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Elvis: The Once and Future King
| Article
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16420 |
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Section : |
EDITORIAL
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| Issue
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10 / 1997 |
366 Words |
| Author
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Arthur Kirkby is the owner of Puanchline Productions based in
Fredericton, New Brunswick. |
To the Editor:
It's hard being an Elvis fan these days, as your extensive look at the Elvis phenomenon shows ["Elvis Presley: Perceptions and Legacy," in two parts, August 1997]. Once upon a time--say, 40 years ago--being an Elvis fan was as fun and untroubled as joining the celebration of your hometown winning the pennant. Elvis was excitement, and the music something new that rang like an air-raid alarm within you. Elvis was the falling of the Berlin Wall, the storming of the Bastille, set to rhythm and blues.
It was also fun being an Elvis fan after the Beatles washed ashore in 1964 and set Elvis out to pasture (to mix a metaphor). Elvis was a dinosaur, and for a while an Elvis fan took on a certain nobility, as the king of rock and roll went into eclipse and the rabble followed after foreign gods.
Then Elvis resurfaced in 1968, and the times of trial began for true Elvis fans. For instead of Elvis, an impersonator, and not a very good one, stepped out of the shadow. Mimicking the king and trashing rock and roll, the impersonator stormed Las Vegas, gained weight, and drew musical inspiration not from Muddy Waters but from Liberace.
Now, alas, Elvis must be analyzed and defined as a sociological phenomenon. It's not possible, or at any rate it is very difficult, to respond to Elvis without the stultifying awareness of what he "signifies." I guess he does signify a lot of things--just as the overheated analyses of the last few weeks may signify Americans' excessive sense of self-importance and lack of
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