Elvis

The King was always on my mind

Anticipation is everywhere for the upcoming Elvis biopic from Baz Luhrmann and it got me reminiscing about how I became an Elvis fan. *Insert cascading harp sound*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qka6JrKUM5U

At age 6, I bopped around my living room to his tunes with a makeshift hairbrush microphone, wearing my Elvis t-shirt, just bloody loving life. In fact, I keep dropping hints to my mum to get me a similar Elvis t-shirt for Christmas this year, I want to relive the carefree days of dancing like a nutcase to my favourite rock and roll king, while most girls my age were dancing to the Atomic Kittens. Just remembered, I also had an Elvis handbag – iconic. Probably won’t be asking for that for Christmas though.

My roots as an Elvis fan came from my family. My mum’s side are obsessed, one cousin literally had an Elvis themed wedding – I can still remember the blinding glare reflecting off of the impersonator’s diamonte jacket. A-huh-huh. At one point, he asked me: “what’s your name little darling,” I was six, “Rowan,” I replied, before he chirpsed in with: “Lisa Marie, what a lovely name.” Perhaps jokes were not this guy’s strong point, but I still felt pure joy at the crazy sweaty dancing I did all night long. 

When you think of Elvis fans, you probably see crazy fangirls fainting at the sight of him on old grainy film, or some geriatric person reliving their youth with a sing-song – yeah, sweaty 6-year-olds probably don’t spring to mind. But the thing is, the essence of the rock and roll that Elvis was the entire package. He was the dancer, the singer, the ringmaster. No wonder I was drawn to drama and dance throughout my childhood. Elvis was the ultimate stage performer.

I am drawn to musicians whose music evokes some empathy in me, makes me feel for them and think about myself. What made Elvis universal was that he was pure escapism. As a young girl, I didn’t relate to the love songs but I was given a lesson in how music is a form of expression that can move past gender, age or even era. Some people get that from abba growing up, or rap music, but I got it from him. Elvis’ music was freeing, it was real; I would recreate the dance moves to ‘Jailhouse Rock’ as a young girl, and now I dance to the song on nights out – it’s funny how these things never leave you.

Elvis was as a cultural icon, he was ‘The King’. Not only did he sing – quite a few pretty soppy love songs – he encompassed the teenage rebellion attitude of his era and moreover the American dream. This message encapsulated by themes of love, fun, happiness, freedom, never dies. For me, even decades after he performed, his music makes me feel like I could be anything. I may have been a little girl but I was in my own fantasy world, I was rocking out on a stage somewhere, I was dancing on the hood of a car at a drive-in theatre, I was anything I wanted to be.

Music is incredible. It has the power to change whatever mood, whatever circumstance you find yourself in. Having a bad day? Pop some tunes on. Just got up and making breakfast? Pop some tunes on. No matter what you do, or where you are, it never leaves you. When I was six, Elvis taught me that valuable lesson: music is more than sound, so much more.

Listen to Elvis on Spotify and Apple Music. Get the latest edition of our print magazine featuring Black Honey, Matt Maltese and Mattiel HERE.

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