Elvis in Las Vegas Page #6

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"We couldn't afford doctors."

So Elvis, psychologically, from very...from very young,

believed in doctors.

Pain, anxiety, pain, fatigue.

Pain, pain, pain...

There used to be a commercial on TV

that goes, better living through chemistry.

Elvis used to say, "Better living through chemistry."

Depression, tension, anxiety...

He basically was not a drugger but some irresponsible doctor

introduced him to high pain medication

and that was the downfall, physically.

The effects of Elvis's increasing dependence on medication

became more visible in Vegas,

at the hotel now renamed the Hilton.

Colonel Parker was becoming anxious about the rambling monologues

as Elvis battled his demons on stage.

Ladies and gentlemen...

The night that Elvis was on stage and made very derogatory remarks

about the Hilton hotel officials, I was in the audience,

sitting next to Colonel in a booth.

When Elvis started, Colonel turned to me and said,

"I wish I could just disappear under this table.

"I've never been so embarrassed in my life."

The next song is dedicated to the hierarchy of staff of the Hilton hotel.

# I'm the king of the jungle They call me tiger man

# I'm the king of the jungle They call me tiger man... #

When he comes off stage,

Colonel Parker, he attacks Elvis with words,

and says, "Elvis, they pay us to perform here.

"It's not our thing to tell them how to handle their business

"and their people. They don't tell us how to handle our business."

They get in a tremendous argument.

Arguing to the fact Elvis throws out the words, "You're fired, then."

He quit, Elvis fired him.

I mean, they had a terrible clash.

I'm sure the whole hotel heard what was being said.

And, as a consequence,

Colonel came downstairs, it was about 3am and he said to me,

"Come in the office, I have dictation."

And he spent the next couple hours dictating the terms under which he was leaving.

I typed them.

Colonel presents the bill late that evening,

"I'm finished, I'm outta here. We're packing up, but you owe me..."

I don't know, like 1 or 2 million.

It was Elvis's nature, he hated confrontations.

He didn't like to get in arguments or heavy confrontations.

Number two was, Elvis was loyal.

So, they sort of kissed and made up.

Elvis's loyalty to the manager who had made him a star back in '56

led to a plague of problems.

Not just in Vegas but in the recording studios where Presley searched for new hits.

And you could hear it in the lyrics.

# I see a change

# Has come into our lives

# It's not the same as it used to be

# And it's not too late

# To realise our mistake

# We're just not right for each other... #

Elvis was a brilliant producer in the studio.

He knew how he wanted his music presented, more so than anybody.

But sales were plummeting.

The reason was obvious to those around him.

The best composers were once again kept at arm's length from Elvis's sessions.

It was like the '60s with the Colonel all over again.

I see the men from the publishing company, with a guy up against the wall,

saying, "You were hired to play guitar, not to pitch songs and if you ever pitch a song again,

"you will never do another Elvis Presley session."

And the Colonel interfered in even more obvious ways,

cutting deep into Elvis's increasingly fragile self-confidence.

I think the Colonel had gone into the studio

after certain things were mixed and we know

on the Madison Square Garden live album

he sped the tracks up.

It sped up the tracks, sped up Elvis's voice,

but you got one more song for publishing's sake...

It made him sound like Mickey Mouse, almost.

The tempos were just freakily fast.

FAST VERSION OF ALL SHOOK UP PLAYS

So, I think there was a lot of frustration there and he didn't really know how to deal with that.

Colonel also messed with the mixes.

I heard Colonel talking to New York and RCA,

saying, "We can't even hear Elvis with all that background stuff."

And, "You need to turn that stuff down." I heard that with my own ears.

I think the Colonel was saying that people are paying to hear Elvis Presley sing.

And all the other stuff is getting in the way of that.

The band and the singers and everything.

When people fool with artists' work, they wind up killing the artist.

I lost my friend mainly because of creative disappointments.

I think those caused the other problems.

Elvis's shows now fluctuated from the sublime

to the chaotic.

Later on in his life, when he was having some problems with prescription medication,

he could come out on stage and he could forget lyrics to a song,

he could seem disoriented and the audience was oblivious to it.

I hear rumours flying around, I got sick in hospital.

In this day and time, you can't even get sick.

You are strung out.

By God, I'll tell you something, friend, I've never been strung out,

in my life, except on music.

Living by night on the Hilton's 30th floor,

Elvis became increasingly isolated

and in need of help.

I think the first time I realised that Elvis was taking medication

I was in Las Vegas with him and it was in the first couple of weeks

that I was there.

I remember one night looking down at his nightstand

and I saw all these prescription bottles and I said,

"Are you sick?" He said, "Why do you ask, honey?"

"Well, these are all prescription bottles."

He said, "No, I had a little sore throat" or "I've gotta keep my throat good for performing."

For many years, Elvis was in denial.

No question 'bout it.

He became dependent on people to take care of things for him.

He became dependent in many ways, just like he did with the medications

that five different doctors, who are not in touch with one another,

were giving him.

And he became addicted to them.

Elvis's health was declining,

often in clinics and hotel bedrooms.

The Colonel started to interfere.

Lo and behold, there's Colonel Parker and I walked him to the door,

he opens it up,

and what I saw was Elvis's...

body being dunked into a bucket of ice water

by the doctor. Elvis was like this.

"Ahhhh."

Moaning.

And the door closed.

he stood with me, toe to toe,

stared in my eyes and said, "Now, you listen to me.

"The only thing that's important

"is that that man is on the stage tonight.

"You hear me? Nothing else matters.

"Nothing."

# Gather round me, buddy

# Raise your glasses high... #

While Elvis struggled with his demons,

so increasingly did the Colonel,

throwing away huge sums of money in the Hilton casino.

This was what Colonel said.

"When I'm playing, I forget everything,

"except what I'm doing.

"I have no aches or pains.

"I have no stress over the business.

"I am focused on the gambling."

He played roulette and would put chips on every number.

In a period of 1.5 hours,

- he lost over 1,250,000.

- HE WHISTLES

And Elvis believed that toward the end,

the reason he was playing the hotels was to pay off the Colonel's debts.

Elvis had felt indebted to his manager for 20 years now.

And the lyrics of Walk A Mile In My Shoes

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