Elvis Presley: The Searcher Page #2

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He was not afraid to go

and be exposed to it,

so he could learn

even more about it.

Schilling:

He was doing what

he enjoyed doing.

I don't think

it was conscious,

but he absorbed

everything that he saw.

Man:

That's all right

Jackson:

He would seek out people

in his neighborhood

who could play music

or had records,

or had a radio.

Man:

Any way you do

Bruce Springsteen:

You could turn a dial

and hear gospel.

Well, my mama,

she done told me

Springsteen:

Turn a dial

and hear country.

Turn a dial and hear blues.

Turn the dial and hear

Sunday Night Creatures,

you know?

I mean, it was all just there

in the Southern atmosphere

he grew up in.

That's all right now, mama

(Elvis humming)

Elvis:

If today

Was not an endless highway

If tonight

Was not an endless trail

If tomorrow

Wasn't such a long time

Then lonesome

would mean nothing

To me at all

Yes, and only

Elvis:

I always felt that

someday, somehow,

something would happen

to change everything for me.

And I'd daydream

about how it would be.

If I could hear her heart

(music fades)

(traffic honking)

Priscilla:

Once he moved to Memphis,

everything started

opening up for him.

He was 13.

Ferris:

As BB King once said,

when he moved to Memphis,

"It was like moving to Paris."

It was a different culture,

and a sense in which

things were connected

and happening,

that someone like Elvis

could not even

imagine in Tupelo.

The wealth, the affluence,

the scale of buildings,

the power of that river

flowing by.

Jackson:

Memphis is

a very diverse city,

not an integrated city,

but a very diverse city.

So you had a lot

of people moving there

after the war.

Man:

Well, you know

I love my baby

Jackson:

It was really the hub

for people from that Southern

cotton plantation area

to either stay or use it

as a stepping stone

to go somewhere else.

Ferris:

Like many Southern families,

the Presleys moved

to the big city

seeking a little better

opportunity.

Portia Maultsby:

Memphis developed a very

vibrant entertainment district,

'cause, you know,

people brought with them

their music, their culture.

Petty:

You've got that spill

there of the blues,

of gospel, pop music,

country music.

All those things,

they cross over each other,

and radio definitely

had to play

a big role in his influences,

because I don't think he was

carrying the kind of dough

to have an enormous

record collection.

(Petty chuckles)

Porter:

WDIA, it was a 50,000 watt

African-American radio station

that artists like

Bobby "Blue" Bland

were being played

'cause the whole emphasis

was black music.

Black music was just beginning

to take root in our area,

and there's no doubt in mind

that Elvis Presley

listened to WDIA.

Percy Mayfield (on radio):

It's a real pleasure

to invite you

to keep your radio

dial turned to 1070.

That means WDIA.

That's 50,000 watts

of powered entertainment

for your pleasure.

(children chattering)

West:

We were both just

above the poverty level.

I lived in one housing project,

and he lived in

Lauderdale Courts

about three or four

miles away.

We grew up the hard way.

(children chattering)

Alan Light:

The apartment

in Lauderdale Courts

that the Presleys moved into

was part of the early

New Deal housing program.

It was affordable,

but it was bigger than

anything they were used to.

They gave him everything.

They let him sleep

in the big bedroom.

They saved what

little money they had

so that he could buy a guitar,

he could buy a record player.

And they gave him that

same sort of independence

to go out in the city

and be exposed to other musics.

(jazz playing)

Train I ride

Priscilla:

He loved the bright lights.

He loved the music in the city.

He loved hearing people

in the street.

He loved listening to music

coming from the bars.

And he'd study them.

Porter:

Elvis was a student.

As a kid, I would go

to the Flamingo Room,

myself and Elvis would hang

at the Flamingo Room.

When you realize that Elvis

knew where Beale Street was,

and knew what that all meant,

you could sense

that he was different.

You walk in the Flamingo Room

on a Saturday night

or a Friday night,

you're in another world.

It's like a Mardi Gras

celebration,

except the music is soulful.

There was so much color

in clothing, in dress, in vibe,

and the music

was tremendously upbeat.

Comin' on 'round the bend

You're not seeing

that for one night.

You're seeing that

everytime you go there.

Rufus Thomas:

Beale Street was

the black man's haven.

When he'd come here,

everything lit up.

Lit up like a slot machine.

Everything was fired up!

Beale Street was the place.

Porter:

You'd go out

on your weekend night,

and you were

an African-American,

at that time,

you're making small wages.

You were in a racially

prejudiced time,

and you had to have an escape.

And the legitimacy of the

Flamingo Room experience,

and the Beale Street

experience,

was something

that took your mind

totally away

from those things.

But if you had

the right kind of personality

and spirit about you,

regardless of who you were,

you could come in

and check out the music.

Train, train

Preston Lauterbach:

BB King, Rufus Thomas,

Johnny Ace,

Bobby "Blue" Bland.

You know, these giants

were playing

little neighborhood

juke joints.

Porter:

Looking at that,

you would see

how powerful it would be

connecting to an audience.

Oh-oh,

stop your train, darlin'

Let a

A poor boy ride

Why don't you hear

me cryin'?

Woo-hoo

Porter:

If you're a young kid,

a black kid or a white kid,

you were not

analytical about it,

but you certainly knew

the difference

between feeling

and not feeling.

And you heard it,

and you felt it.

Ike Turner:

Elvis, he would park his truck

in the alley behind the club,

and he used to come around

to the back of this place,

and he would watch me play

the old upright piano.

When you see him stand up

and he'd be doing his legs,

when he'd be playing

with the guitar,

all this came

from back in those days

when we used to do it.

Howlin' Wolf:

Don't you hear me

talkin' to you, woman?

Whoo-hoo

Whoo-oo

Since I've been gone

Schilling:

Elvis picked up everything.

He was the most

eclectic human being

I have ever been around.

He would pick up something

from another singer,

or he would pick up something

from a guy

walking down the street,

and say, "Jerry,

look at that walk.

I'm gonna use that walk."

Warren Zanes:

He's looking around

for pockets of expression

and putting together

his version of himself

based on these

highly expressive models

that are often quite different.

You know, the Dean Martins

of the world,

the Mario Lanzas,

the black church.

Jackson:

At this point,

Elvis and his parents

are going to a lot

of gospel services,

musical events around

the town in Memphis,

both black and white.

(up-tempo piano playing)

Rock my soul

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