Quotations About Elvis Presley
- "Elvis is the greatest cultural force in the twentieth century. He introduced the beat to everything, music, language, clothes, it's a whole new social revolution - the 60’s comes from it."
-- Leonard Bernstein - "Describe Elvis Presley? He was the greatest who ever was, is or ever will be."
-- Chuck Berry - "Elvis Presley is like the 'Big Bang' of Rock 'n' Roll. It all came from there and what you had in Elvis Presley is a very interesting moment because, really, to be pretentious about it for a minute, you had two cultures colliding there. You had a kind of white, European culture and an African culture coming together - the rhythm, okay, of black music and the melody chord progressions of white music - just all came together in that kind of spastic dance of his. That was the moment. That's really it. Out of all that came the Beatles and the Stones, but you can't underestimate what happened. It does get back to Elvis."
-- Bono of U2 - "Elvis was a major hero of mine. I was probably stupid enough to believe that having the same birthday as him actually meant something."
-- David Bowie - "I'm sitting in the drive-through and I've got my three girls in the back and this station comes on and it's playing "Jailhouse Rock," the original version, and my girls are jumping up and down, going nuts. I'm looking around at them and they've heard Dad's music all the time and I don't see that out of them."
-- Garth Brooks - "I wasn't just a fan, I was his brother. He said I was good and I said he was good; we never argued about that. Elvis was a hard worker, dedicated, and God loved him. Last time I saw him was at Graceland. We sang Old Blind Barnabus together, a gospel song. I love him and hope to see him in heaven. There'll never be another like that soul brother."
-- James Brown - "If life was fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead."
-- Johnny Carson - "Elvis Presley's death deprives our country of a part of itself. He was unique, irreplaceable. More than twenty years ago, he burst upon the scene with an impact that was unprecedented and will probably never be equaled. His music and his personality, fusing the styles of white country and black rhythm and blues, permanently changed the face of American popular culture. His following was immense. And he was a symbol to people the world over of the vitality, rebelliousness and good humor of this country."
-- President Jimmy Carter, 1977. His official statement following Elvis' death. - "The first concert I attended was an Elvis concert when I was eleven. Even at that age he made me realize the tremendous effect a performer could have on an audience."
-- Cher - "Elvis Presley was the first and the best. He is my favorite of all time."
-- Bill Clinton - "You know, Bush is always comparing me to Elvis in sort of unflattering ways. I don't think Bush would have liked Elvis very much, and that's just another thing that's wrong with him."
-- Bill Clinton During the 1992 presidential campaign. - "When I first heard Elvis' voice I just knew that I wasn't going to work for anybody; and nobody was going to be my boss...Hearing him for the first time was like busting out of jail."
-- Bob Dylan - "The highlight of my career? That's easy, Elvis recording one of my songs."
-- Bob Dylan - "I learned music listening to Elvis' records. His measurable effect on culture and music was even greater in England than in the States."
-- Mick Fleetwood - "Elvis had an influence on everybody with his musical approach. He broke the ice for all of us."
-- Al Green - "Elvis was a giant and influenced everyone in the business."
-- Isaac Hayes - "Elvis was one of those individuals, when he sang a song, he just seemed to live every word of it. There's other people that have a voice that may be as greater than Presley's but he had that certain something."
-- Jake Hess - "Without Elvis, none of us could have made it."
-- Buddy Holly - "No-one, but no-one, is his equal, or ever will be. He was, and is supreme."
-- Mick Jagger - "He was a unique artist - an original in an area of imitators."
-- Mick Jagger - "It was Elvis that got me interested in music. I've been an Elvis fan since I was a kid. Ask anyone. If it hadn't been for Elvis, I don't know where popular music would be. He was the one that started it all off, and he was definitely the start of it for me."
-- Elton John - "Ask anyone. If it hadn't been for Elvis, I don't know where popular music would be. He was the one that started it all off, and he was definitely the start of it for me."
-- Elton John - "I remember Elvis as a young man hanging around the Sun studios. Even then, I knew this kid had a tremendous talent. He was a dynamic young boy. His phraseology, his way of looking at a song, was as unique as Sinatra's. I was a tremendous fan, and had Elvis lived, there would have been no end to his inventiveness."
-- B.B. King - "Elvis, he was unique. And he loved the blues, it was a pity he didn't do more."
-- B.B. King - "He had total love in his eyes when he performed. He was the total androgenous beauty. I would practice Elvis in front of the mirror when I was twelve or thirteen years old."
-- K.D. Lang - "Before Elvis there was nothing."
-- John Lennon - "When we were kids growing up in Liverpool, all we ever wanted to be was Elvis Presley."
-- Paul McCartney - "... he had a feel for rhythm in his voice. He could hear a song and he knew what he could do with a song. And nobody else could do it."
-- Scotty Moore - "Elvis is the best ever, the most original. He started the ball rolling for us all. He deserves the recognition."
-- Jim Morrison - "I love the Elvis movies. I used to watch them. In every single one of his movies he wasn't acting as a car salesman - he was acting as a car salesman who loved to play guitar."
-- Larry Mullen (U2 Drummer) - "That's my idol, Elvis Presley. If you went to my house, you'd see pictures all over of Elvis. He's just the greatest entertainer that ever lived. And I think it's because he had such presence. When Elvis walked into a room, Elvis Presley was in the f---ing room. I don't give a f--- who was in the room with him, Bogart, Marilyn Monroe."
-- Eddie Murphy - "He was the firstest with the mostest."
-- Roy Orbison - "I saw Elvis live in '54. It was at the Big D Jamboree in Dallas and the first thing, he came out and spit on the stage…it affected me exactly the same way as when I first saw that David Lynch film. There was just no reference point in the culture to compare it to."
-- Roy Orbison - "This boy had everything. He had the looks, the moves, the manager, and the talent. And he didn't look like Mr. Ed like a lot of the rest of us did. In the way he looked, way he talked, way he acted - he really was different."
-- Carl Perkins - "We've lost the most popular man that ever walked on this planet since Christ himself was here."
-- Carl Perkins - "If I could find a white man who had the Negro sound and the Negro feel, I could make a million dollars."
-- Sam Phillips - "Elvis could do everything, from a very quiet sensual moan and groan to a high-panic scream and was willing to do it within the context of a three-minute song, with no inhibitions whatsoever."
-- Norbert Putman (His bassist) - "He epitomised America, and for that we shall be eternally grateful. There will never be anyone else like him. Let's all rejoice in his music."
-- Ronald Reagan - "Elvis was God-given, there's no other explanation. A Messiah comes around every few thousand years, and Elvis was it this time."
-- Little Richard - "His kind of music is deplorable, a rancid smelling aphrodisiac...It fosters almost totally negative and destructive reactions in young people."
-- Frank Sinatra - "I'm just a singer, Elvis was the embodiment of the whole American culture."
-- Frank Sinatra - "There have been many accolades uttered about Elvis' talent and performances through the years, all of which I agree with wholeheartedly. I shall miss him dearly as a friend. He was a warm, considerate and generous man."
-- Frank Sinatra - "...it was like he came along and whispered some dream in everybody's ear, and somehow we all dreamed it."
-- Bruce Springsteen - "Elvis is my religion. But for him, I'd be selling encyclopedias right now."
-- Bruce Springsteen - "There have been a lotta tough guys. There have been pretenders. And there have been contenders. But there is only one king."
-- Bruce Springsteen - "Elvis was the king. No doubt about it. People like myself, Mick Jagger and all the others only followed in his footsteps."
-- Rod Stewart - "I wanted to say to Elvis Presley and the country that this is a real decent, fine boy."
-- Ed Sullivan on his show in January, 1957 - "I love his music because he was my generation. But then again, Elvis is everyone's generation, and he always will be."
-- Margaret Thatcher - "A Presley picture is the only sure thing in Hollywood."
-- Hal Wallis - Producer of nine of Elvis' films. - "That boy made his pull from the blues, if he's stopped, he's stopped, but he made his pull from there."
-- Muddy Waters - "When I was 13, I saw him [Elvis] perform live and I suddenly understood what sex is all about. I was screaming at the top of my lungs."
-- Raquel Welch - "A lot of people have accused Elvis of stealing the black man's music, when in fact, almost every black solo entertainer copied his stage mannerisms from Elvis."
-- Jackie Wilson
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