Elvis or as they say down south "Evis"

My girlfriend in the 9th grade Ann Young, was an Air Force Colonel's kid from Crystal Springs Mississippi. Cathy Ann and her older sister Billie Jean were Elvis fans. Big fans. From all the afternoons and nights I spent in Young's family room listening to 'Evis" over and over again I've taken away three things in my life. One: I can damn near quote the lyrics to every song Elvis recorded up until I was a sophomore in high school. Two: I began to hate Elvis from over exposure and those terrible damn movies. Three: Cathy Ann and I taught each other to kiss while listening to "Evis".

Don't get me wrong, I actually liked Elvis until being force fed a steady diet of his music along with Ann's mother's banana cream pie. Mrs Young always called down the stairs, "Keeds, y'all need tah hav sum of this paah." She'd always time it just as Ann and I were working our way through the 2nd chapter of French Kissing 101. Annie would climb off me, straighten her Bobby Brooks skirt and sweater and run upstairs to get our "Paah". We'd wash it down with "Co-cola" and then get back to "kissin" as little Annie called it. Things would really heat up when this 'Evis" tune or one like it would drop down on the turntable on the Young sister's 45 rpm record player.

           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8-hAM8tdr0&feature=player_detailpage#t=1s

Elvis died on the toilet at Graceland 35 years ago today. I heard the news driving home from Cape Cod in our '74 Cadillac Coupe De Ville. With us in the car was the Howard Nelson family, Howard, Linda, Bryce and Blair....Linda was about 8 months 29 days pregnant with Brandy. We'd had a great week with the Nelsons in Boston, we were all sunburned and pleasantly tired from a weekend on the cape and all 8 and 8/9ths of us fit comfortably in the big old caddy. We were all a little shocked by the news.
By that time Elvis was the jump suited Fat Elvis and sang fucking "My Way"!

I like this 'Evis" much better.

From the '68 Come Back Special, Jimmy Reed's "Baby What You Want Me to Do"

         http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=fDjY2VcLq7o

I'm glad my memories of "Evis" go to the beginning of his career and stopped before he made a complete fool of himself, fat, wasted and going through the motions. He had the single worst manager in the history of music, Col. Tom Parker. Every wonder why Elvis never toured outside of the US? Col Tom was an illegal Dutch immigrant and couldn't leave the country. Elvis never made any money to speak of during his lifetime (the Col did) and it wasn't until Priscilla straightened things out financially that Elvis got his due on the financial side, by that time it was too late for him.

So Cathy Ann, honey, thanks for all that practice 'kissin" to "them Evis records" it did for me, as I hope it has for you, become a source of great satisfaction over all these years. And Sugar, thank yo Momma for all that paah, 'cause between you and Junior Hockey I needed all the energy I could get!

I last spoke to Catherine Ann Young in '96, she was teaching physics at Louisiana Tech and had become a Metallica fan. And yes, she remains to this day, ambidextrous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=HyrWd_gfQNQ#t=0s