Elvis Quotes
For people who love Elvis, quotes by and about the rock and roll crossover great are the best way to remember his legacy, uncolored by the controversy and tragedy surrounding his death.
Elvis Presley was one of the first music stars to flame out, to die out of shape, out of the public eye, on drugs and overweight. He set the stage for some of our recent celebrity shenanigans, from the tragic death of Michael Jackson (a very similar story if you think about it) to the terrible last few years in the life of Anna Nicole Smith.
"If life was fair, Elvis Presley would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead". This was Johnny Carson piping up with his own addition to the Elvis quote library.
My personal favorite Elvis quote comes from 1957 -- asked about his controversial dancing style, Elvis said "Some people tap their feet, some people snap their fingers, and some people sway back and forth. I just sorta do ‘em all together, I guess." That process of "doing 'em all together" drove people wild, and depending on your age you either hated his gyrations or loved them.
Another quote that gives us a little glimpse into the life of Elvis and his band -- "We do two shows a night for five weeks. A lotta times we’ll go upstairs and sing until daylight - gospel songs. We grew up with it...It more or less puts your mind at ease. It does mine." Elvis Aaron Presley was a simple man from a simple background who became one of the most extraordinary figures in rock and roll.
This quote, from 1972, gives us another taste of the evolution of Elvis from a scared singer into a world class performer. "The first time that I appeared on stage, it scared me to death. I really didn’t know what all the yelling was about. I didn’t realize that my body was moving. It’s a natural thing to me. So to the manager backstage I said ‘What’d I do? What’d I do?’ And he said "Whatever it is, go back and do it again’."
It is heartening to know that even a figure of Elvis' stature went through a process of becoming more comfortable performing on stage, that Elvis didn't come out of the womb ready to inspire the world. An interesting quote that goes along with the above -- here's Elvis talking about stage fright the same year -- "I’ve never gotten over what they call stagefright. I go through it every show. I’m pretty concerned, I’m pretty much thinking about the show. I never get completely comfortable with it, and I don’t let the people around me get comfortable with it, in that I remind them that it’s a new crowd out there, it’s a new audience, and they haven’t seen us before. So it’s got to be like the first time we go on."
Elvis had this to say when asked about his influences -- "People ask me where I got my singing style. I didn't copy my style from anybody . . . . Country music was always an influence on my kind of music."
Hand in hand with this quote is another about rock and roll -- “Rock and roll music, if you like it, if you feel it, you can't help but move to it. That's what happens to me. I can't help it.'”
More Elvis Quotes
Here's a longer list of Elvis quotes, some inspirational, some humorous, but all right out of the mouth of the greatest singer in modern history.
"A live concert to me is exciting because of all the electricity that is generated in the crowd and on stage. It's my favorite part of the business, live concerts."
"Adversity is sometimes hard upon a man; but for one man who can stand prosperity, there are a hundred that will stand adversity."
"After a hard day of basic training, you could eat a rattlesnake."
"Ambition is a dream with a V8 engine."
"I happened to come along in the music business when there was no trend."
"I have no use for bodyguards, but I have very specific use for two highly trained certified public accountants."
"I hope I didn't bore you too much with my life story."
"I knew by heart all the dialogue of James Dean's films; I could watch Rebel Without a Cause a hundred times over."
"I learned how important it is to entertain people and give them a reason to come and watch you play."
"I like entertaining people. I really miss it."
"Every time I think that I'm getting old, and gradually going to the grave, something else happens."
"From the time I was a kid, I always knew something was going to happen to me. Didn't know exactly what."
"I don't do any vulgar movements."
"I think I have something tonight that's not quite correct for evening wear. Blue suede shoes."
"I was an only child, and Mother was always right with me all my life. I used to get very angry at her when I was growing up-it's a natural thing."
"I was training to be an electrician. I suppose I got wired the wrong way round somewhere along the line."
"I'd just like to be treated like a regular customer."
"I'll never feel comfortable taking a strong drink, and I'll never feel easy smoking a cigarette. I just don't think those things are right for me."
"I'll never make it, it will never happen, because they're never going to hear me 'cause they're screaming all the time."
"I'm no hillbilly singer."
"I'm not trying to be sexy. It's just my way of expressing myself when I move around."
"I'm so nervous. I've always been nervous, ever since I was a kid."
"I'm strictly for Stevenson. I don't dig the intellectual bit, but I'm telling you, man, he knows the most."
"I'm trying to keep a level head. You have to be careful out in the world. It's so easy to get turned."
"I've tried to lead a straight, clean life, not set any kind of a bad example."
"Just because I managed to do a little something, I don't want anyone back home to think I got the big head."
"Later on they send me to Hollywood. To make movies. It was all new to me. I was only 21 years old."
"Man, I really like Vegas."
"I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to."
"I don't think I'm bad for people. If I did think I was bad for people, I would go back to driving a truck, and I really mean this."
"I like to sing ballads the way Eddie Fisher does and the way Perry Como does. But the way I'm singing now is what makes the money."
"I never expected to be anybody important."
"I sure lost my musical direction in Hollywood. My songs were the same conveyor belt mass production, just like most of my movies were."