Elton John & Elvis

Es gibt mehrere Statements von ihm zu dem Thema, bereits aus der Zeit nach Elvis' Tod und den 80ern, wo Elton z.B. davon sprach, dass er selber in seiner schlimmsten Drogen-Zeit immer das Bild von Elvis 1976 vor Augen hatte und nie so enden wollte, und dass dieser Gedanke ihn ein Stück weit mit wachgerüttelt hat. Auch die Geschichte, dass seine Mutter ihm die Single "Heartbreak Hotel" gekauft hat und das sein Leben veränderte, hat er über die Jahrzehnte immer wieder gleich erzählt. Die Schilderungen decken sich. Ich kaufe ihm das ab, dass es sich so zugetragen hat und dass er darüber so denkt und fühlt, wie er sagt. Warum sollte er auch Mist erzählen? Der Mann ist 60, hat alles erreicht, ist jenseits von Gut und Böse und muss schon lange keinem mehr was vormachen.

Es gibt einige Lieder von Elton John, die einen Elvis-Bezug haben. Gleich 1976 nach dieser schlimmen Begegnung schrieb er das Lied "Idol", das Elvis' damalige Situation sehr bewegend schildert. In seinem Hit "Made in England" ist als sein prägendes Erlebnis "the boy from Tupelo" genannt, und auf seiner vorletzten LP "Peachtree Road" ist ein Song namens "Porch swing in Tupelo" drauf, der eine komplette Hommage an Elvis ist.

IDOL (1976)

He was a light star,
tripping on a high wire,
bulldog stubborn, born uneven.
A classless creature, a man for all seasons.
But don't bet them,
they can't take him to the very bottom,
because they made him, and they'll waste him,
and I don't believe that I want to watch them

'Cause the fifties shifted out of gear.
He was an idol then, now he's an idol here.
But his face has changed, he's not the same no more.
And I have to say that I like the way his music sounded before.

He was tight-assed,
walking on broken glass,
highly prized in the wallet size,
the number one crush in a schoolgirl's eyes.
But don't pretend
that it won't end in the depth of your despair.
You went from lame suits right down to tennis shoes,
to peanuts from the lion's share.

'Cause the fifties shifted out of gear.
He was an idol then, now he's an idol here.
But his face has changed, he's not the same no more.
And I have to say that I like the way his music sounded before.

MADE IN ENGLAND (1995)

I was made in England out of Cadillac muscle.
I had a quit-me father, had a love-me mother.
I had Little Richard and that black piano,
oh that sweet Georgia peach and the boy from Tupelo.

Oh, I was made in England.
Oh, I was made in England.

I was made in England out of Cadillac muscle.
Face down on a playground crying God send me a brother.
Not a bloody nose for rock and roll.
Give me that sweet Georgia peach and the boy from Tupelo.

Oh, I was made in England.
Oh, I was made in England.

I was made in England like a blue cortina,
but a yankee summer had a way about her.
You had a scent for scandal, well heres my middle finger.
I had forty years of pain and nothing to cling to.

Oh, I was made in England.
Oh, I was made in England.

If youre made in England, you're built to last.
You can still say homo and everybody laughs.
But the jokes on you, you never read the song.
They all think they know but they all got it wrong.

Oh, I was made in England.
Oh, I was made in England.

PORCH SWING IN TUPELO (2004)

There's a porch swing in Tupelo
in the shade of the South,
where the sweet honey drips off that old hush-yo'-mouth.
It's a slow road on down that old Natchez Trace,
through Alabama cotton fields to a State of Grace.

It's a crisp golden Autumn on the Tennessee line,
rolling down to Mississippi like you headed back in time.
Town's closed on Sunday, everybody's in church.
It's empty as the moon this place here on earth.

And this place don't change, some places move slow.
I'm just rocking myself on this porch swing in Tupelo.
I got nothing to do 'cept hang in the breeze,
ghosts of the old south are all around me.
Yea swing high, yea swing low,
here on this porch swing in Tupelo.

His mama must have loved him,
that truck drivin' boy.
With the grease monkey look and the rock 'n roll voice.
Well I was just thinkin' 'bout him, 'cause I guess he sat here,
singing all praise to God through poverty's tears.

And this place don't change, some places move slow.
I'm just rocking myself on this porch swing in Tupelo.
I got nothing to do 'cept hang in the breeze,
ghosts of the old south are all around me.
Yea swing high, yea swing low,
here on this porch swing in Tupelo.

Here on this porch swing in Tupelo.

Here on this porch swing in Tupelo.

Inwieweit haben seine Texte denn etwas mit ihm zu tun? Gibt er ein Thema oder Ideen vor?

Mal sind sie autobiographisch von ihm selber, weil Taupin seine (also Eltons) Erlebnisse, Ideen oder Vorgaben verarbeitet, mal handeln sie nur von Taupin, mal weder noch.

"Idol" handelt von Elvis und ist von diesem Treffen 1976 beeinflusst, "Made in England" handelt ganz klar von Eltons Kindheit (die Anspielung auf die Eltern, das Piano, dass er schwul ist usw. - trifft auf Taupin alles nicht zu), und "Porch swing in Tupelo" ist eine ganz normale Hommage an Elvis.

Probehören für die Tochter
Elvis besuchte Elton John
n-tv

Joe Turner schrieb: Probehören für die Tochter
Elvis besuchte Elton John
n-tv

a. Sie war 9 jahre als Elvis starb.
b. War es nicht ungekehrt, dass Elton den King in Vegas sah und dann hinter die Bühne ging?
c. Wenn das Treffen 1976 (später gewesen sein soll), dann war Lisa erst 8 jahre und
hörte/hatte schon einen eigenen Musikgeschmack? Kann alles sein...klar...

Bei ihr ist es nur immer so, dass sie Geschichten/Dinge erzählt, die irgendwie anders rum sind, von den Jahreszahlen net passen usw. Man hat oft den Eindruck sie vermischt Geschriebenes mit Fetzen aus ihrem Gedächtnis (Hallo? Sich nach knapp 40 Jahren noch an die ersten 9 Lebensjahre zu erinnern ist schon eine Leistung) und daraus entstehen dann neue Geschichten???!!!!

Elton John remembers ‘sad’ meeting with Elvis
By Hardeep Phull



An audience with the king of rock ’n’ roll was something that most baby-boomer musicians could only dream about. But when Elton John finally got his chance to meet Elvis Presley, he found the experience to be more nightmarish.

John (who grew up as a gawky English kid, miming to Presley records in his bedroom) got the chance to meet his idol in June 1976. At the time, the Brit’s own fame was peaking, following hits such as “The Bitch Is Back” and “Philadelphia Freedom.”

As he recalls in “Captain Fantastic” (a book out Tuesday, written by Tom Doyle and based on hours of new interviews with the singer), John took his mother, Sheila, to a concert in Washington, DC. But the Elvis of his youth had long left the building.

“It was sad,” he tells Doyle in the book for the first time, recalling Presley’s bloated and drugged state. The two met backstage prior to the show, and engaged in awkward chitchat. John requested “Heartbreak Hotel,” but Presley was unable to deviate from the rehearsed set and couldn’t perform the epochal 1956 single. “Elton looked into the eyes of the King and felt there was ‘nothing there,’” Doyle writes.

John and his mom were then escorted to their seats, and they watched with equal parts horror and admiration. “It was someone who was in a complete drug haze giving nylon scarves away to these fans,” John recalls. “And yet it was still, in a way, magical.”

Sheila, however, wasn’t quite as dazzled by this fading star. As soon as the show was over, she predicted Presley would be dead in six months.

“Well,” John reflects in the book, “it was a year.”