We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago…..
He was an aging superstar…once the King of rock & roll…now almost a parody of himself and filling showrooms in Vegas. Few were as unhip in the music world as Elvis in 1972…and yet he was still releasing albums including “Elvis Now”
I had no interest in the Elvis of 1972, although listening to this album now, there are a couple of nuggets among the dreck.
The main problem is that some of this stuff was recorded way back in 1969 including an awful cover of Hey Jude, while some was recorded in mid-1971. It’s almost like listening to two different singers.
He covers recent hits like ‘Help Me Make It Through The Night and ‘Put You Hand In The Hand”. He also cuts the old folk song “I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago” which can raise a grin even if he doesnt do all the verses….
I was Born almost 10,000 Years Ago
Folk Song
1. I was born almost ten thousand years ago,
And there’s nothin’ in the world that I don’t know;
I saw Peter, Paul and Moses,
Playing ring-around-the-roses
And I’m here to lick the guy what says ‘t ain’t so.
2. I saw Satan when he looked the garden o’er,
Then saw Adam and Eve driven from the door,
And behind the bushes peeping,
Saw the apple they were eating,
And I’ll swear that I’m the guy what ate the core.
3. I saw Jonah when he’mbarked within the whale,
And thought that he’d never live to tell the tale.
But old Jonah’d eaten garlic
And he gave the whale a colic,
So he coughed him up and let him out o’ jail.
4. I saw Samson when he laid the village cold,
And saw Daniel tame the lions in the hold,
And helped build the tower of Babel,
Up as high as they were able,
And there’s lots of other things I haven’t told.
5. I taught Solomon his little A-B-C’s
I helped Brigham Young to make Limburger cheese,
And while sailing down the bay
With Methuselah one day,
I saved his long flowing whiskers from the breeze.
6. Queen Elizabeth, she fell in love with me.
We were married in Milwaukee secretly,
But I schemed around and shook her,
And I went with General Hooker
To shoot mosquitoes down there in Tennessee.
7. I remember when the country had a king.
I saw Cleopatra pawn her wedding ring,
And I saw the flags a-flyin’
When George Washington stopped lyin’,
On the night when Patti first began to sing.
The strength of the LP for me, lies on Side 2. Some strong vocalizing on the tune “We Can Make The Morning” shows some of the King’s old power. A quality cover of Gordon Lightfoot’s ‘Early Mornin Rain” you can almost feel the desperation and exhaustion in his reading here. And a nice cover of the old Johnny Mercer pop chestnut “Fools Rush In”, which would have been a huge hit if released 10 years earlier.
The band amassed here is fine led by long-time Elvis sideman and session ace James Burton on guitar. Other familiar names include Norbert Putnam, Chip Young, David Briggs, Charlie McCoy, Kenny Buttrey, Reggie Young, Bobby Emmons and Jerry Carrigan
If you like Elvis, you’ll like this. He hasnt dissipated all of his talents with drugs and booze yet. But in 1972 this was not on my or my friend’s radar.
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