This is Elvis' version of "Come Back to Sorrento", one of my favorite of his tunes.
Recorded in October of 1960, it made Number One for two weeks in America and four weeks in the UK.
Some of the movies featured in the video give strong evidence to my theory that, to-wit:
(a) Elvis made a lot of movies, only some of them good, and quite a few of them not-so-good.
(b) He got to kiss so many attractive ladies, and get paid for it, that one cannot help but conclude he was one Lucky B*stard!
Here's some you might recognize from the clips.
"Change of a Habit" (1968) --Elvis as a "hip" doctor down in the New York ghettos. Mary Tyler Moore is the nurse with the guitar. This is really not so good, but the idea of black people even BEING in an Elvis movie I think wasa cultural break-through of sorts.
"Wild in the Country" (1961) One of his best films, as a sort-of back country would-be writer/motorcycle enthusiast/sex maniac , involved with Hope Lange, Tuesday Weld and Millie Perkins-I think all at once!
"Jailhouse Rock" (1957) --Another one of those rare good Elvis films. Again he plays a country boy who this time gets on the wrong side of the law.
"And now, the deluge":
Girls, Girls, Girls--1962
"Speedway"--1965
"Live a Little, Love a Little"--1968
"The Trouble with Girls"--1969
"Fun in Acapulco"--1963
The last five movies are pretty much dreck. I know. I watched them as a kid on Saturday afternoon television. Elvis was already "past it" more than a bit, but kids like me watched his movies to get tips on how to woo girls. Frankly, "The King" makes it look a lot easier than it really is for ordinary mortal men.
Perhaps I should have spent less time watching the movies and just taken up the guitar.
Also...
Milton Berle Show ( Elvis singing Hound Dog) 1956 or abouts...
Oh yes this is great. I'll admit that he doesn't come high on my list of favourite people.
ReplyDelete*Cassie runs for cover*
He certainly did a good swivel of the hips amid many screams from females.
I hope those tips you picked up served you well. I can see you now fingering your quiff. ;-)
Thank you Doug.
No reason for concern, Cassandra. From what scattered reports I've read about "The King", his life off-screen was too unpredictable and authoritarian for my taste. (And I'll leave it to the ladies as to how he would be as an some Byronic fantasy date.)
ReplyDeleteThat one of his wives left him for their karate instructor speaks volumes. Still, his music makes me happy even if as a romantic role model, I would have to say its always better to eschew such publicity-personas as he. Better in my more mature days I eventually found to just be polite, attentive and yourself.*
PS--I never did get that "quiff" hair thing right :-(