet Inspiritations, James Burton and others were thinking about leaving his band. He was spending money as water on planes, women, friends and strangers.

I think that the source of all these problems were his over-protective youth where all focus was on the dependance of his mother. He was relative poorly educated, which made him feel inferior to other educated people. And this didn't limit itself to people with knowledge, but also skills: actors and other artists (who could write and compose). And with all the free-time in his life, he rarely (or never?) made the decision to have private lessons to improve his knowledge (hometeachers), acting (did he have any formal acting training to improve his skills?) or composing (I couldn't find a source where someone actually made appointments with Elvis to really teach him how to play the piano, guitar, or to learn how to compose a song or come up with a lyric).

But as hard as it may sound, I think along the way Elvis really became tickety-boo. Throughout 1974/1975, bit by bit he lost sight on reality. His transformation from a slim, karate-loving, slightly overweight Elvis in early 1974, to the 220 pound man who already then was spoken about as a parody of his former self, is more than enough proof. You can blame that on outside influences, but then you're pretty much in denial. Just as much as Elvis was and his whole entourage. I remember one of the members of The Sweet Inspirations said after the Omaha/Rapid City shows to her man that it was a good show and that Elvis looked good. Then she saw The In Concert tv-broadcast and started crying. Only then she saw for the first time that Elvis was looking horrible without her even noticing it then.

By the way: people always say that his fame made it impossible to go outside or have a normal life. But how come people like Paul macCartney, Madonna, Tom Jones, and many other people who had a period of superstardom and insanity (of the crazy fans), but turned out allright with a pretty normal life? During the 60s the Elvismania was pretty much over. And during the 70s he wasn't the superstar anymore that he was before. Of course he still drew a crowd. But so did The Who, Bruce Springsteen, Led Zeppelin, etc. With a few exceptions, in the 70s Elvis was 'just a Vegas' performer with poor singles/album sales.

[The King's Queen]

In an effort to understand this completely...may I ask what "tickety boo" means????

[cameron]

In an effort to understand this completely...may I ask what "tickety boo" means????

Yes, I was wondering that too.

tickety-boo Definition tickety-boo (tik′i tē bo̵̅o̅′)

adjective

Brit., Informal fine, excellent, in working order, etc.: an old-fashioned use

This doesn't help much.

[EnigmaticSun]

Babytalk to girlfriends, yeah that's disturbing.

Now to be serious here: the point is that media and press help to kill a man and after that go on to say "Elvis.. what happened" or "A lonely life ends.." - there's a saying that these are the tears of a crocodile, if you know what I mean.

Elvis was different but outstanding. In this world there's usually no appreciation for such a thing, unless there's money to be made out of it.

It probably would have been seemingly easier for him to be a mediocre superficial badly-dressed sexually repressed sugar-water beer drinking football hooligan.

[The King's Queen]

Now to be serious here: the point is that media and press help to kill a man and after that go on to say "Elvis.. what happened" or "A lonely life ends.." - there's a saying that these are the tears of a crocodile, if you know what I mean.
Elvis was different but outstanding. In this world there's usually no appreciation for such a thing, unless there's money to be made out of it.

It probably would have been seemingly easier for him to be a mediocre, superficial, badly-dressed, sexually repressed, sugar-water beer drinking football hooligan.

Or also, Roses after the fact. I think it all comes down to the issue of what "sells" and what doesn't. And as we all know...the good stuff won't sell near as much as the bad stuff will! Dirty laundry stikes again....:supriced:

[jak]

Before having read any books, I based my knowledge of Elvis on the Elvis I knew from the movies, pictures and songs. And who could think of a troubled man then?

But then came the books. Most of them were positive (written by fans, or writers serving the fans). But bit by bit it became clear that Elvis did have some huge problems in his life.

Careless Love, The Recording Sessions, The Concert Years, Elvis And Me and Elvis Day by Day showed an Elvis far from perfect. Many times unispired, little backbone to his manager, little wishes to improve himself, no urge to keep his love for one woman, the babytalk to girlfriends, his nightlife (sleeping during daytime, living in the night), no wish to expand his friendships outside the relative small clique... the list goes on and on.

It was quite shocking to read (in several books) that the Elvis during the wonderfull upbeat spring 1975 tours, was indeed in deep troubles. Kathy Westmoreland, the Sweet Inspiritations, James Burton and others were thinking about leaving his band. He was spending money as water on planes, women, friends and strangers.

I think that the source of all these problems were his over-protective youth where all focus was on the dependance of his mother. He was relative poorly educated, which made him feel inferior to other educated people. And this didn't limit itself to people with knowledge, but also skills: actors and other artists (who could write and compose). And with all the free-time in his life, he rarely (or never?) made the decision to have private lessons to improve his knowledge (hometeachers), acting (did he have any formal acting training to improve his skills?) or composing (I couldn't find a source where someone actually made appointments with Elvis to really teach him how to play the piano, guitar, or to learn how to compose a song or come up with a lyric).

But as hard as it may sound, I think along the way Elvis really became tickety-boo. Throughout 1974/1975, bit by bit he lost sight on reality. His transformation from a slim, karate-loving, slightly overweight Elvis in early 1974, to the 220 pound man who already then was spoken about as a parody of his former self, is more than enough proof. You can blame that on outside influences, but then you're pretty much in denial. Just as much as Elvis was and his whole entourage. I remember one of the members of The Sweet Inspirations said after the Omaha/Rapid City shows to her man that it was a good show and that Elvis looked good. Then she saw The In Concert tv-broadcast and started crying. Only then she saw for the first time that Elvis was looking horrible without her even noticing it then.

By the way: people always say that his fame made it impossible to go outside or have a normal life. But how come people like Paul macCartney, Madonna, Tom Jones, and many other people who had a period of superstardom and insanity (of the crazy fans), but turned out allright with a pretty normal life? During the 60s the Elvismania was pretty much over. And during the 70s he wasn't the superstar anymore that he was before. Of course he still drew a crowd. But so did The Who, Bruce Springsteen, Led Zeppelin, etc. With a few exceptions, in the 70s Elvis was 'just a Vegas' performer with poor singles/album sales.

Youre post is somewhat depressing but it's unfortunately completely correct.Much of Elvis' problems were of his own making no matter how hard people try to assign blame elsewhere.I think he had many chances to be better fullfilled personally and professionally but he always shot himself in the foot.In a way his good traits were always battling his bad ones.Ultimately he just couldnt strike a balance between the two and he paid the price.Elvis chose to isolate himself and construct his own world around him.Youre point about his isolation is well taken.He wasnt going to be the guy next door but he could have done more to lead a more normal lifestyle.His isolation was self imposed which I think caused him to loose his sight on reality.Elvis never grew up.He didnt have to.I think he was basically an imature person his entire life and that didnt serve him well in the long run.

[Donut]

I think the key is he was way too insecure and that lead him to isolate himself from the outside world, look for women younger than him, dumb himself with medication and needed to be pushed to get new challenges for the same reason.

[Tony Trout]

In the 1977 concert...Elvis says ..when he starts singing "are you lonesome tonight"..he says.."i was..and i am"...so he answered that question him self

I believe he said this in Rapid City, SD during the filming of "Elvis In Concert". I know I've seen it in one of the televised versions of "This Is Elvis" years ago but the funny thing is that when watching the 'outtakes' of the show, I don't see it.

[EnigmaticSun]

the good stuff won't sell near as much as the bad stuff will! Dirty laundry stikes again....:suprised:

Good point. As you have pointed out (sounds somewhat repetitive) it's strange that in his case the media and such tend to be so severe. On the other hand there's an entire industry, which includes his so-called friends (not pointing at anyone in particular) who stopped being friendly, feeding and thriving on negativity surrounding his persona. And with him being physically unable to defend himself he's obviously an easy victim.

There seems to be something wrong with me too, having drawn me into a marriage with an older man. So I guess Elvis and me are two of a kind: different and weird. I really don't see why it was wrong for him to date and like younger women.

I'm sorry, but people such as Madonna, Tom Jones or Paul McCartney certainly don't touch me the way Elvis does. I think it was hard for Elvis to find the human and cultural environment he really needed and not just from the perspective of the artist.

[Diane]

I agree with Albert, Jak and Donut. Unfortunately Elvis was brought up to always depend on someone else to make his decisions starting from the beginning with his mother. His self-imposed lifestyle was surely the biggest reason he was never able to fully mature. I too wish he had made more of an effort to take his life and decisions in his own hands and go with it. Things may have turned out differently and better for him.

Diane

[cameron]

Good point. As you have pointed out (sounds somewhat repetitive) it's strange that in his case the media and such tend to be so severe. On the other hand there's an entire industry, which includes his so-called friends (not pointing at anyone in particular) who stopped being friendly, feeding and thriving on negativity surrounding his persona. And with him being physically unable to defend himself he's obviously an easy victim.
.

I haven't noticed the medias unforgiveness as much as I have the so -called fans on Elvis MB .
Some just can't or won't forgive him for being human.

[EnigmaticSun]

Some just can't or won't forgive him for being human.

The way I see it, these folks are posthumously urging Elvis to be "normal" and mediocre.

[jak]

The comments made on this topic dont constitute passing judgement on him.They are merely observations as to how his life went.An Elvis MB isnt a holy sacred shrine where one must blindly worship Elvis.Not everything he did was just okey dokey.It's only common sense different aspects are brought up.Good and bad.Personally I have nothing to forgive Elvis for.I didnt know him.If anybody truly feels they cant forgive Elvis for something I would urge them to seek professinal help.If he wasnt human we wouldnt have the negatives to discuss.It just shows how far removed the man Elvis was from the myth we know as the"king".It's one of the reasons he's so fascinating.

[EnigmaticSun]

So is an Elvis MB a place to mainly point out flaws?

Saying something positive doesn't necessarily match up with blind worship.